Notice of Public Meetings
State Board Regular Monthly Meeting
February 8-9, 2012
9:00 am
Colorado Department of Education, 201 E. Colfax Ave., Denver
SBE meeting links:
- Next Meeting Agenda (Posted approximately one week prior to meeting date)
Major News
Jan. 11, 2012
State Board Passes Rules for Online and Charter Schools
The State Board unanimously adopted new rules for the administration, certification and oversight of Colorado online programs. The rules were amended to incorporate changes to financial reporting and accountability required by House Bill 11-1277. The new rules better align online schools with other schools in the state, establish new quality standards and allow the state to more thoroughly scrutinize new applications for online schools.
The Board also unanimously approved rules for charter schools and charter school authorizers. Included in those rules are guiding principles for the State Board of Education to consider in its decisions related to charter school appeals and exclusive chartering authority. In 2010, the Legislature passed House Bill 1412 which established a Charter School and Charter Authorizer Standards Review Committee to make recommendations to the state board and the legislature's education committees regarding standards. As a part of its decision-making, the State Board of Education clarified that the rules it passed do not supersede its authority under the Charter Schools Act.
Read the 1412 Committee's recommendations here.
Dec. 22, 2011
Colorado Awarded Race to the Top Phase 3 Funds to implement state reform plan; Half of the funds will go to local districts
Colorado is one of seven states that will each receive a share of the $200 million in Race to the Top Round 3 (RTT3) fund to advance targeted K-12 reforms aimed at improving student achievement. Colorado’s share of the grant is $17.9 million over four years.
The announcement of the Race to the Top Phase 3 award marks the culmination of a multi-year effort to secure additional funds to support the state’s aggressive education reform agenda. Countless individuals, educators, public/private agencies, business groups, and the state’s policy makers helped craft a vision for the state’s education system that was articulated in the first and second phases of the Race to the Top applications. Colorado has been actively implementing that reform agenda despite not receiving the Phase I or 2 funding.
“The award of Phase 3 funds, which was based on the state’s Phase 2 application, recognizes the excellent and hard work of all of the individuals who helped draft the state’s reform agenda and provides much needed financial support to maintain and accelerate momentum on the state’s reform efforts,” Education Commissioner Robert Hammond said. “The Colorado Legacy Foundation, El Pomar Foundation, Donnell Kay Foundation, Piton Foundation and the Daniels Fund, all came together to help fund and support the development of Colorado’s grant application and their contributions made our application very strong.”
The announcement is welcome news for Colorado after having recently been edged out of earning a Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grant. That award would have supported early childhood education initiatives.
Read the details of the grant here.
Nov. 9, 2011
Colorado State Board adopts rules for statewide educator evaluation system
The Colorado State Board of Education unanimously approved rules concerning the planning, development, implementation and assessment of a system to evaluate the effectiveness of licensed personnel as required by Senate Bill 10-191, the legislation that set in motion the development of the state’s work on improving educator effectiveness.
“The rules represent a new focus on effectiveness of educators and thus a wonderful opportunity for educators to demonstrate the impact of quality instructional practices as defined by K-12 student achievement, as well as their professional dedication to the families and students of Colorado,” said State Board of Education Member Debora Scheffel.
Legislators sponsoring the original legislation praised the Colorado Board of Education for using a rules- development process that incorporated feedback from a variety of groups and individuals.
Christine Scanlan, former House Representative who was a sponsor of the bill,and currently the senior policy advisor to Governor John Hickenlooper said, “The quality input gathered will provide us with a credible system that will fairly and effectively evaluate educators. I believe this system can be held up as a national example,” Scanlan said.
Colorado’s landmark teacher and principal evaluation law, also known as S.B.10-191, established new requirements for the evaluation of licensed personnel, including requiring the state board to establish definitions of “effectiveness for teachers and principals and requiring the board to adopt statewide minimum standards for what it means to be an effective teacher or principal. The law also requires that all teachers and principals be evaluated at least 50 percent on the academic growth of their students. Teacher and principals will be evaluated annually under the new law.
The rules passed took into consideration recommendations from the State Council for Educator Effectiveness and other input. In August 2011, school districts received guidance on how to prepare for the new educator evaluation system and as a result, CDE selected 15 pilot districts to test the state model of evaluation. CDE also selected two partner districts to help align and map their current evaluation systems to the rules and expectations of S.B. 10-191.
The rules have been reviewed by the Attorney General’s office to ensure they are consistent with the law. By Feb. 15, 2012, the rules will be reviewed by the General Assembly, who will either approve them or repeal certain provisions. For any provisions that are repealed, the state board must promulgate emergency rules and re-submit those rules no later than May 1, 2012.
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