Leadership Matters - August 2013

Matters AUGUST 2 0 1 3 I ASA MONTHLY NEWSLETTER Leadership

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In this month’s issue

2648 Beechler Court Springfield, IL 62703-7305 217.753.2213 800 Woodfield Road, Ste. F109 Schaumburg, IL 60173-4717 847.466.5075 funding formula, graduated income tax on radar P. 19  IASA Annual Conference features dynamic lineup of speakers P. 20  Registration being accepted for Joint Educational Support Professionals Conference P. 22  Do Federal school breakfast/lunch programs benefit districts? P. 23  2013-2014 Principal Evaluation Tool P. 24  IASA News in Brief P. 26  New SB Performance Rankings File available P. 27  Getting to know your IASA Board Members P. 28  IASA Calendar P. 30 Additional Items  IASA’s 5Essentials letter to Dr. Koch P. 4  Vision 20/20 initiative seeks input from Illinois superintendents P. 11  Affordable Care Act leaves school districts in legal limbo P. 15  New state law mandates school shooting drill P. 16  Concentrate on improving teaching, not just getting rating P. 17  Enhanced P.E. Task Force offers webinar P. 18  Legislative Agenda: School

New school year brings challenges P. 7-10

Message from the new IASA President-Let’s try common sense approach P. 6

Common Core issues bubble up in state P. 12

ISBE unveils metric value tables P. 13

IASA Newsletter Editor Michael Chamness mchamness@iasaedu.org

Assistant Editor Mary Ellen Buch mbuch@iasaedu.org

1200 West Main Street Marion, IL 62959-1138 618.364.0501

Volume 1, Issue 8

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‘Back to School’ edition offers info to take into new school year It hardly seems like it could

That story seems quite timely as the issue appears to be bubbling up throughout the state.  An update on the impact of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as “Obamacare,” on school districts that was co-authored by IASA Associate Director and Legal Counsel Sara Boucek and Barbara Erickson, an attorney who specializes in employee benefits, with an emphasis on state and federal pension laws and health insurance with Hodges, Loizzi, Eisenhammer, Rodick & Kohn, LLP.  Diane Hendren, IASA’s Director of Governmental Relations/Chief of Staff, offers a glimpse of the main education legislative issues that likely will be on the General Assembly’s radar for the 2013-14 school year -- and notes that the next few weeks are really good times to make contact with your elected representatives while they are back in their districts.  Dr. Richard Voltz, IASA Associate Director for Professional Development, writes about teacher evaluation from the viewpoint that the observations and evaluations should be more about improving teaching than just coming up with a rating.  Noting that the Catlin School District has withdrawn from the Federal Lunch Program, IASA Field Services Director for the Northcentral Super Region, Dr. Bill Phillips – who also withdrew his district from the program back in the 1970s when he was serving as a superintendent -- writes about that federal program.  A story about the new School

be time for school to start again, but here we are -- and clearly it will be another very challenging year for public education. It is our hope that this “Back to School” edition of Leadership Matters can supply you with some helpful

Message from the Executive Director Dr. Brent Clark

information to take into battle. Working with the IASA Board of Directors, I have written a letter to State Superintendent Dr. Chris Koch asking him to consider delaying the public reporting of the 5Essentials Survey until next year and use this first year’s results to formulate a statewide baseline, and also to give ISBE time to improve the survey itself in order to make the results more relevant to school districts and to the public. That letter can be found on page 4. Among the other topics included in this month’s newsletter:  New IASA President Dr. Steve Webb offers his thoughts and promises a common-sense approach for his tenure. I think Steve’s approach is a very good fit for IASA and for tackling the issues currently facing educators.  Several IASA Board members identify what they view as their main challenge going into the new school year and offer their plans to address those challenges. Dr. Nick Osborne, IASA Field Services Director for the Southern Super Region, also offers some practical tips for going into a new school year.  The Vision 20/20 initiative is in full swing, and this month’s update is about a survey of our superintendents that will be vitally important to the success of our goal to develop a road map for the future of public education in Illinois. The survey offers all superintendents a chance to express their views, and those views will help shape the agenda for the Vision 20/20 work groups. The more superintendents we hear from, the better and more reliable the data will be – and the more weight the final plan will carry.  Dr. Lindsey Hall, superintendent in Morton Community Unit District 709, shares her experiences regarding participating in a public meeting with members of the Morton-Tazewell Tea Party regarding their concerns and objections to the Common Core State Standards.

Safety Act changes recently signed into law requiring that an emergency response drill involving a shooting incident must be held annually at each school building that houses students. That story was written by Grace S. Park, a University of Chicago student who is serving as an intern at IASA this summer.

