Latest from Nebraska Department of Education on State assessment

It appears that rather than using the MAP test as it currently exists, the plan is to provide MAP tests free to all school districts have NWEA MAP develop a separate assessment to serve as the state assessment.
Here is how it will work.

The second  assessment contract being proposed is with NWEA- Northwest Evaluation Association.

·        The contract includes MAP testing for grades 3-8 free of charge to districts and the development of statewide summative assessments that will, most likely, be initiated as fixed-form, but will transition to adaptive as soon as enough items are developed. 

·        Districts will not be required to administer NWEA MAP assessments.  However, MAP assessments will be provided to districts at no local district cost through the state contract.  Districts may choose to continue to use their previously selected nationally norm-referenced tests at their own cost if they do not want to use the MAP assessments.

·        Until NDE and NWEA negotiate the final contract, we cannot determine if there are enough current items developed to provide an adaptive summative test in spring 2018.  However, the plan includes progression to an adaptive test for the statewide summative tests in the next few years.

·        Formative assessment is included as an option.  NDE is exploring the viability of this option.

·        The contract proposal includes other strong components, such as key professional development opportunities to improve student learning and development of the predictive component of MAP results to the statewide summative tests.

• • All items for the summative general assessments grades 3-8 and alternate assessments grades 3-8 and 11 will be developed by Nebraska educators.
  • In May 2017 Nebraska educators will participate in ACT item coding, aligning the items administered in Nebraska in spring 2017 to the Nebraska State Standards.
  • In July 2017 Nebraska educators will participate in standard setting for the NeSA-English Language Arts in grades 3-8.  At this time, NDE believes this standard setting will be transferable to the NWEA spring 2018 tests.
  • A committee of representatives from Nebraska districts, ESUs, and  NDE has been involved in the process of standard setting for the subject areas included on the ACT.  The work is not yet completed.  Additional members, including post-secondary representatives, are being added, and standard setting recommendations will be determined for ACT in July 2017. Aside from results based on state standard setting, students who participated in the state administration of ACT will also receive the traditional ACT individual reports to be mailed to their home addresses from four to seven weeks after testing was completed.

Conference Art Results

Some College Professors don't meet new accreditation standards

All six Bancroft-Rosalie teachers teaching dual credit college courses meet the requirements for all classes they are teaching.

Inside Higher Ed  accessed at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/02/accreditors-rules-about-faculty-members-spark-debate-wayne-state-college-and-among?utm_source=Inside%20Higher%20Ed&utm_campaign=50cc6fd192-DNU20170502&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-50cc6fd192-199137489&mc_cid=50cc6fd192&mc_eid=d36e5d3efc

Who Defines Expertise?

Accreditor’s new rules are forcing a professor who has taught philosophy for 50 years 

to stop doing so, because her Ph.D. is in English. Many object.

By 

Colleen Flaherty

May 2, 2017

Accreditors sometimes adjust their standards to improve educational quality, and that’s what the Higher Learning Commission hoped to achieve by requiring that professors teach only within their fields of expertise, as defined by their advanced degrees. But the recent change raises questions about how to define expertise and how it can be earned -- questions that are at the heart of an ongoing debate at Wayne State College in Nebraska.

“Since I arrived at [the college], I have learned that English and philosophy have much in common. Both disciplines emphasize effective and clear communication, critical thinking, and the analysis and interpretation of texts,” said Rodney Cupp, a trained ethicist who has been teaching English courses since 2006 at Wayne, where he is chair of the joint department of language and literature. “I believe that teaching builds expertise, because preparing to teach a course is a scholarly activity. All of us on the full-time faculty know how to do scholarship, so we know how to build expertise, at least in similar fields.”

Cupp and a fellow philosopher won’t be able to teach English anymore, however, starting in the fall. And two English professors who have been teaching philosophy won’t be able to teach those classes going forward, either -- despite the fact that one of the professors has been teaching philosophy courses for over 50 years.

Seeking to “ensure that students have access to faculty members who are experts in the subject matter they teach and who can communicate knowledge in that subject to their students,” Wayne's accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission, in 2015 announced changes to its faculty roles and qualifications standards. Most significant to the situation at Wayne, the commission said that professors teaching outside the field in which they’ve earned a master’s degree or higher “should have completed a minimum of 18 graduate credit hours” in the secondary teaching area.

