GADOE NEWS DEP N ARTMENT EDU C ATIO OF Making Education Work for All Georgians Spring 2011 Superintendent's Message When I took the oath a few months ago to serve as Georgia's State School Superintendent, I knew I had to do everything within my power to help our public school students be successful in the classroom. Over the past few months, I have been working diligently to build a strong leadership team at the Georgia Department of Education to guide the future work of the agency. The "heavy lifting" has begun, and we are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead. My vision is to begin Making Education Work for All Georgians. We will be focused on providing greater opportunities for Georgia's students to graduate with a meaningful diploma that will open doors to their futures, whether in the workplace or post-secondary studies. Under my administration, the Georgia Department of Education will be a serviceoriented organization, providing information, technical assistance, guidance, and other critical forms of support to Georgia's public schools. Because our focus will be on what is best for students, our agency will make state resources available to school systems to the greatest extent possible to help them more effectively serve their students. One of my immediate goals was to address problems our students have experienced with the state's integrated mathematics curriculum. I am pleased to report that the State Board of Education approved my proposal to allow school systems a choice in their mathematics instructional delivery systems and to provide more options for current high school students who are struggling to meet graduation requirements due to mathematics. More information about these changes is provided in this newsletter. As a lifelong educator who believes in the power of education, I am committed to providing students with more pathways to obtain their high school diplomas. The National Career Clusters model is a good example of how we can offer multiple pathways to graduation through a single diploma. Career clusters offer students learning opportunities aligned to their career goals, making their high school experience more relevant to their future. Because of this relevance, students are often inspired to stay in school and to take more challenging courses in order to prepare for their postsecondary endeavors or chosen career. This newsletter provides only a snapshot of our work and the goals which we have set for the future of public education in our state. I am honored to be part of this important work! While accomplishing all of our goals won't be easy, we must continue doing everything within our power to provide our students with the opportunity to obtain nothing less than a world-class education only then can they graduate from high school with a meaningful diploma that has fully equipped them to compete in this knowledge-based, high-tech 21st century economy. If we focus our work on what is best for students our future leaders I am convinced that our state, and perhaps our country, will reap the benefits of our work for years to come. GA's Statewide Longitudinal Data System How's it working in our schools? Georgia was awarded $8.9M in March 2009, from the federal Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) Grant Program, as authorized by the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002. The grant program is designed to aid state education agencies in developing and implementing longitudinal data systems to enhance the ability of states to efficiently and accurately manage, analyze, and use education data, including individual student records. The data systems developed with funds from this grant should help states, school districts, schools, and teachers make data-driven decisions to improve student learning, as well as facilitate research to increase student achievement and close achievement gaps. All data currently collected for state and federal reporting are available via the SLDS. Student-level data are available for schedule, attendance, course grades, test scores and more. These data are also aggregated at the teacher, school, district, and state levels. Through the SLDS, teachers, principals, and school administrators can access data on students enrolled in their schools as well as on students who transferred to their schools from other systems in Georgia. With the click of a mouse, teachers can instantly understand a student's prior education experience, and within the next year, parents will also be provided access to important student-level data via the local school system's parent portals. The longrange plan is to have the ability to track students from kindergarten through college. So, how is the SLDS working in Georgia's schools? The answer is, "Quite well, thank you!" The SLDS became available to school systems in September, 2010 AT NO COST to the systems. Though participation is strictly voluntary, all school systems and state charter schools in Georgia have signed on to participate. As of May 1, 2011, 154 of the state's 192 systems were actually using the SLDS. The state will continue rolling out the SLDS until all systems are onboard. Feedback from participants has been overwhelmingly positive: From a Local Superintendent "I can't tell you how excited we are about this opportunity! We have needed access to this type of information for so long!!!!!" From a School Psychologist "You have no idea how much time this will save me in tracking down student information. No more emailing teachers & waiting for them to respond... No more digging through system folders & finding scores..." From a Student Information Systems Coordinator "...our Superintendent and the principals have been [using SLDS] a lot. It is so awesome!!" From an Executive Director of Technology "We truly love it and are anxious to get it in the hands of our teachers. Please let everyone know how useful this is and how much we appreciate the hard work." From another Local Superintendent "The SLDS project is a great resource for school districts across the state of Georgia. Awesome job!" The Georgia Department of Education was nationally recognized for its work in developing an accessible, cost-effective statewide education data system that has contributed to education improvement across Georgia. The Data Quality Campaign's (DQC) Recognition Program Award honors state and district leaders who have led remarkable efforts to collect and use education data to improve student achievement. More information and updates on Georgia's SLDS can be found at http://slds.doe.k12.ga.us/Pages/SLDS.aspx. GA National Leader in AP Exams State Initiatives Seeing