Grace Park IASA Intern

Grace is a fourth-year psychology and biological sciences major who was selected as a 2013 University of Chicago Metcalf Fellow in partnership with the university’s Institute of Politics. Grace was born in Mendota and grew up (Continued on page 4)

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IASA’s 5Essentials letter to State Superintendent Dr. Koch Friday, August 2, 2013 Dear Dr. Koch, I am writing on behalf of the Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA) Board of Directors to request that you consider delaying the public reporting of the 5Essentials Survey until next year and use this first year’s results to formulate a statewide baseline, and also to give ISBE time to improve the survey itself in order to make the results more relevant to school districts and to the public. We are not calling for a repeal of the survey. We are simply asking for time to allow stakeholders and ISBE to work together to make the survey a product that would yield more credible data, thereby making the information more valid for school districts to consider going forward in an attempt to make improvements. We appreciate your decision to re-score the survey using statewide data as a benchmark instead of trying to compare all schools throughout the state to the Chicago Public Schools. In terms of demographics -- including size and socio-economic status – one simply cannot compare CPS to all other schools in our very diverse state. Our representatives on the advisory panel questioned from the start that approach by the statisticians from the University of Chicago, and we are encouraged by ISBE’s decision on this issue. While having a more reliable benchmark would be an important improvement, our Board and other superintendents have identified some other issues from this first round of surveys that we think merit further consideration. Those issues include:  The security of the survey. We are aware of instances where the percentage of responses was greater than 100 percent – even after corrections were made to the number of potential respondents. Unless the survey is secure in terms of who was able to fill them out and how many times a particular person could fill out the survey, the results are simply not credible. The approach that individual districts could invalidate its results if it could prove some sort of fraud places the burden on the wrong party. Those who are conducting the survey should have the responsibility to prove that their survey is secure because they are the ones who know how the security for the survey was designed. School administrators are not trained to be investigators and they have far too many other items on their plate this time of year to be investigating security issues with this survey.  The scoring of results. The conclusions do not appear to match up with the actual results. For example, in many instances cited, a very high percentage of responses (above 85 percent and even 100 percent in some cases) were “Strongly Agree” or “Agree” – both positive answers – but because not enough (Continued on page 5) in Wisconsin. She said she considers education as one of the most important pursuits in this world, and wants her work at IASA to reflect the importance and priority she places on constantly improving the education agenda.  A story about ISBE’s new Value Table for Growth Metric, an attempt to provide school districts with a tool to show growth rather than just the pass/fail data that gets reported regarding AYP. IASA stands ready to assist you throughout the school year and to continue our advocacy for public education in Illinois. Our Annual Conference is scheduled for October 9-11 in Springfield, so please mark those dates on your calendar. We have an outstanding group of speakers lined up, and we plan to feature the upcoming conference in the September issue of Leadership Matters. I again want to thank you for all that you do to offer top-notch educational opportunities for the children of Illinois. It’s not easy work. It can be thankless work in terms of public perception and feedback, and often it’s made even more difficult because of budget cuts and additional mandates. But your work is vitally important to the future of your community, state and nation because that’s what your students represent – and those students are the bottom-line reason we all chose this profession. Dr. Clark’s ‘Back to School’ message ———————————————————— (Continued from page 3)

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(Continued from page 4)

responses were in the “Strongly Agree” category the end result was a school being labeled “Neutral” or “Weak” in a category. We are told that probably is the result of scoring on a bell curve, which inherently creates “winners” and “losers.” Regardless, the results are undermined and become invalid when “Agree” ends up being counted as a negative response because the respondent clearly was “agreeing” with a statement not knowing that “Strongly Agrees” actually was the only answer that would count as a positive response.  Some of the survey questions are unclear or set up for failure. For example, questions about parental

visits to classrooms simply do not apply in many cases, especially in high schools. For that matter, given today’s safety concerns do we even want lots of parents in the school buildings when many schools already are struggling with security concerns? Some schools, like Pittsfield High School, operate on a Block 8 system, meaning classes meet every other day. How is a math question where the best response is “We do this most every day” valid for a class that doesn’t even meet every day?

“In summation, due to the inaccuracies because of the invalidity and unreliability of the survey results, the consequences of the release of information from this survey as it currently exists could be very hurtful and harmful to school districts. We do not believe that is the goal of ISBE. “

