Will They Graduate? Will They Be Ready? How Will You Know?

ALSDE Superintendents’ January Notes

January 15, 2014

Will they graduate? Will they be ready? How will you know?

College and Career Ready Indicators—Do your schedules and guidance programs promote every student earning at least one College and Career Ready Indicator?

1)College and Career Ready Indicators:

a)Career Credentials and Career Ready Indicators (H1).

(1)iNOW summer release will have a method in the grade book section attached to Career Technical courses.

(2)Career Technical Teachers will be able to choose indicators from their grade books in iNOW as students earn a Career Ready Credential/Indicator.

b) Approved transcripted college or post-secondary credit while in high school.

(1)Dual Enrollment—identified by class types and passing grade received (academic and technical).

(2)Dual Credit and Early College—identified by course number that can be entered on transcript.

(3)Additional clarification and training will be provided regarding the College and Career Ready Indicators.

c)Assessments.

(1)Testing and ACT Aspire information (H2).

(2)ACT, IB, AP, and WorkKeys —SDE will obtain data directly from testing companies for determining College and Career Ready Indicator.

(3)The ACT will be administered to every eleventh grade student April 23, 2014 or make-up date, May 7, 2014.

(4)Spring of 2015- WorkKeyswill be administered to every twelfth grade student.

(5)AAA Assessment (H3).

(6)Data Notes:

(a)We no longer have the DRC process to update demographic information after the test is administered.

(b)We will no longer accept appeals related to demographics.

(c)Incorrect assessment labels are an indication that demographic information in iNOW needs updating. Please take time to make necessary corrections in iNOW.

(d)iNOW will be the source data for demographic and enrollment information. The information entered at the LEA/school level is the only information we will use for accountability. All student data as it relates to student demographics, schedules, and location must be accurate in iNOW prior to April 15, 2014 for spring 2014 assessments.

(e)Duplicate Student IDs—We are currently running reports for students who have duplicate SSIDs. We will notify districts of any duplication issues that need to be addressed.

2)Continuous Improvement Process:

a)ASSIST—Fall 2014 ASSIST will be the platform for accreditation, regional planning, compliance monitoring, A-CIPs, 30-60-90 day plans, etc.; All A-CIPs will be required to be completed in ASSIST.

b)Special Education Continuous Improvement Process (H4).

c)Data Policies of the LEAs are required, and the policies will be a part of consolidated monitoring.

3)Other Notes:

a)We are currently working on a project with STI to move the following files from the SDE to the LEA.

i)Direct Certification File.

ii)Course Code File (Subject and Personnel File).

iii)Extract Date File.

iv)Valid Schools List.

v)Quality Core/EOC from SDE to LEA via iNOW.

vi)Winter 2014-2015 we hope to move ASPIRE results from SDE to LEA via iNOW.

b)STI Summer Release.

i)Pre-K history required on K registration (available now, required in the fall).

ii)Dual enrollment process for career tech centers and high schools.

iii)Possibly move four-year plan data at the end of the student’s ninth grade year from Kuder to iNOW.

c)Curriculum and Instruction Quarterly Meeting (H5).

d)January 2014 – Graduation Requirements FAQs and High School Diploma Work Component Requirement (H6).

4)Professionals - Currently there are two task forces working on the following:

a)Improving preparation programs.

b)Educator evaluations to include multiple measures of effectiveness as we move from highly qualified to highly effective.

c)Requirement to report misconduct (H7).

5)Guidance–Do your guidance programs promote every student earning at least one College and Career Ready Indicator?

a)Task Force Review and Update of Comprehensive Counseling and Guidance Model for Alabama Schools.

b)Career and Technical Education, Prevention and Support Services, and ACCESS counselors working collaboratively on updating model.

c)Comprehensive System of Learning Supports (H8).

d)Starting in 2014-2015, all ninth grade students will have a completed four-year plan by the end of their ninth grade academic year (H9).

6)Resources – How do you know they will be ready? Are you using the following?

a)All students given access to ACT Online Prep and WIN (WorkKeys).

b)Early Warning Systems that flag students that need additional support (GTS).

c)Formative Assessments (Global Scholar/Scantron).

d)Career Planning/Four-Year Plan (Kuder).

e)School and District Planning (ASSIST).

f)Coming soon:

i)New ALSDEWeb site will be coming soon. The Home Page along with pages for Communication, State Board, and Accountability are planned for roll-out in two to three weeks. Other sections will follow throughout the spring and summer.

ii)Fall 2014—ASA Website Project—Accountability information can be viewed online through log-in.

Reasons It Is Critical To Have All InformationCorrect at the Data Source

1. Funding—Federal and State.
2. Accountability—A-F Report Cards.
3. All Public Reports.
4. ASSIST—Accreditation Data and Planning Purposes.
5. Support—Community, School Boards.
6. Early Warning Systems—GTS—that flags the students who need additional support.
7. Professional Development.
8. Multiple Measures of Effectiveness of Teachers and Leaders.
9. Cohort Identification.
10. Schedules Application (In-field, Out-of-Field, as well as other teacher data).

As a District Leader

Know your key data levers: assessments, curriculum, data systems, calendar, data-based professional development, evidence-based decision making.

1. Establish common expectations for data use in your schools.
2. Provide ongoing professional development using data to drive instruction.
3. Establish clear means to track data and hold leaders accountable.
4. Recognize inconsistent data across data levers and ask questions.