The guidelines leave some room for exceptions, saying that if a professor hasn’t earned 18 graduate credit hours in their second teaching discipline, “the institution should be able to explain and justify its decision to assign the individual to the courses taught,” subject to commission approval. “Tested experience,” defined as “a breadth and depth of experience outside of the classroom in real-world situations relevant to the discipline” may also substitute for credentials, the commission says.

On its face, the new standard seems somewhat obvious. No self-respecting institution would assign an accounting professor to teach history, for example, or vice versa, unless it had a good reason to do so -- such as if the person in question had dual degrees. But imagine a small, resource-strapped college assigning a philosophy course it wouldn’t otherwise be able to offer to an English professor with a strong background and interest in it -- if not a degree -- and the issue becomes a little more complicated. Think back 50 years, when said college was even smaller and regulations were fewer, and the picture becomes even blurrier.

The 50-year scenario, of course, raises another question: Do decades of teaching a discipline amount to “tested experience,” if not necessarily an accreditor’s definition of it?

Cupp, the professor at Wayne, said yes.

Pathways To Tomorrow update

Pathways To Tomorrow School Superintendents attended a meeting at West Point to discuss the future of the program.  Attending the meeting were:  John Blaylock, Northeast Community College; Steve Elliott and Tami Evetovich, Wayne State College; Superintendents, Jon Cerny Bancroft-Rosalie, Chad Boyer Wisner-Pilger, Jeff Smith Oakland-Craig, Fred Hansen Lyons-Decatur, and Bill McAllister West Point-Beemer; Diane Wolfe, and Joe Peitzmeier of ESU 2.

The focus of this meeting was to continue discussions and edits to the Memorandum of Understanding and the Partnership Agreement. John Blaylock will edit the documents for each entity to review.  It was decided by the superintendents in attendance that each school would take the Memorandum of Understanding to their respective boards at their May meeting for approval.  If passed by each board, each superintendent would sign the MOU. 

The Partnership Agreement should be finished and ready for approval at the Pathways To Tomorrow June Board Meeting. 

Senior Sneak Trip

The Bancroft-Rosalie Senior Class of 2017 met at 4:00 am Sunday morning

The fun began with a bag check- See video at https://youtu.be/-yWgzqp1kqs 

Picture of Seniors before leaving school Sunday morning

 Mrs Hermelbracht was nervous when the bus didn't show up at 4:30 am as scheduled, Our driver showed up 10 minutes late, and the group finally left at 4:50. The driver drove through rain all the way to Kansas City. The fun continued as we searched for a place to stop in St. Joe for a quick bathroom and food break. After trying three different exits, we located a McDonalds nearby.
The bus arrived at Worlds of Fun at 10:00 am just as the park opened.

It continued to rain for the first two hours we were at Worlds of Fun, and there were was hardly any people there. There were no lines at any of the rides so those that wanted to moved quickly from ride to ride.
Riding the Mamba and moving at 75 miles per hour with the rain stinging your eyes and face made this ride painful. So we climbed right back in and rode a second time. Aaron Ras said he enjoyed riding with me in the front row.
Riding so many rides in such a short time with no time for stomachs to settle resulted in most "riders" feeling nauseous. After 2.5 hours we decided it was time to leave.
Photo of wet group ready to leave for the bus.

 The students enjoyed the Great Wolf Lodge water park until leaving for our dinner reservation at Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue. Everyone enjoyed appetizers, salads, barbecue entrees, and desserts, in such large portions that almost everyone left with a take-home box.
Photo of the nicely dressed group at Great Wolf Lodge.

Today the schedule is to have lunch at Powerplay, ride their go carts and other activities, and return to Bancroft by 8:00 pm.
A fun trip so far with a great group.

Nebraska State Board of Education to Approve MAP test as the state assessment starting next year

This is great news. If approved on May 5, this will be the last year of NeSA testing. We already give the MAP test grades K-10, so this will eliminate one set of testing. Nice.

Wilson Benefit this Sunday