Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/437000
WINTER 2014 | WEAnews 18 SBE initially met as the Vocational Board of Education. An exemplary Riverton High School program, Geometry in Construction, was showcased. It involves a consortium comprised of the high school, community college, Habitat for Humanity, and business/industry. In the State Board of Education portion of the meeting, significant discussion centered on proposed future processes for the consideration and adoption of student content and performance standards revisions. The recommendation of SBE is to change the review of each content area's standards to every eight years instead of every five, and to consider only one of the nine content areas each year except for P.E. and Health, which would be done concurrently. The actual review process proposed would involve even more opportunities for public input than currently exist. Because Phase 1 of the Wyoming accountability system "went live" this year, there is increased concern about the lack of the legislatively-mandated Statewide System of Support that was to have been created by the Wyoming Department of Education to help districts and schools improve their performance. WDE has very recently assigned a different employee to spearhead the development of the system. She described to the board her plan for hearing the needs of the districts and subsequently obtaining the expertise to assist them. Also concerning accountability, the results of the Professional Judgment Panel (PJP) and of the implementation of the Phase 1 model were presented. The consultant who conducted the PJP had several recommendations for the Wyoming accountability system, primary among those that expectations and assessments must stop changing! As he said, "If you change the measure, you can't measure the change." Since that SBE meeting, the Phase 1 results (school accountability) have been publicly released; those can be accessed through the WDE Website: http://edu.wyoming.gov/. WDE announced that it has released a request for proposal regarding training on assessment literacy and the writing of formative assessments. They hope to have the training available to the districts by spring 2015. The board passed a motion to adopt the proposed changes to Rules and Regulations Chapter 10, "Wyoming Content and Performance Standards." This includes the 2014 Language Arts and Math performance level descriptors, the 2014 Wyoming Language Arts and Math standards extensions for students with significant cognitive disabilities, and new standards for Social Studies, Physical Education, and Career/Vocational Education. The State Board has not yet set its next meeting date. If you have questions about any of the actions of either board, please contact WEA Professional Issues Director Kathy Scheurman at kscheurman@wyoea.org. PTSB and SBE Decisions - Continued from p.17 Education Association Wyoming WILL YOU CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR? 2015 Contact Legislator Banner.indd 1 12/9/14 12:15 PM WEA will contact members via email when there are important legislative issues in your district that need immediate action. Watch your email for this banner!