May 2010

Worth Remembering
“America's future will be determined by the home and the school. The child becomes largely what he is taught; hence we must watch what we teach, and how we live."

--Jane Addams, Founder of the U.S. settlement house movement

New Teacher Survey Pilot Going Live on May 15th
The redesigned new teacher survey now aligns survey questions with the Kentucky Teacher Standards, permitting the EPSB and teacher preparation programs to analyze the survey results more discretely.

The survey link will be e-mailed to the following groups in early April:

• all student teachers and the cooperating teachers of those who will be graduating in May 2010 and
• all interns and the resource teachers of those who will be completing internships in May 2010

The survey link will be located directly in the e-mail notification. Participants will have until May 15 to complete the survey.

Because the survey is a pilot, the results will not be used by the EPSB for program evaluation; however, the standard reports will be available for public review on the KEPP website. A raw data set will be available upon request to preparation programs.

Questions regarding the survey should be submitted to Jaime.rice@ky.gov.

Summit on Mathematics Education and the Roll-out of the New KY Mathematics Standards
Sponsored by the Kentucky Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and Mathematics Education Research Committee (KACTE/MERC), this summit will be an opportunity for mathematics educators and researchers at higher education institutions to meet in Lexington on May 20 for a day of work sessions related to how higher education will be involved in the implementation of the new core mathematics standards in Kentucky during the summer and coming year.

Committee to Review Preparation of Superintendents
Work Team #1 of the Committee to Review Superintendent Programs has completed its initial review and discussion of the EPSB charter objectives. This team focused on the dispositions of superintendent candidates, admission requirements, and university course content.

Work Team #2 will be contacted soon concerning its first meeting in May, which will focus on aligning the superintendent program to KDE’s assessment center. Additional work will continue, aligning the redesigned teacher leader master’s, principal programs, and other district-wide certification programs with the superintendent program. Once the work is complete, both teams will reconvene to begin drafting recommendations to present to the EPSB on the preparation of superintendents.

Committee to Review Admissions and Clinical Experiences
Appointed January 2010 by the EPSB, the committee held its first meeting in February and immediately began addressing the five (5) objectives established in the Charter. Some of the initiatives under consideration include removing the Praxis I as an assessment option for admission to a teacher preparation program; raising the GPA for admission; screening for dispositions associated with effective teaching in the 21st Century classroom; separate admission standards for undergraduate initial certification and Option 6 certification. Continuing discussion includes mentoring for alternatively certified candidates, as well as field and residency experiences. The committee has two more meetings to finalize its report and make recommendations to the EPSB.

P-20 Data Collaborative University/College Work Group
The P-20 Data Collaborative University/College Work Group met March 30th and will meet again May 12. The group is working on a graphic organizer that includes research questions and the data elements needed to answer these questions.

Group members are also working on the identification of persons within the educator preparation programs who will need to have access to the P-20 Shared Repository and what type of access will be needed. This will aid the P-20 Data Collaborative in decision-making concerning stakeholder access and the type of system design needed to support user demand.

Board of Examiner Training June 17-18
The on-site team that reviews an institution’s educator preparation program on behalf of the EPSB is known as the Board of Examiners (BOE). As stipulated in 16 KAR 5:010 the BOE team consists of trained individuals who represent teacher educators, P-12 educators, and state and local policymaker groups.

Periodically, in order to maintain an ample pool of qualified individuals to serve on the BOE, the EPSB must provide BOE training. The Division of Educator Preparation is currently making preparations for a BOE Training this summer. Donna Gollnick will be the NCATE representative conducting the training. Kentucky BOE members will assist Dr. Gollnick with the training.

Letters of invitation to attend the training were mailed in February. As an EPSB board member, you are welcome to participate. Please contact Allison Bell at: allison.bell@ky.gov if you would like to attend.

World Language Update
On April 23, Mike Carr and Marilyn Troupe welcomed representatives from seven universities interested in discussing ideas for developing a program to certify more world language teachers in the state. Mike mentioned this initiative to the Board at its January meeting, as there is a need to find more creative ways to use both content major candidates as well as qualified native speakers to meet district needs for current and emerging language areas. At its very productive first meeting, the group came up with a draft framework that will be further developed at a second meeting in the coming weeks. IHEs participating in the meeting were Georgetown College, Morehead, Murray, Northern, UK, UL, and WKU.

May 11 - Kentucky P20 Innovation Lab: A Partnership for Next Generation Learning
Expected guests are Commissioner Holliday, CCSSO Executive Director Gene Wilhoit, and NCATE President Jim Cibulka. The lab will be a statewide, collaborative space designed to bring together researchers, state personnel, school district leaders, teachers, parents, business leaders, nonprofit organizations, and other members to collectively propel innovation in Kentucky education. Kentucky is one of six states to lead the nation in developing transformative educational practices as part of the CCSSO Partnership for Next Generation Learning. Other states include Maine, New York, Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

NCATE Partnership Clinic
On May 19 - 21 Marilyn Troupe and I will be attending the annual NCATE Partnership Clinic. The preliminary agenda includes a report from President Cibulka on the state of the organization and a report on the new initiatives supported by NCATE; update on the pilots for “Continuous Improvement” model and the beginning of the “Transformational Initiative” model; an integrated discussion between States and Content Specialty Associations; report from the NCATE/TEAC design team; presentations by ETS and Pearson; “The Practitioner’s Role in Transforming Teacher Preparation” presented by the NEA President Dennis Van Roekle; a report from a representative of the USDOE; and a final session on “Candidate Performance Assessment Information” with representatives from Louisiana invited to lead the discussion.