Similarly, as Dr. Chris Clark of Zion-Benton Township High School District 126 mentioned in her letter to you, how can a principal of a very large school be expected to know what’s going on in every classroom? The question refers only to the principal and fails to refer to any other type of administrator who might be the principal’s designee, such as an assistant principal, department or division chair. How are teachers supposed to answer that question in a case where other administrators have visited their classrooms regularly? Those are three general areas of concern that remain even after the issue of comparing all Illinois schools to CPS schools. We believe that ultimately this survey could be a useful tool, but not as it is currently constructed and administered. The premature release of this first-year data very likely will paint a distorted picture of many schools and be one more weight placed on school districts and administrators, who will be left to try and explain the flaws in the survey when all the media and the general public will focus on will be the summative conclusions. Why rush to release data that may not be reliable, especially in the form of comparative summative ratings? As I said earlier, it would seem to be a more prudent approach to sit down with stakeholders, take a look at all of these issues with an eye toward improving the survey and use this year’s results to start forming a benchmark. If these first-year results must be made public for some reason, then we believe those results should be reported as the percentages for each response (for example, 25 percent “Strongly Agree,” 70 percent “Agree,” 3 percent “Disagree,” and 2 percent “Strongly Disagree.”) It is simply too early to try and use comparative data and make a summative evaluation based on norms that are not yet well established. In summation, due to the inaccuracies because of the invalidity and unreliability of the survey results, the consequences of the release of information from this survey as it currently exists could be very hurtful and harmful to school districts. We do not believe that is the goal of ISBE. Thank you for your consideration of this letter. As a statewide association, IASA stands ready to assist you in a good-faith effort to review and improve the 5Essentials Survey. Sincerely,

Brent Clark, Ph.D., Executive Director Illinois Association of School Administrators

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Let’s try common sense approach As the busy summer of a

unintended or even the untenable. I have found that the IASA staff and Board of Directors work very hard to assist us in our duties and, possibly most importantly, provide focus to our state leaders and the general public on the real issues we face. When I accepted my first superintendency, a colleague once reminded me of the old adage that it was truly “lonely at the top” and added that as a school superintendent, friends can quickly become enemies and your enemies multiply. In my 20 years as a school administrator, I have found those words both frightening and highly accurate. I am very proud to be a part of IASA – the only statewide organization that is always there for us and works tirelessly to aid in our quest for educational excellence. I am very humbled and honored to be President of this association and hope that I can contribute some common sense when helping our state leaders deal with issues that are certainly “common” over time, but where the problems are due largely to a lack of “sense”. Thank you again for all you do for our children. I truly hope your summer was restful as well as peaceful, and that the coming year is full of great and powerful achievements. Lastly, never lose sight of the destination, and may God bless us in our endeavor to shape a better future.

superintendent draws to a close, please allow me to say how much I appreciate the job that each and every one of you do. I know it is extremely difficult to maintain a positive attitude in the politically charged and always complex Illinois public education system, but now more than ever the thousands of children we serve every single day need us at the top of our game.

Message from the IASA President Dr. Steve Webb

As I reflect on the many various situations we have traversed the past several years, with education reform at the top of the list, I find myself looking for a beacon in a sea of perpetual change – much like a lighthouse guides us from darkness to destination. Although our destination seems to be a moving target, we still open the doors daily to our future. We still love and nurture those students, and we still strive to provide a first-class education to the children of Illinois no matter what might be the political agenda of the day. The Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA) serves as that beacon of light to help guide school administrators through the perils of the

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New school year brings challenges IASA superintendents offer their views For this “Back to School” issue of Leadership Matters, we posed a two-part question to superintendents who are serving on the IASA Board of Directors. The questions were:  What do you see as the biggest challenge heading into the new school year? And  How do you plan to address that challenge? The responses we received covered a variety of topics and are listed below and on the following pages.

Tim Buss Wabash District 348 Wabash Valley Region

Dr. John Correll Salt Creek 48 Du Page Region

“Implementation of the Common Core Standards and the PARCC Assessment are the biggest challenges. We have been planning for this for over a year and hope it goes smoothly.”

“The biggest challenge I see

for this coming year is not one of the specific legal or technical issues we face with increasing regularity, but the challenge of keeping our school community focused on the positive attributes of our educational system. While we always take a hard look at areas we need to improve on, and develop plans for those improvements, I believe the glass is half full and we need to be proud of our students, staff and families. We are a popular, and too often easy, target for those that want to blame schools for anything they are concerned about, and we need to remind them that we know what we are doing and that good things are going on in our schools. “I plan to address this with consistent regular communication to our community in a variety of ways about the good things happening in our schools.”

Paula Hawley Pikeland Community Unit District 10 Two Rivers Region

“Our biggest challenge for this year is keeping up on all of the new requirements — Common

Core, new teacher evaluation systems, new reporting systems from the state, etc. I truly feel like there is not enough time in the day to do everything that is being asked of our teachers, schools, and districts. “How to address it? I can’t create time. I can only work with the time I have, keep my staff calm, and hope that my administrators and teachers don’t go crazy in the process of addressing everything that is being asked of them. I am starting to see burnout in even my very youngest teachers, and it is very concerning.”

“My challenge is to maintain focus on our local goals and real reform in a time of many distractions.