Results Georgia ranks 11th in the nation in the percentage of seniors scoring a 3 or higher on Advanced Placement (AP) exams, according to The College Board's AP Report to the Nation released February 9, 2011. This report measured the progress of the class of 2010. AP classes and exams are administered by the College Board, which also administers the SAT. Only four other states in the country had a greater percentage of AP exam-takers last year. The percentage of Georgia seniors who took an AP exam was 37.3%, compared to 28.3% for the nation. Students who receive a 3, 4 or 5 on AP exams may receive college credit. Among Georgia's public high school seniors in 2010: - 19.1% scored a 3 or higher on at least one AP exam during high school, higher than the national average of 16.9%. - Georgia is tied for 6th in the nation when comparing the five-year increase of seniors scoring a 3 or higher on at least one AP exam. - Georgia has the 10th highest oneyear increase of seniors scoring a 3 or higher on at least one AP exam. Georgia's committment to increasing participation in AP programs and success on AP exams, is paying off for Georgia's students: 1. From 2003-2010, the Georgia state legislature approved funds to pay for students to take at least one AP exam per year. 2. Since 2006, GaDOE has funded approximately $970,693.00 in AP teacher training grant awards to train 1,342 new AP teachers. These awards have allowed 792 new AP courses to be offered in public high schools throughout the state. 3. For the past four years, the GaDOE has sponsored regional workshops for teachers of AP. To date, over 2,100 AP teachers have participated in these course-specific workshops. 4. The Georgia Virtual School (GAVS) continues to add AP classes, increasing student access throughout the state, including for those who might not otherwise be able to take an AP class. More details at: www.gadoe.org/ci_iap_satap.aspx.com New Grad Rate Formula this Year State's grad rate expected to fall Beginning this year, the U. S. Department of Education will require all states to use a new graduation rate calculation method, called a cohort rate, on the State Report Card. Beginning in 2012, states must use the cohort graduation rate in determining Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Georgia is expecting to see a drop of at least 10% in its graduation rate as the state transitions from using the Leaver rate formula to the cohort rate formula. Although the state's graduation rate may be lower based on the cohort rate calculation, data shows Georgia has still made significant progress in improving the graduation rate over the past few years. Honoring GA's Schools of Excellence Corporate Sponsors Show Support Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent, along with representatives from Georgia Natural Gas and United Healthcare, have begun visiting all 22 schools that were named 2010 Georgia Schools of Excellence in Student Achievement. To honor their success, Georgia Natural Gas is presenting each school with a check in Gina Niederhauser, GNG (left) and Supt. Barge present a $1,000 check to Principal Clements from St. Simons Elementary. the amount of $1,000 to be used however they wish. United Healthcare is sponsoring a "stress-free" day for these schools by sending massage therapists to provide free massages for all faculty and staff. "Helping schools continue to strive for excellence is one of our key community goals," said Georgia Natural Gas CEO Mike Braswell. Trisha Hardy, Wellness Director for United Healthcare, stated, "Stress-Free Days is just our way to thank the teachers and staff for all their hard work and dedication." More information about the Schools of Excellence Program can be found at www.gadoe.org/ci.aspx?PageReq=SOEProgram. Spring 2011 State Board Approves Math Changes Four New Courses Approved, More Flexibility Allowed During a called meeting on March 14, 2011, the State Board of Education approved a recommendation by State School Superintendent, Dr. John D. Barge, to allow four discrete math courses to be taught to students who may be struggling with the state's integrated math curriculum. The four new courses GPS Algebra, GPS Geometry, GPS Advanced Algebra, and GPS Pre-Calculus are taught with a more traditional instructional delivery. It now becomes a local school district decision as to which instructional delivery system best meets the needs of their students, whether it is the integrated system, the more traditional discrete system, or a combination. The rigor of the current mathematics standards will not be compromised with either delivery system. In addition, the Board's action allows support classes in Math I, II, and III to be counted as either core or elective credit for students who entered high school in 2008-2009, 2009-2010, or 2010-2011 and may be in danger of not graduating on time due to their struggles with mathematics. Without this intervention, many current high school students could face a serious delay in earning their high school diploma and moving forward with their postsecondary endeavors or chosen career. The chart below can be used as a guideline for the new mathematics options. It will be critical for students to work closely with their school guidance counselors to determine their best options for meeting the graduation requirements in mathematics. As with all other courses, the choices in mathematics should be based on the student's future goals after high school. Mathematics Sequence Options Diploma Options for Students Diploma Options for Students Diploma Options for Students Diploma Options for Students Who Enter HS in 2011-2012 Who Enter HS in 2010-2011 Who Enter HS in 2009-2010 Who Enter HS in 2008-2009 Math I-III + 4th math OR GPS Alg, GPS Geo, GPS Adv Alg + 4th math Math I-III + 4th math Math I-III + 4th math Math I-III + 4th math OR OR OR GPS Alg, GPS Geo, GPS Adv Alg + 4th math GPS Alg, GPS Geo, GPS Adv Alg + 4th math GPS Alg, GPS Geo, GPS Adv Alg + 4th math OR OR OR Math I, Math II, Math Support III, Math III Math I, Math II, Math Support III, Math III Math I, Math II, Math Support III, Math III OR OR OR GPS Alg, GPS Geo, GPS Alg, GPS Geo, GPS Alg, GPS Geo, Math Support III, GPS Adv Alg Math Support III, GPS Adv Alg Math Support III, GPS Adv Alg OR OR OR Math I-II + 2 additional core math credits Math I-II + 2 additional core math credits Math I-II + 2 additional core math credits OR OR OR GPS Alg + GPS Geo + 2 additional core math credits GPS Alg + GPS Geo + 2 additional core math credits GPS Alg + GPS Geo + 2 additional core math credits NOTE: Support courses will be available for struggling students for both delivery systems.