Belinda Trombley Practicum-MDE Listening Session-NCLB Waiver with Commissioner Casselius Ed. Ld.

672 April 22, 2012

The focus of my practicum reflection was attending Minnesota Education Commissioner Casselliuss metro town listening session at Osseo Sr. High. Commissioner Casselliuss presentation discussed Minnesotas new accountability system and the NCLB waiver.

This practicum experience focused on many of the K-12 Principal Competencies. The first was Leadership. The commissioner was providing purpose and direction to the superintendents, principals and teachers. She modeled shared leadership by providing a question answer dialog at the end of her presentation to Minnesotas district leaders; she served as a spokesperson for the welfare of all learners in a multi-cultural context providing the audience with information on the achievement gap and how this will weigh in with the waiver. Another competency was Policy and Law. Commissioner

Casselliuss presentation demonstrated her understanding and application of state, federal, and case law governing general education, special education and community education. She presented the information to different towns demonstrated her concern in educating the community on the new waiver that will be impacting our state in both general education and special education. By presenting the information to the public she demonstrated core competency Community Relations. She was requesting and

responding to feedback during the question and answer session. She answered every question asked, and made herself available privately, and gave the public her personal cell phone number, which I thought was a nice, genuine touch.

My experience began as I was flipping through my e-mails. I came across a general email which read: Minnesota Education Commissioner Cassellius will be holding a metro town hall listening session this Wednesday, March 21, at 7:00 pm at Osseo High school to discuss Minnesotas new accountability system and the NCLB waiver. This will be one of the only town hall meetings in the metro area. The meeting should run from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. I felt that this would be the perfect opportunity for me to see a policy change in action. With little warning, I called my husband and told him I wouldnt be home until late. I entered last; the lower half of the high school auditorium was speckled with a superintendent or two, several principals, teachers and parents. I was a little taken back by how few people attended, as this was the only listening session in the metro area. I thought either the information is easy to access, or people are not too worried about the waiver. Commissioner Casselius along with one of the NCLB waiver committee

members provided info about the waiver, how the achievement gap and AYP would be addressed and measured, and the way in which MN will be held accountable via a points system. Based on the points system recognition as an outstanding school will be given, and those schools needing help will be given help based on specific data. We will no longer have to close schools or remove staff from failing schools. Many questions and statements were made around how we will be measuring progress, and how we will be getting away from Minnesota comprehensive assessment in the future. One question I had was personal, so I went to speak to her colleague. I asked, As a special education teacher, what am I to do when a student sits down, doesnt read and fills in the circles? He told me about a code that is put on the test. I told him that, I found it interesting that

I have never been told about this code, and that some of the kids I work with are in some of the smallest cells, and sometimes more than one cell. I wonder how not knowing this information about a code to show that a student didnt try on the test, may have kept my school from closing the achievement gap or making adequate yearly progress. A key learning for me was getting good information about the waiver. I learned that in order to be granted ESEA flexibility, states must demonstrate their accountability in four key principals, 1. College and career-based academic standards, 2. Differentiated

recognition, accountability and support for schools, 3. Support for effective instruction and leadership, and 4. Reducing duplication and unnecessary burden. I also learned that,

Many of the decisions about how to hold schools accountable under a waiver are yet to be made but there are some parameters set by federal guidance. States must identify the five percent of Title I schools that are the most persistently low-achieving as Priority Schools and implement rigorous reform models in those schools. States must also identify the 10 percent of Title I schools that either have low graduation rates, low-performing subgroups or the wide achievement gaps as Focus Schools, and work with districts to improve the performance of those schools. States must also identify an unspecified percentage of Title I schools as Reward Schools based on high levels of achievement or high levels of academic growth. Finally, states must continue to provide incentives and support for Title I schools that do not fall into any of the three designated categories. - Commissioner Brenda Cassellius, March 21, 2012 Presentation/MDE Website

This course, Policy and Administration, provided information on how laws in education began and how they have evolved. I felt this was the perfect opportunity to engage in dialog about a change in policy and to see how the federal government impacts state policies. I found it interesting that the waiver is really putting more power and control back into the hands of state and local government. I also found it intriguing that

educators, policy makers and stakeholders have known for a long time that there have

been problems with no child left behind, and that it has taken a long time to turn things around, and it takes a long time to see if our interventions are actually working.

According to our Denver study, Compensation Reform at Denver Public Schools, In June 2001, Dr. Jerome Jerry Wartgow became DPS superintendent. His three goals for DPS were: Setting high expectations for students, parents, teachers, principals, and all other staff of DPS and the community it served Improving the performance of all students Closing the gap between better- and poorer- performing students

I find it crazy and absurd that we are in 2012 and we are addressing those same 3 goals! We have either not figured out how to reach our students and close the gaps, or know how to but do not want to. I really feel that the latter is the case; we know how to do it, but we dont REALLY want to make our schools equitable to do it. We want the haves to have, and the have-nots to make do with what they have; try to make progress with less. In Robbinsdale Area Schools, we segregated our district by haves and have-nots, and our school board knows that they did it, but they wanted to appease the stakeholders in the south-west section of our district and dont want them to bail Robbinsdale Area Schools and attend Golden Valley, Minnetonka or Wayzetta Districts.

According to text book, School Leadership and Administration: Important Concepts, Case Studies & Simulations, (9th edition), by Richard Gorton and Judy A. Alston, 2012, The ability to make effective decisions is vital to the successful performance of a school

administrator.

This practicum is clearly connected to our classroom literature, as

Commissioner Casselius has had to make decisions in how to present information to the public and overall how to develop an effective waiver that keeps Minnesota accountable. This helped improve my current understanding of educational leadership because it came from a state level leadership perspective. I now have a better understanding of the role of our Commissioner and how she is held accountable at the federal level. I see the connection much better. My belief is that Commissioner Casselius wants to make

connections to the public. A good example of this is how she has made herself available in this forum and gave out her personal cell phone number and made herself available to discussion in a positive way.

References Gorton, R., & Alston, J. (2012). School leadership and administration: important concepts, case studies, & simulations. (9 ed., p. 31). New York: McGraw-Hill. Grossman, A., Beaulieu, N., Johnson, S., Suesse, J. (Sep 07, 2004) Compensation Reform at Denver Public Schools. (Case 3.4). Public Education Leadership Project -25 pages. http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/Welcome/AdvBCT/NCLBWaiver/index.html for FAQ, Glossary, Summaries, etc.