TribTown

The Natrona county School Board didn't make any changes the last time they discussed the school calendar -- start and end dates, student vacation, teacher development days.

The dates could change for 2011-12, to be determined in October. Three trustees (Rita Walsh, Shannon Jackett and Suzanne Sandoval) are sorting out the questions behind possible changes for district staff members to investigate. What does moving the August start date back do to the rest of the semester? If the third week of winter break is eliminated, when can teachers get their professional development time and at-risk students get extra help?

Aside from personal preferences, trustees will have to stick with requirements outlined in teacher contracts (days spent with students vs non-student contact days) and also state requirements and suggestions for instruction and professional development days.

Once district staff report their findings and the ground rules are set, the trustees will formulate some suggestions for the board to consider this fall. The next meeting date hasn't been set.

Testing company NCS Pearson, responsible for the massive test FAIL with PAWS this spring, apologized to the people of Wyoming.

They've also apologized to the people of Florida and the people of Minnesota this testing season. Florida has had delays in receiving results and Minnesota witheld results of science tests after officials found two scoring errors.

Here's Pearson's apology to Wyoming:

“I am writing to apologize for technology issues experienced by some teachers and students during the online administration of PAWS testing from March 8 to April 14 of this year. My Pearson colleagues’ and I deeply regret the disruption, and are dismayed to have let you down. We understand that students, teachers, and school administrators work very hard to prepare for the PAWS. And, we recognize that, in light of these efforts, the problems that occurred are all the more disappointing.

We appreciate the assistance we received from the Wyoming Department of Education and local school districts to resolve issues, and we have taken comprehensive corrective action to avoid such issues in the future.

In the weeks now following completion of the PAWS testing window, ongoing analyses of the test results are underway to help schools and teachers plan for the coming school year.

We are committed to providing the best possible products and services to Wyoming students and educators, and grateful that you’re willing to work with us as we take additional steps to regain your confidence as well as that of the Department of Education. We will be giving that task our all.”

And here's Pearson's apology to Florida, via The St. Petersburg Times:

"This Spring, Pearson began its contract to administer and report Florida’s FCAT assessments. Though we're confident that all 2010 FCAT scores are valid and accurate, we have experienced delays in the reporting of results. We deeply regret the inconvenience these delays have caused educators, students and parents.

The issues centered on the compatibility of Pearson and the FDOE's systems for gathering, reporting and cross-checking student demographic information. We have identified the cause of these issues, have worked diligently to resolve them, and expect to report all results by the end of June.

Pearson fully understands the importance of timely delivery of testing results and we apologize for this delay. We take responsibility for it; with the benefit of hindsight, we underestimated the challenges involved in aligning technology systems between Pearson, FDOE and the state's schools.

We’re grateful that the FDOE and educators across the state are working closely with us as we take additional steps to regain their trust. We will continue to give this our undivided attention."

Gillette will host the latest hearing by the U.S. Senate education committee.

Senator Mike Enzi is the ranking member on the Senate committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. The committee is working on reauthorizing the Elemetary and Secondary Education Act, most recently reincarnated as No Child Left Behind.

Enzi has criticized reform models from the U.S. Department of Education, which he said don't work in rural communities. Wyoming has useful insight for finding what works, according to Enzi.

Rural education will be the topic and several Wyoming educators will speak to senators during an open hearing Friday at the Gillette College Techical Education Center.

The session is open to the public and begins at 2:30 p.m.

Democratic candidate for state superintendent of public instruction Mike Massie will not speak at the Democratic Mens Club meeting in Casper on Tuesday.

He was invited to attend but had a conflict in Laramie, he told me yesterday. He'll send a representative from the campaign with a prepared message.

Massie does not have an opponent for the Democratic primary and will face the winner of the Republican primary, decided next month.

I had hoped to write a final budget wrap-up for Path to 2025 a while ago. Most of the information was in my posession since February, but there were many holes in the information collected.

The fiscal year ended June 30. I hadn't seen Julia around the district in weeks. Superintendent Dvorak said she took vacation time at the end and finished early.

