North Dakota Commission on Education Improvement
Commission Meeting Minutes
July 7, 2008
Devils Lake Public School
The Chairman, Lieutenant Governor Jack Dalrymple, called a meeting of the North Dakota Commission on Education Improvement to order at 10:06 a.m.
Commission members in attendance included Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple, Rep. Rae Ann Kelsch, Sen. Tim Flakoll, Rep. David Monson, Paul Stremick, Mark Lemer, Doug Johnson, Jon Martinson, Sen. O'Connell, Gary Gronberg, Greg Burns.
After reviewing and amending the June 3rd Commission meeting minutes (see attached), Sen. O'Connell moved to accept the minutes; Paul Stremick seconded and the motion was carried.
The Lt. Governor started the meeting with Commission business. Lt. Governor passed around the Education Commission of the States' 2008 Frank Newman Award. The Commission was selected as the winner for excellence in state education policymaking. The award honors the late Frank Newman, a former ECS president. The award was presented at the 2008 ECS National Forum on Education Policy on June 30 in Austin, TX. The award honors North Dakota's effective, diplomatic approach to policymaking. The Commission on Education Improvement succeeded in solving a school funding issue similarly faced by many states across the country - using a method of consensus rather than litigation.
Lt. Governor reported the process is underway to make an appointment for the Business Manager vacancy.
The Formula subcommittee Chair, Mark Lemer led the formula discussion. Topics included Special Line Items, Factors, Other Adjustments, Equity Payments, State Mill Levy Reduction Grant Program and Fully Integrated Formula. Special line items included transportation increase, REA increase, State mentoring program and Pre-K pilot grant program.
Lemer said the commission needs to make strategic decisions about special line items. He said it makes sense to put money into the transportation formula. Lemer asked if the Commission should use the $100 million, add it to the priority list, or put a portion of the $100 million in to the formula - $5 million? The Lt. Governor said the cost of school transportation has gone up significantly. To continue the state's share, it will cost more money. $5 million will be a 14% increase. The commission also needs to look at ridership, vehicle size (small/large), and vehicle miles. $5 million will be used as a working figure pending further discussion.
Lemer reported that currently there is $3 million in state funds going to the REAs. $1 million is hard-line money and $2 million is contingent money. Lemer suggested making the contingent money a hard line item. The $2 million increase will come from the $100 million. Jon Martinson asked if mentoring money is going to the REAs or the schools. Lemer reported that the Commission did not set aside separate money for a mentoring program. Lt. Governor said we do have a state mentoring program funded by a grant. It is administered by ESPB. One approach to mentoring would be to place more funding in our current state administered program. It would be a special line item because it would be outside the per student payment. The new teacher induction program is voluntary on the part of the district, but it is a formal program run by ESPB. Dr. Paul Johnson from Bismarck Public Schools recommended a committee to come together to create an RFP for ESPB to create the program. Rep. Kelsch asked who would deliver the program. Johnson suggested the ND LEADS group or the REAs. Gary Gronberg suggested the colleges might also be interested. Sen. Bakke explained the program. It is a 5-day workshop, NDEA started the program. There are 30 people in the program. Sen. Flakoll suggested a $1 million placeholder and it should be a discussion for the PD subcommittee. Lt. Governor said it would be a line item, but not a per student distribution. Rep. Kelsch said a mentor is working with a teacher for the first five years. She added that an instructional coach works with the teacher for their teaching career. Greg Burns said there needs to be an instructional leader in each district. Rep. Kelsch said a teacher in the first five years has different needs than a teacher who has been there for 30 years. Doug Johnson said we need time to determine how much money we need and how many instructional coaches we need. A mentorship program is a solid beginning while an instructional coach program gets set up. We should consider having ESPB continue to administer the mentorship program.
A pre-K pilot program has a study underway. Too early to say at this point, the formula committee has not set money aside for this for now. If it is a pilot program then it will be a line item. Lemer said the Commission needs to decide if a portion of the $100 million should go to Pre-K. Rep. Kelsch said there will be more information at the August meeting. Gary Gronberg said three or four districts that offer Pre-K programs use federal dollars - Title I dollars. Greg Burns said the return on investment is very high. He said ND should establish standards for a pilot program.
Formula subcommittee Chair Mark Lemer discussed three factors: Special Education ADM, At-risk, and CTE Students. The Special Education ADM will be increased to .07. Over time the factor needs to increase. At-risk are the students eligible for free and reduced lunch. Lemer asked what costs the factor should represent. 40% of students are at-risk. For now we will use a three-year rolling average count to determine the at-risk percentage. For CTE students there is currently no factor. It needs to be a discussion item. At the district level there is a higher cost by definition. The factor would be for students who are enrolled in higher cost CTE courses.
Other possible adjustments included the 150 minimum mill levy offset. The Governor has proposed a state buy-down of general fund mill levies. When a school goes through the procedure to certify their levy, they would be notified early on of the amount of the state grant based on weighted student units. They would take that money into account to certify the levy. They would add together sources of revenue and figure costs to calculate a levy needed to operate. As you buy down is there a point where you don't want to buy down any more? The equity payment was discussed including changes in the percentage of the statewide average, changes in the mill levy used in calculating the payment due to increased state share. The mechanics of the equity payment is greatly impacted by the new proposal. The proposal provides a lot of equity simply by increasing the state's share to 66%. The procedure for grant distribution of the State Mill Levy Reduction Grant Program was discussed along with the dollar for dollar reduction. The parameters of the grant program were also discussed - minimum levy, mill levy floor and the maximum mill levy reduction. Mill levy limitations were also addressed - cap to individual adjusted cap, cap to common adjusted cap, no cap to new mill levy and limitations on no cap districts including limits on annual growth in revenue collections. Finally the subcommittee discussed the fully integrated formula. The cost of education minus property tax revenue from assumed mill levy, minus adjusted outside revenue equals state distribution. This plan would ensure every school district receives the same funds to provide education for every student.