Dr. Jonathan Heerboth West Prairie CU 103 Western Region

I remind myself that I was hired to lead. Each day I give the distractions their due, set them aside, and then bring myself back to the real work of concentrating on teaching and learning in our district. It would be possible to fill my days doing what others say is important. My job is to concentrate on the work that will best serve our students' needs as we move forward toward our district's goals.”

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Ron Jacobs Riverdale Comm Unit District 100 Blackhawk Region

Dr. Jason D. Henry Sesser-Valier Comm 196 Egyptian Region

“In my view, the biggest challenge for school personnel heading into the 2013- 2014 school year is meeting the needs of all children while coping with education

“I feel the biggest challenge I face heading into the

reform initiatives of outside, political groups. We plan to focus on meeting students’ needs based on local community needs, and pay attention to, but not be distracted by, the ebb/flow of reform initiatives so that when our local goals align with reform initiatives, we can benefit from the larger dialogue.”

new school year is finding time and resources to provide meaningful professional development for teachers. In the past, we used Block Grant funds to help provide this training to our staff. Now, without those funds, combined with the number of mandated changes we are trying to implement, it places further stress on both the budget, and our teachers. To address this challenge, we attempt to train our best teachers, and ask them to present what they learn to their colleagues. This gives these teachers ownership when they are either asked to attend a workshop, or they request to attend one. They also understand that it is sort of a privilege to get to attend a conference, and not a ‘right’ as perhaps it once was. We also will use many of our own ‘experts’ to train their colleagues, as well as utilizing our Regional Office of Education. In simpler terms, it all boils down to time and money!”

President-Elect Scott Kuffel Geneseo Community Unit District 228 Blackhawk Region

“The biggest challenge for 2013-14 is continuing down the path towards student growth for principal and teacher evaluation, particularly in those areas that are not as easily ‘quantifiably calculated.’ It seems self-evident to me that a teacher of a Building Trades house with 20 students, who successfully completes an 1800-square-foot house, without incident, and high student engagement, and can sell it for a profit, has demonstrated student learning and value- added growth, but we're never quite sure if that meets the letter of the evaluation regulations. Likewise with that choir teacher or art teacher, who typically are more performance- or product-based in their teaching and assessment, but who do not have the same metrics that a math teacher may have available. I plan to address the challenge by being as resourceful as possible in working with our faculty, administration and with those colleagues from IASA who have great answers and experience in these areas.”

Dan Marenda La Salle Elementary District 122 Starved Rock Region

“Since I have a property poor school district that is very dependent on General State Aid, having the finances to maintain our programs and keeping staff employed is an ongoing challenge for my district. We have spent down our fund balances rather than cutting teachers and programs and now face the tough decisions that come as the fund balances are reaching critical levels that would not support another deficit budget year. We cut two staff positions and are not replacing two other retiring teaching positions. We are also planning to borrow the maximum possible in the Working Cash Fund in order to supplement the inadequate revenue in the Ed Fund. We have already cut back in spending on supplies and other discretionary areas. We are changing to self insurance for our Major Medical insurance in order to save additional dollars. We continue to advocate for full funding of the General State Aid formula.”

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Cliff McClure Paxton-Buckley-Loda CU 10 Corn Belt Region

“The biggest challenge is to continue to implement and maintain, with integrity, mandated as well as local initiatives and services designed to promote student achievement in a climate of uncertain financial

stability. These include but are not limited to: Common Core State Standards, PARCC, RTI, Early Childhood, School Safety, Continuous Staff Professional Development, Transportation, PERA Requirements and Personnel. Continue the cautious, thoughtful, and conservative allocation of human and fiscal resources. Working individually and in collaboration with IASA, emphasize to the ISBE and Legislature the critical importance of a reliable and sufficient revenue source to adequately operate and maintain these programs. “

Dr. Kevin O’Mara Argo Comm 217 Cook South Region

Victor White, III Prairieview-Ogden CCSD 197 Illini Region

“I feel that our biggest challenge remains the funding uncertainty surrounding the state's support for teaching and learning. The proration was kept constant, but is still woefully inadequate to meet the needs of our schoolchildren. The looming pension ‘fix’ that will almost certainly demand that school districts either wholly or partially fund the normal costs going forward will only serve to exacerbate the situation. I just don't see it getting better in either the short or long term. I will continue to be fiscally conservative, budgeting for less than I hope for on the revenue side and working with our staff and Board of Education to minimize negative effects on our kids.”

“In a word: finance. We did RIFs and most likely will have to do it again. Also we are putting an education referendum for vote in March 2014. Along with the new teacher evaluation, lunch rules, loss of transportation funds, the list can go on and on.”

Dr. Steve Webb Goreville Comm Unit 1 Shawnee Region

“Balancing budgets while maintaining top tier education excellence with potentially drastic increases in costs due to the state legislature’s attempts to transfer their responsibilities onto local school districts and, thus local taxpayers. These

“moving targets” expenses and “prorations” (cuts) in promised anticipated revenue are causing us to increase class sizes and decrease offerings without a firm grasp on what we are actually going to need in revenues to support our program

expenses.