Highly Qualified Teacher Report
This report is being completed for submission to KDE in the next few days, once all of the Commonwealth’s schools complete the data reporting and the report is organized by EPSB staff. KDE will use these data in reporting the state’s HQ status to the U.S. Department of Education in June. Preliminary indications point to very slight decrease in the number of HQ teachers statewide, a decrease anticipated after the USDOE visit in December. At that time, Kentucky was advised that changes were necessary in the reporting of HQ status for Moderate & Severe Disabilities teachers. EPSB staff will continue to analyze the data to determine the areas of change.

Technology-Related Certification Programs
As reported last month, there will be an ongoing effort to work with state IHEs offering computer-related certification programs to bring closer alignment with the needs in the schools and to clarify how the current programs are being utilized by teachers. Marilyn Troupe and Mike Carr will coordinate this effort throughout the summer. A meeting will be held with representatives from IHEs and the Office of Career and Technical Education on May 12 to begin this process.

INTASC Meeting
Marilyn Troupe and Robert Brown will be attending the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support (INTASC) meeting. The agenda will include a report on the INTASC Core Standards Work and a timeline for Release of Standards; an update on What Has Been Happening on Capitol Hill; and Teacher Incentive Fund and Higher Education Title II.

Seeking Nominations for Standard Setting Studies
The Division of Professional Learning and Assessment is currently seeking nominations for Praxis II multi-state Standard Setting Studies in the areas of Art, English, Music, and Social Studies. These panels require representatives from higher education and K-12. This is an excellent professional development experience with all travel expenses paid, as well as reimbursement to the district for substitute teachers (if needed). If interested, please contact jaime.rice@ky.gov.

SREB Leadership Forum
Robert Brown has been selected to serve on the KY team to attend the Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB) Forum on May 6 and 7 in Atlanta. The Forum is designed for state teams of policy and educational leaders to advance the development of statewide learning-centered school leadership systems. This year's Forum topics include:

• Topic 1: Improving School Results through Effective Principals with Leadership Teams, Especially in Struggling Middle Grades and High Schools
• Topic 2: Preparing School Principals for Struggling Schools: What Are States Doing to Help Universities and School Districts Work Together?
• Topic 3: Preparing School Leaders to Address Adolescent Literacy
• Topic 4: Sustaining Leadership Redesign in an Economic Downturn: Lessons Learned
• Topic 5: New Principals Need New Working Conditions to Improve Teacher and Student Learning in Struggling Schools
• Topic 6: Continuing SREB’s Learning-Centered Leadership Initiative

Continuing Education Option
CEO portfolio scoring sessions are scheduled for April 26 - 30 and May 3 and 4. There are 280 teachers who are actively completing the former CEO program. Four (4) new CEO cohorts have begun the redesigned program approved by the Board in spring 2009. The Central Kentucky Education Cooperative (CKEC) has begun three cohorts, and the Kentucky Education Development Corporation (KEDC) has begun one.

Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education (IECE)
Teresa Moore, Program Manager of the Division of Professional Learning and Assessment, has organized a group to redesign the IECE training for KTIP. The IECE training is an additional three hours above the regular KTIP training. All teacher educators, principals, and resource teachers who serve IECE interns must complete this additional training prior to serving on IECE beginning teacher committees. IECE experts convened on April 30 at the EPSB to begin the redesign of the training.

National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality Workshop
Robert Brown has been invited by the Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center through a partnership with KDE to join a leadership team to attend the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality (TQ Center) national workshop, “Enhancing Teacher Evaluation: A Critical Lever for Improving Teaching and Learning” May 10 - 11, 2010 in Arlington, Virginia. The focus of the conference is to advance the work of state education agencies and regional comprehensive centers in the design and implementation of robust teacher evaluation systems.

Ethics Seminars
The Division of Legal Services is conducting an ethics seminar at Silver Grove Independent Schools on May 6. If your institution, school district, or school would like to schedule an ethics seminar, please contact Elise Borne in the Division of Legal Services at: elise.borne@ky.gov.

Congratulations Are in Order

Congratulations to Whitney Crowe in the Division of Legal Services on passing the Kentucky Bar Exam!

EPSB March of Dimes 2010
The EPSB staff exceeded our goal and broke our record for the 2010 EPSB March of Dimes fundraising. Our goal was $1,000.00 and, thanks to some creative fundraising, we raised $1,110.25 to help make a difference in the lives of babies everywhere.

Thank you, each and every one, for the hard work and tasty eats!

Meetings, Conferences, Etc
May 4 – OVEC Job Fair
May 4 – Southeast/south central Educational Cooperative
May 5 – Green River Regional Educational Cooperative
May 5 – Reading Committee meets at EPSB
May 5/7 – INTASC meeting
May 5/7 – SREB Leadership Forum
May 10 – Committee to Review Admission and Clinical Experiences
May 10 – Pritchard Committee spring meeting
May 10/11 – National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality Workshop
May 12 – P20 Data Collaborative University Group
May 12 – Northern Kentucky Cooperative for Educational Services meeting
May 12 – Technology-Related Certificate program review
May 13 – Leadership meeting
May 13 – Presentation to Council on Long-Term Policy Research
May 16 – EPSB Sunday evening study session
May 17 – EPSB regular meeting
May 18/21 – NCATE Partnership meeting
May 19 – Kentucky Educational Development Cooperative
May 19 – Central Kentucky Educational Cooperative
May 25 – Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative
May 26 – Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative
May 26 – Western Kentucky Educational Cooperative
May 31 – Memorial Day (EPSB office closed)