I posted the graph online that ran in the print edition, giving a categorical breakdown of expenditures. While I don't know what happened to the $836.57 ergonomic chair, the ledger descibes it "For J Collier."

As for trips, here's the info I have:

- 3 trips to Houston for project manager Julia Collier Earl to meet with consultants from Cambridge

- 5 site visits to schools and programs that incorporate career and technical education into curriculum. Collier Earl attended all, along with district staff members: Joel Dvorak (2), Mark Mathern (2), Jamie Cordonier (3), Marty Wood (2), Crystal Mueller (2), Vicki Foster (4), Cheryl Gettings (2), Mike Bond, Tammie Bertelson and Wendy Mayberry; administrators Dean Kelly, Scott Schutte Brad Diller, Mike Pickett, Shawna Trujillo (2) and Anne LaPlante (2); teachers Nancy Brauchie, Duane Reimer and Debra Park; and board members Elizabeth Horsch and Steve Degenfelder (2).

- 4 conferences or workshops in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Houston and Austin, Texas. The above attended at least one of the conferences as well as teachers Sheila McHattie, Ginger O'Brien, Mary Houck and Wendy Pollock.

Here's a collection of stories along the Path since the fall.

The Wyoming State Board of Education approved national common core standards -- last month. There was talk of these standards for math and language arts back in April, but that was when the state planned to reapply for Race to the Top, in which applicants received points for promises to adopt the not-yet-finalized standards.

Even then, the standards were pretty far under the radar (hello, PAWS?) And I was told the national standards were being considered along the same timeline as state standards, which means some time down the road. And Wyoming didn't apply for Race to the Top, so the early summer deadline for adoption faded.

So I didn't think much of the small mention of standards in the notification of the June 16 board meeting in Riverton. I read in the work session description that they'd discuss common core but it wasn't clear to me that they would vote to approve:

"During the regular state board meeting, the board will consider action on school district accreditation recommendations, Chapter 29 rules, alternative school schedules, Common Core Standards and restructuring plans for two Wyoming districts."

As a general rule, I don't attend state-level meetings unless they're held in Casper. I figured that if anything were decided, I'd hear about it from the department in a few days.

I didn't and it was on my list of things to do to check back in late June about the standards. When an Education Week blog hinted a state had adopted the standards without notification, I didn't think for a second it was Wyoming.

The blog post assumed it was done in private, but the adoption* was done during a public meeting -- one without any reporters to break the news. Ed Week contacted the department, which said they were too busy with recalibration stuff to put together a press release.

Wyoming isn't the only state to let the standards adoption slide past media attention. Education association ASCD proposes the lack of coverage nationwide might be attributed to states' lack of publicity about them.

Both state superintendent Jim McBride and state board of education chairwoman Sandra Barton were unavailable today but will speak with reporters on Tuesday afternoon.

*I say "adoption" because the national standards will be 85 percent of the final state standards, which won't be finished until December 2011. They will be included in their entirety, but additional benchmarks will be added.

I'll have more next week. Until then, stay cool and happy Fourth of July!

(First, my apologies for letting the blog slip while I was on vacation.)

A new study has shown that students in 1-to-1 computing environments are more successful -- if the technology is properly implemented. The study comes from Project RED (Revolutionizing Education), an initiative to prove technology in schools can be effective and supported by Intel, Apple and Quest among others.

Schools surveyed say discipline problems have decreased 50 percent and 56 percent more students plan to attend college since the technology implementation. Test scores are up in 70 percent of schools with high access and 85 percent in schools that employ effective strategies.

A highlight: 80 percent of schools are underutilizing the technology they already have. So not only is success about having the latest toys but using them.

What makes technology effective? Daily use and school leadership. The report was released yesterday and includes a chapter on best practices, which will probably be most interesting.

Just last week I visited a classroom using iPads. They weren't really using them to their full abilities, partly because the district network wouldn't let allow application downloads.

Next year will be the first that NCSD goes to 1-to-1 for all students in grades 6-12. We'll see then if our data matches the national study.