Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/618006
Winter 2015 | WEAnews 18 Joint Education & Accountability Meetings Held sign up to receive wyoming legislative updates Send your email address to: wylegislativeupdates@gmail.com or scan the QR code to send your email address. www.wyoea.org The Select Committee on Statewide Education Accountability met December 14 in Jackson. The committee received updates on the reauthorization of Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which is now known as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). They received an update on the statewide system of support from the Wyoming Department of Education. The committee passed a bill on Alternative School Accountability that would allow alternative schools to meet Phase I accountability requirements under rules that are more appropriate for their unique school makeup. The bill passed 9 - 1 and will now move to the full legislature. The committee also passed the statewide student assessment bill. This bill outlines the framework for a new statewide assessment. It would require all third through tenth grade students to be tested in English language arts and math. It would also require students in fourth, eighth and tenth grades to be tested in science. All eleventh grade students would still be required to take a college readiness exam, which is currently the ACT. The bill limits the amount of time that could be spent on statewide assessment to no more than one percent of the yearly instructional time. It also requires that the test be given as late as practical in the instructional school year and still allow for the return of the results in sufficient time for schools and districts to utilize the results for improvement strategies. The new assessment would be in place during the 2017-18 school year. The Joint Education Committee met in Jackson on December 15. They received a series of reports on the 2015 recalibration effort, early childhood education, college- and career-readiness, and school finance audits. The committee sponsored a bill that would extend the use of the money school districts receive for extended day and summer school programs to allow it to also be used for pre-K services. They also heard testimony on increasing the award amounts for all levels of the Hathaway Scholarship Awards. A bill to increase each level of the Hathaway Scholarship by ten percent passed the Joint Education Committee and will now go to the full legislature.