We are making minor cuts in many areas in hopes of staving off the seemingly inevitable total programming cuts.”

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Back to School: Tips for thriving, not just surviving

Here we are once again, families are returning from summer vacations, students are returning from summer camp, teachers are decorating and preparing classrooms, and the annual “Back to School” advertisements are popping up in the local newspapers and on the radio and television airways. The

Contact local, civic, fraternal and professional organizations to schedule opportunities to make a presentation regarding the new school year for the district. This is also a great time to include a message about the merits of the public education system. Keep in mind that local groups are always looking for presentations for their weekly or monthly programs. Plan on scheduling an opportunity each month to deliver a message about your school and the importance of the public education system. It is time for us to recapture the conversation regarding the merits of the public school system. Develop the all-inclusive “Back to School” agenda. Share this agenda as part of your communication activities. Plan ‘Back to School’ events Hold an annual “Back to School” meeting and engage your staff in the planning of the meeting. Keep the focus of the meeting positive and upbeat. Provide refreshments and pre meeting time for socialization. Provide a formal “Welcome Back to School” message. Include representation from the Board of Education and the staff/faculty unions, and clearly set out the district goals for the new school year and emphasize the upcoming opportunities and challenges. Also talk about statutory and funding changes, new policies, or updates to your district’s regulations. It is essential to share the district’s key vision, priorities and successes with staff at the start of the school year. Staff can serve as communication ambassadors who carry key messages to a wider audience. Recognize any retirements and resignations that would have occurred over the summer and formally introduce all new staff members. Encourage each school to establish “Back to School” events that provide for the students, parents and staff an energetic and exciting return to school. Schedule “Back to School” visits. Visit each of the schools during the first two days to welcome back the students and the staff. It's important to acknowledge all of the faculty and staff in your district, you are all working together as a (Continued on page 11)

Dr. Nick Osborne Field Services Director, IASA

much anticipated summer vacation is quickly coming to an end. Yes, here it comes…another school year! The start of a new school year is a special event; some even consider it a holiday. It is an exciting time for the students, parents, faculty, staff and administration. For the school superintendent, it is an excellent opportunity to engage the district stakeholders, reinforce the districts values, and communicate goals, beliefs and strategic initiatives. The “Back to School” environment is also an excellent opportunity to promote all that is good about public education. There are a number of activities a school superintendent should pursue to secure a successful beginning of the new school year. The following list represents some of the approaches that are considered important in focusing on the launch of a new school year: Focus on communications Develop a list of “Back to School” talking points, including things such as a brief review of the previous year’s accomplishments, goals and strategic initiatives for the new school year, challenges and opportunities, and special events for the new school year. Develop a “Back to School” news release for your district and distribute via your local media contact list to stimulate and promote the local media’s interest in the district’s return to school. Utilize your talking points. This is a great opportunity to advance a positive message about your school district and to also promote the value and importance of the public education systems. Develop “Back to School” welcome letters for staff and faculty, administration, the Board of Education, parents and students. Utilize your talking points to develop the “Back to School Welcome” for the district’s website.

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Vision 20/20 initiative seeks input from Illinois superintendents Survey of school leaders ends August 16; to be followed by community survey

IASA’s Vision 20/20 initiative is entering a new phase by conducting a survey of Illinois school superintendents and other school leaders regarding their thoughts about public education and specifically about areas on which the Vision 20/20 committees are focused.

to disseminate the survey link to their community by using their school district communications lists and websites. “The data from both surveys will be extremely important to the work of the Vision 20/20 committees,” said Dr. John Gatta, president and chief operating officer of ECRA Group, Inc., a Rosemont- based national research, leadership and strategic planning firm whose role will be to manage, facilitate and document the project. “The institutional knowledge and expertise of superintendents throughout the state can be a powerful tool in the development of this strategic plan for the transformation of public education in Illinois.” existence.” Provide a “Back to School” theme for the school district’s board of education meeting. The start of a new school year is an important time for the educational community. It is a time to instill an excitement about learning and a time for communicating to all individuals the mission and vision for your school district. It is also an opportunity to bring a renewed awareness of the importance of the public school system. Successful school superintendents tend to approach “Back to School” as a holiday event that provides opportunities for reflection, renewal and stimulation to promote new energy for the purpose of focusing on establishing a quality educational opportunity for all students. Best wishes for a great “Back to School” coupled with another excellent school year!

