Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/466345
February 2015 isea.org • ISEA Communiqué 2 BRIEFS NEWS Help with science standards The Iowa Department of Education is seeking comment on the state's science standards. In addition to a series of public forums scheduled for Feb. 24 in Ottumwa, Feb. 25 in Dubuque and Feb. 26 in Sioux City, the department created an online survey for interested parties to provide input. The survey located at: www.surveymonkey.com/s/ VW6SHDY?c=Iowa_Science_Survey closes on Friday, Feb. 27. Feedback from the February public forums and survey will be used to provide guidance to the science standards review team, which is expected to submit a final recommendation regarding science standards to the State Board of Education later this year. "Standards are about setting consistent, rigorous learning goals statewide and leaving decisions about curriculum and teaching to local school administrators and teachers," Department of Education Director Brad Buck said in announcing the forums and survey. "If our goal is to make sure Iowa students are ready for college and career training after high school, we must have clear, consistent statewide standards." To read the Next Generation Science Standards, visit: www.nextgenscience.org To read Iowa's academic standards, visit: iowacore.gov More choose public schools Public school enrollment increased for the 2014- 15 school year from the year before, according to statistics released by the Iowa Department of Education. A total of 480,772 students enrolled in K-12 schools for the 2014-15 school year, that is up from 478,921 in the 2013-14 school year. The bump continues a four-year trend of overall enrollment gains in Iowa's public schools which reversed 17 consecutive years of declining enrollment across the state. Jay Pennington, chief of the Iowa Department of Education's Bureau of Information and Analysis, said the enrollment is due, in part, to an upswing in birth rates from 2003 to 2008, but they have leveled off in more recent years. "We expect that statewide student enrollment will follow the same pattern in the next few years," Pennington said in a news release announcing the figures. Despite the statewide enrollment increase in 2014- 15, a majority of the state's 338 school districts, 52 percent, had declining enrollment, according to department figures. The smallest districts faced the largest losses with more than 60 percent of districts with fewer than 600 students experiencing an enrollment decline in 2014-15 from the year before. Of those smallest districts, well over 70 percent experienced declining enrollment in the past five years, from 2010-11 to 2014-15. NEA supports challenge to evaluations The National Education Association backs the lawsuit filed by two Tennessee teachers which challenges the constitutionality of evaluating most teachers in the state based on standardized test scores. The lawsuit argues that these arbitrary, irrational and unfair policies violate the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. "Students in Tennessee are being shortchanged because of the state's arbitrary and irrational evaluation system that provides no meaningful feedback on their instruction," said NEA President Lily Eskelsen García, in a prepared statement. "This unfair broken system conditions the teacher's employment on the basis of standardized test scores for courses they do not teach, including some from students they do not teach at all. The system is senseless and indefensible but, worst of all, it doesn't help kids." High school seniors needed Two Iowa high school seniors have the opportunity to receive full scholarships to attend the National Youth Science Camp (NYSC) this summer in West Virginia where they will exchange ideas with scientists and other professionals in the academic and corporate worlds. The camp includes lectures and hands-on research projects presented by scientists from across the nation; overnight camping trips into the Monongahela National Forest; and a visit to Washington D.C. The selected delegates must not only demonstrate academic achievement in science, but also show potential for thoughtful scientific leadership. The camp is made available at no cost to the scholarship recipients. Delegates arrive in Charleston, West Virginia, on Wednesday, June 17, and depart on Saturday, July 11. The NYSC is held near Bartow in the eastern mountains of West Virginia, within the Monongahela National Forest. Deadline to apply is March 1. Applications are found online here: apply.nysc.org Iowa BOE selects Smarter Balanced The Iowa State Board of Education endorsed a state task force recommendation to make Smarter Balanced the state test of Iowa. The endorsement came as part of a board resolution adopted during a telephonic board meeting earlier this month. Smarter Balanced is a testing assessment developed by several states and aligned to the Common Core Standards. Iowa became a governing member of the Smarter Balanced assessment team under former Department of Education Director Jason Glass, but dropped to affiliate status in 2014. Iowa's Core Standards are aligned with the Common Core. But the Common Core has become unpopular in some political circles, especially among certain conservative Republicans who fear the Common Core is akin to a federal government takeover of local education decisions. While both the Iowa Core and the Common Core set out standards, they do not dictate individual school curriculum. "Iowa needs an assessment that is closely aligned with our state standards, reflects what is taught in classrooms and moves us toward having students demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary for success beyond high school," Charlie Edwards of Des Moines, the board's president, said in an Iowa Department of Education news release. "We support the Assessment Task Force's conclusion that Smarter Balanced is the right assessment system for Iowa." Board members gave several reasons they support the Smarter Balanced assessments, the release said, including the need to accurately measure how students have progressed in meeting Iowa's academic standards. The standards represent statewide expectations for what students should know and be able to do from K through 12. The recommendation now goes to the Iowa Legislature.