Leadership Matters May 2014 working doc

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O’Brian: We need better data on what those issues are in each school district, but that is an absolutely valid issue. Looking at data from the Technology Readiness Tool, it appears that about 64 percent of school districts are ready to administer the assessment online. Our field testing has included schools in about 600 districts and about 10 percent of the students from grades 3 through 11. From the field testing we have done so far there have been very few technical issues. We are using the field tests to see how students interact with the technology and to see how well it works. The student response overall has been positive regarding taking the test online, but we have found some things that we need to fix. The script was unclear and included some redundancies that were frustrating for test administrators, so we will be adjusting the administrative manual. There also was some confusion over the accessibility features like the ability for a student to magnify a word, cross out wrong answers and highlight things. There was confusion over how to use those features or even that those features were available to use. So we need to make it more clear that those features are available and how to use them. We also know that we need to support the use of technology. Morrison: One of the many reasons we wanted Illinois districts to participate in the field test was to help us answer that question. We need to move toward online instructionand assessment, particularly if districts want to receive feedbackmore quickly and make instructional decisions based on those results. Q: Why won’t ISBE delay implementation of PARCC for a year? Morrison: We can’t delay implementation because that could compromise our waiver and federal funding. The waiver did not come without some strings attached. We know there are consequences for states that don’t abide by their waiver agreements. The state ofWashington just lost its NCLBwaiver because it could not put in place the new educator evaluation systems as outlined in their request. But thewaiver granted to Illinois does give school districts some flexibility. First, it does away with the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) mandate, and PARCC becomes part of a multiple measures index that not only includes student proficiency on PARCC and the ACT, but also takes into account high school

ISBEDeputySuperintendent andChief EducationOfficer SusieMorrison, left, and ISBE Director of Assessment Dr.MaryO’Brian.

graduation rates and a growth metric we have developed. Also, the first year of PARCC will be to establish a baseline. We obviously can’t measure growth the first year, and it will be three years beforewe can use the data for placing a school district in any performance category. The stakes the first year are pretty low. The flexibility alsomeans the federal government no longer will require school districts to set aside 30 percent of the Title I federal grants for certain federal mandates. Districts still must meet the Title I guidelines, but that 30 percent now can be repurposed for things like technology, adding reading andmath coaches, or even adding teachers. Q: Why is ISBE insistent on implementing PARCCdespite the issues that havebeen raised? Morrison: Theworld is changing andwe need to make surewe keep pace. It’s a different time and we need a different assessment that measures the standardswe areaskingour teachers to teach. I understand that the issue can get clouded by other things that have happened to (school administrators), but it is really critical that we implement these new standards with fidelity and transparency. This is at the heart of what we do as educators. I understand that some school administrators see this as just one more thing; I see it as the thing that we need to do for our kids to help them be competitive in aglobal market.

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