“It’s really important to tap into the expertise and insights of the real education leaders, the people on the front lines throughout the state,” said IASA Executive Director Dr. Brent Clark. “I encourage all school superintendents to take a few minutes to offer their thoughts regarding what public education ought to look like. The information gleaned from this survey will help guide the work of the Vision 20/20 committees, and your voice could have a lasting impact on the future of public education in Illinois.” Following the conclusion of the school administrators survey, a survey invitation will be sent to the broader community. The survey of the general public is scheduled begin on August 19 and run through September 15. IASA members will be asked school year is a positive experience for all of your students and their families." Meet with your administrative cadre to discuss the “Back to School” agenda and provide an opportunity for engaged conversation regarding the new school year. Encourage each administrator to embrace the “Back to School” holiday/event concept. Meet with your facility management team and schedule a facility walk-through for each site to inspect all facility maintenance and construction projects and to inspect the condition of each building to determine readiness for the opening day of school. Establish a formal meeting with all new staff members. Use this time to provide your own personal welcome to the school district. Make sure they walk away with a strong sense of “meaningful (Continued from page 10)

Back to school tips ————————————————————

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Common Core issues bubble up in state Dispelling myths with facts, and sharing concerns is approach that resonates

By Michael Chamness IASA Director of Communications

“ One of the main points we tried to make is that curriculum and instruction is still under the control of the local school board. No one is telling us

With everything else that is swirling about public education, some school leaders in the state are being asked to explain the Common Core State Standards Illinois and 44 other states have adopted. Dr. Lindsey Hall, Superintendent of Morton Community Unit District 709, Assistant Superintendent Craig Smock, and Troy Teater, director of curriculum and technology, recently spoke at a meeting of the Morton-Tazewell 9.12 Tea Party. They presented factual information about Common Core and then answered questions from the more than 40 attendees. “We just shared the facts about Common Core, the sources of our information, and our experiences as school administrators,” Hall said. “One of the main points we tried to make is that curriculum and instruction is still under the control of the local school board. No one is telling us what books to read in English class.” Hall’s experience in Morton is hardly unique. There is a website called “Stop Common Core Illinois” ( www.stopcommoncoreillinois.org ), and questions about Common Core persist not just in conservative political groups, but also in Parent Teacher Organizations (PTOs) and in the general public. Issues raised by the group in Morton were pretty much in line with opinions expressed on the website referenced above, including concerns about standards being too low and too much government intervention, ranging from a perceived federal control of curriculum to the gathering of personal information about students. Hall said she distributed a CCSS Informational Sheet , encouraged the group to read the standards themselves, and pointed them to websites that contain pros and cons about Common Core. She also shared some of her concerns about Common Core with the group. “One of my big concerns is that Common Core is another unfunded mandate, but in the world of public schools that is not unique. Mandates get passed all the time with no money to fund them,” said Hall, noting that her district is fortunate to have the hardware, software and bandwidth capacity needed to conduct the Common Core assessments, but that many other school districts might need to upgrade or add those capabilities. Other Common Core issues Hall cited included

the time spent conducting the assessments and the resulting loss of instruction time as well as questions about the assessments themselves. But she has no objection to the standards themselves. “We didn’t go to the meeting to make a sales pitch for it,” Hall said. “But we made the point that having learning standards is not a new thing for us. Illinois enacted state learning standards back in 1997, and those were preceded in 1985 by the Illinois State Goals. We can’t blame everything on Common Core. “Collecting data about students is also not a new activity for public school districts, but ‘data mining’ is definitely a concern of groups like the Tea Party. The people we talked with, I believe, were receptive to our message because we did balance the positives with our concerns, and openly answered questions.” Hall said she was glad to have been able to meet with three of the Morton group’s leaders prior to the public meeting. She said setting parameters for the public discussion and requesting submission of questions in advance paved the way for the public discussion about Common Core to be efficient, respectful and productive. She also said she emphasized that standards are not the determining factor in a child’s education. “The single most important factor remains the teacher in the classroom. It doesn’t matter what standards we adopt if we don’t have great teachers.” what books to read in English class…. The single most important factor remains the teacher in the classroom. It doesn’t matter what standards we adopt if we don’t have great teachers .” —Dr. Lindsey Hall Morton Community Unit 709

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ISBE unveils growth metric value tables By Michael Chamness IASA Director of Communications

Standards,” “Meets Standards,” “Below Standards,” and “Academic Warning” into “A” and “B” categories, in effect creating eight categories instead of just four, and awarding growth points for moving from the lower to higher subdivision within a category. Recognizing that it is more difficult to show growth for high-performing students and awarding significant points for maintaining the performance of top students. “The goal is to show growth even among the highest-performing students, and the Value Table acknowledges that the room for growth is less among top performing schools and districts,” O’Brian explained. The accompanying Value Table uses color coding to help interpret the results. The gray cells represent students who have maintained their performance from year to year, while the green cells represent students who have achieved a higher level of proficiency and the red cells represent students whose performance has declined.