Tana Kincaid and Junella Feickert from Bismarck Public Schools did a presentation on the NWEA MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) (see attached). Dr. Grosz from Fargo public Schools did a presentation on statistical predictability of the MAP score for ACT scores. (see attached). Sen. O'Connell asked how NWEA fits with the Federal guidelines of testing.
The Assessment Sub-Committee Chair, Paul Stremick has set a subcommittee meeting for late July to discuss ACT, PLAN, EXPLORE, and Work Keys and will bring forth a recommendation in August to the Commission. Rep. Kelsch noted that 85% of students take the ACT. What happens to the other 15%? Can they take the Work Keys test? This would let employers know their skill set. Another question raised by Rep. Kelsch, if you don't take the ACT would college accept Work Keys? As a Commission we need to decide which tests we would provide universally so we can obtain data for analytical purposes. Doug Johnson said the Commission needs to decide what they want from the assessment. With Work Keys there are 12 assessments - correlated to jobs available in the state. NWEA would be a nice model for ND school districts to compare themselves to each other. Lt. Governor said there are varying levels of acceptance of assessment, and we should consider going with a NWEA MAP test. We could mandate the ACT/Work Keys for graduation. Lt. Governor said that as far as end-of-course testing, that is something the legislature is not ready to mandate. It should be mandatory that each career advisor sit down with each student and interpret the results of assessments for the student.
The Curriculum Sub-Committee Chair, Sen. Flakoll reported that the subcommittee determined that the freshman class starting in the fall of 2010 would be the first class that would have the new requirements apply to them. Each subject was discussed along with the changes the subcommittee recommended: English/Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Physical Education, Health and Wellness. Electives and directed flex credits were discussed and the subcommittee approved three changes: 1) modify the terminology to "focused electives"; 2) the General Diploma column will now have two units of focused electives and seven units of electives; and 3) require that at least two units of world languages be taken from the same language. For Academic Honors requirements the subcommittee determined that the score should be reduced to 24 because that score would translate to a high level of success in college. The subcommittee also discussed the opt-out provision which would allow students to obtain a General Diploma. Sen. Flakoll noted that all of the ND Achieve proposed requirements fall within what is required to be offered by schools. The subcommittee discussed end of course exams and felt that if this was done statewide that it should be a focused approach for certain areas - Algebra I, Algebra II, Language arts to include reading comprehension, and Biology. The Lt. Governor asked how you fit in another course with today's scheduling. Mark Lemer asked about the general diploma and why biology is not an option. Lemer also asked about electronic delivery. If we need additional classrooms that are dedicated to electronic delivery, how do we ensure districts that are not set up for electronic delivery are able to get it? It is easy for the smaller schools, but the larger schools might have problems especially if they already teach a class online. Sen. Flakoll handed out a modified version of "ND Achieve" - current working title (see attached). There are four diploma options: ND Achieve Diploma, ND Achieve with Technical Honors, ND Achieve with Academic Honors, and ND General High School Diploma. Sen. Flakoll asked that if anyone wishes to submit a name or names for the new curriculum and graduation requirements they should feel free to do so. He also asked that requests be sent by mid-July. The intent would be to get something to replace the previous working title (ND Achieve).
The Professional Development (PD) Sub-committee Chair, Doug Johnson, discussed the issue of added time. The subcommittee options were: 1) Early dismissal days used in four two-hour blocks, 4 times a year (this would require one additional day) or 2) six-hour full days or two-four-hour blocks. The recommendation was six-hour full days or two-four-hour blocks. The subcommittee chair also reported on models of instructional coaches. One model is to have one coach for every 500 kids. 180-200 coaches would be needed. That would equate to $10 million/year for instructional coaches or $20 million/biennium. Johnson noted the subcommittee has not discussed the one regional PD day organization through REA's. The subcommittee chair has set a subcommittee meeting for late July to discuss one regional PD day by REA's. Finally the subcommittee chair discussed the summer institute.
Corey Been, a school board member and professor at LRSC expressed his concern for identifying and tracking students when they choose a diploma track. He also noted that when you put more emphasis on just math and science, you limit the options for academics.
Sen. Bakke discussed the ND diploma. There are dangerous issues with tracking kids. Kids will drift to the easy path. What are state institutions requiring for entrance? As far as professional development, don't give staff development to REA's. They don't always know what educators need.
Munich Administrator. Small schools have had to make cuts. Small schools couldn't fill 2 of the 4 diplomas proposed. Teachers online are not the same as teachers in the classroom. Suggested to emphasize offer dual credit.
Dr. Paul Johnson from Bismarck Public schools noted that with CTE, some classes are more expensive than others. He also voiced his support for the NWEA MAP assessment. An electronic learning experience is good but not for a whole course, maybe a seminar. Online learning is necessary for all.
Wayne Kutzer, CTE Director said that it is hard to determine a CTE formula. CTE programs are more expensive to operate.
John Skaare from the Center for Distance Education said there are lots of ways to offer classes online. Classes can be built for your needs. There is the issue of real-time vs. anytime. More and more students have resources at home.
The next scheduled meeting is August 6th in Dickinson. The meeting will be held in the Dickinson High School auditorium.
Meeting dates are scheduled as follows:
- September 3 - Bismarck - 9:00am
- October 7 - TBA - 9:00am
- November 6 - Bismarck - 9:00am
Lt. Governor Jack Dalrymple adjourned the meeting at 4:04pm.