In an attempt to go deeper and provide a more nuanced look than No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is unveiling Value Tables as a Growth Metric to provide schools and school districts another way of demonstrating progress. “We wanted something that could help measure growth instead of just the pass/fail standards used in the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) reports,” said Mary O’Brian, ISBE’s Director of Assessment. “We wanted to try to create something that was valid, reliable and fair from the standpoint that results do not favor one type of school district over another. AYP does not provide a nuanced look at the performance of schools or districts.” The Value Tables (see table below) award points based on a student’s growth from one year to the next. Some of the features used to go deeper than AYP’s measurements include: Dividing the AYP categories of “Exceeds

(Continued on page 14)

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(Continued from page 13) ISBE unveils growth metric value tables——————————

a step closer to real data at the state level that we can use to make sound educational decisions for our students as they progress from year to year and hopefully better informed decisions regarding the overall performance of our schools.” In addition to Webb, other superintendents on the panel included Dr. Thomas Leonard of Barrington and Brad Hutchison, who recently retired as Superintendent of Olympia District 16 after a distinguished career of more than 30 years in public education. O’Brian said the range of points (0-200) and the values assigned to maintaining, progressing or regressing in the eight categories were determined collaboratively with the stakeholders on the panel. Another factor that comes into play especially for the coming school year is the elevation of the bar for the ISAT test administered to students in grades 3-8. The “meets” bar has been raised significantly and, applying the new performance levels to last year’s scores, could result in up to 25 percent more students failing to meet standards statewide. That -- and the fact that so many schools and districts nationwide are failing to meet the unrealistic AYP standards of NCLB (only 17.7 percent of Illinois districts met AYP in 2012) -- is precisely the reason for implementation of the Value Table as a Growth Metric in Illinois. “The Value Table was chosen as Illinois’ growth metric because of the relative transparency of this metric,” O’Brian said. “It provides another measure of the effectiveness of school and district programs and adds to the AYP picture in a way in which schools and districts can show growth.”

The vertical axis is the performance in Year 1 and the horizontal axis is the Year 2 performance. The intersection represents the points awarded for growth. A school’s or district’s growth is computed by taking the total number of students’ growth points and dividing them by the number of students. For this year, the Year 1 axis will represent new performance levels applied to last year’s scores. The concept and the final points in the Value Table are the result of meetings with an advisory panel that included ISBE personnel, statisticians and representatives from stakeholder groups such as IASA, the Illinois Principals Association (IPA), the Regional Offices of Education (ROE), the Illinois Education Association (IEA), the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT), and Illinois universities. “The first meeting was kind of contentious,” said Dr. Steve Webb, Superintendent of Goreville Community Unit District 1 and President of IASA. “There were lots of positive comments about the direction ISBE was attempting to go, but very little agreement among practitioners and statisticians. Concerns were raised about things like the effects of small class size and the issue of fairly representing the growth of high-performing students and districts.” Webb said the meeting had to be continued to another date of which he was unable to attend, but said the proposed Value Table that ISBE and the panel came up with seems to have addressed those concerns. “We identified the need for individual progression data decades ago and although there are many other factors that our schools use to gauge progress than just the ISAT, it appears we are finally going to move

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Affordable Care Act leaves school districts in legal limbo

SARA BOUCEK, IASA Associate Director/ Legal Counsel and BARBARA A. ERICKSON, a partner at Hodges, Loizzi, Eisenhammer

It has been a common practice in Illinois school districts for school administrators to receive greater health insurance benefits than other school district employees. Usually, the Board of Education pays the full cost of the administrator’s health insurance premiums for both single and family coverage while the other employees only receive paid or partially paid single coverage. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act (“Act”), school boards could be forced to end this practice. Specifically, the Act now prohibits employer- sponsored, fully insured group health plans from discriminating in favor of highly compensated individuals with regard to eligibility to participate in the health plan and the level and type of benefits provided. Thus, a health plan where school administrators have their insurance premiums paid at a higher rate than other employees runs a potential risk of being found to be discriminatory under the Act. If an insured health plan is found to be discriminatory, the penalty to the employer is equal to $100 per day, per individual discriminated against, as well as possible injunction. Although the nondiscrimination “It is vital, however, that school districts and administrators

act immediately to equalize the employer-paid insurance premiums of all employees. As a result, many school districts are not waiting for further guidance and are heeding this advice and acting now. It is vital, however, that school districts and administrators proceed with caution when attempting to equalize the payment of premiums. Such adjustments can have long-term TRS and IRS implications. For example, decreasing non-TRS creditable employer-paid insurance premiums could be considered conversion by TRS and result in a significant impact at the time of retirement. As an alternative, some districts are simply adding re- opener language to administrator contracts -- but this approach also could be problematic due to pending pension reform legislation. It is important to note that even prior to the passage of the Act, this nondiscrimination rule applied to self-insured health plans and, unlike the Act’s nondiscrimination provision, the self-insured rule’s enforcement has not been delayed. If a self- insured plan is discriminatory, the penalty is full taxation of the employee of the benefits received under the plan. Thus, it is critical that school districts find out if they are self-insured or fully insured. If the plan is a self-insured plan and is discriminatory, contact with legal counsel should be initiated immediately to discuss options. In the end, consultation with legal counsel on behalf of the school district and impacted employees is not only highly recommended, it is crucial. Rodick & Kohn LLP, represents school districts, municipalities, and park districts in all areas of the law. Ms. Erickson’s primary concentration is on employee benefits, with an emphasis on state and federal pension laws, health insurance, including the implications of the Affordable Care Act , and deferred compensation.

provision of the Act was to take effect against non- grandfathered, insured plans as early as 2010, fortunately the IRS announced that it would not enforce the nondiscrimination

proceed with caution when attempting to equalize the payment of premiums.”

rules on group insured plans until the release of further guidance. Accordingly, because enforcement of this nondiscrimination provision on group insured plans is delayed, with what we know right now, a school district could continue to provide administrators with district-paid insured plan premiums that exceed that of other employees. Please note, the law is not clear on whether the disparate payment of premiums for highly compensated individuals will even be part of the test for nondiscrimination. It is anticipated that the IRS will answer this question in future guidance. Still, several third-party administrators and insurance companies are advising school districts to

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New state law mandates school shooting drill By Grace S. Park, IASA Intern

In the aftermath of the tragic shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the General Assembly amended the School Safety Drill Act to mandate that a school shooting drill must be conducted annually at each school building containing students. Governor Pat Quinn signed Senate Bill 1625 on July 1. During the academic year, schools are to conduct six school safety drills. Three of the drills must be fire evacuation drills, including at least one in which the local fire department participates. The other three drills must include a bus evacuation drill, a severe weather and shelter-in-place drill and, per SB 1625, a law enforcement drill involving a shooting incident. Previously, schools could include a shooting incident, but were not mandated to do so. The amendment to the School Safety Drill Act was the result of the discussions that arose from Governor Quinn’s School Safety Summit. The summit was facilitated by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) and included law enforcement, fire service, public health and education representatives among its invited attendees. Another change in the law is that local law enforcement is now required to participate in the school shooting drill, much like the local fire department has been mandated to participate in school fire evacuation drills. School administrators and local law enforcement are expected, by mutual agreement, to set a date for the on-site drill during each academic year. If a mutually agreeable date cannot be compromised between the school administrator and the appropriate local law enforcement agency, the school shall still hold the drill without participation from the agency. Upon the participation of a local law enforcement agency in a law enforcement drill, the appropriate local law enforcement official shall certify that the law enforcement drill was conducted and notify the school in a timely manner of any deficiencies noted during the drill. IEMA Director Jonathan Monken said he thinks one of the benefits of the new law is that it will help set a common baseline for schools to be prepared to respond to a shooting incident. “When you look at a state like Illinois, there are 864 school districts, and almost 5,000 secondary and primary schools. So when you look at that number of institutions, that number of facilities, it stands to reason that you will see differences from school to school,” said Monken, who previously served as interim director of the Illinois State Police before being named director of IEMA in 2011. “Some

already integrate well with law enforcement, but we wanted to raise that lowest common denominator to make sure we have a better baseline for what schools are doing in terms of preparedness.” Ron Ellis, who became director of the state’s school and campus security training program after serving 19 years with the Illinois State Police, said that while the change in the School Safety Drill Act will help, there remains a need for consistency. "The problem we have found in going around the state is that everyone is doing it a little bit differently," said Ellis, whose training program is funded by the Illinois Terrorism Task Force (ITTF) and is in partnership with the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS). “The School Safety Drill Act says you will do certain types and numbers of drills. It does not say how to do them." Another issue confronting school administrators regarding the new law is whether children should be included in the school shooting drills. The law does not specifically require that students be a part of the shooting drills, leaving that decision up to individual districts. Dr. Gary Niehaus, Superintendent of McLean County Unit District 5, where a student brought a gun to a classroom and fired shots into the ceiling last fall, believes the benefits outweigh the concerns when it comes to involving students of all ages in the drills. “I think it is a major mistake not to include kids in the drills,” said Niehaus, whose district includes 13,600 students and 17 elementary schools, four junior highs and two high schools. “We are certainly sensitive to the age of the students, but still feel strongly that students, regardless of age, should be involved with drills. Prior to drills we notify parents as to what is happening and ask them to talk with their children about the situation.” Photo by David Proeber courtesy of The Pantagraph Matt Chapman, a teacher at Normal Community High School, evacuates students to Eastview Christian Church after gunfire at the high school Friday, September 7, 2012. No one was injured.

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