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State Board of Education |
Dear Board President: The State Board of Education met at Jefferson City on November 14. Here is a recap of that meeting. As required by state law, which was enacted this year, the Board approved a model policy dealing with parent and family involvement. A copy of our resolution on this subject is enclosed for your information and use. All school districts are required by the law to adopt their own policies that mirror the main provisions of the enclosed sample. Your district may already have formal policies regarding the importance of parent and family involvement in children’s education. Even so, it will be necessary for you to review such policies and revise them to comply with the provisions of the new state law. Districts are required to adopt these policies by March 1, 2006. We all recognize and affirm the crucial importance of parent involvement in education. However, we also know that some parents can be "involved" to the point of being disruptive, or so disengaged or dysfunctional that their children’s learning suffers. Schools face many special challenges these days in creating an environment that encourages constructive parent involvement and meets the diverse needs of today’s families. Your review of this new policy requirement will likely spark some interesting discussion about those challenges. UPDATE ON HIGH SCHOOL ASSESSMENT The Board received a brief status report on the work of an advisory committee, appointed by Commissioner King, to make recommendations about possible changes in the state’s high school assessment. As you probably know, there is substantial interest (at least in some quarters) in replacing the high school MAP assessments with a national college-entry exam (such as the ACT). A few states have recently moved in this direction, so that the state requires (and pays for) each high school student to take the nationally known exam. Some states choose to "augment" the commercial exam with a state-developed addendum that measures specific state standards. The High School Task Force that recommended increasing the minimum graduation requirements also recommended that we consider replacing the current high school MAP exams. A special task force has been meeting regularly this fall to explore the pros and cons of changing our high school assessment. We expect that group to submit formal recommendations for the Board to consider by March or April. It is important to understand that there are widely differing views on this subject. The question is not settled. Discarding the current MAP exams (grades 10 and 11) in favor of a college-entry exam such as the ACT or SAT would be a dramatic shift for Missouri. I will keep you apprised of our discussions on this subject. "Q & A" ON HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS As you know, the State Board voted in October to raise the minimum requirements for high school graduation in Missouri, effective with the Class of 2010. This decision has generated numerous questions, particularly about the new requirement for a half-unit course in "personal finance." We received hundreds of comments about our proposed changes in graduation requirements, and most of the comments were from people who endorsed the requirement for a class in personal finance. Enclosed is a short "Q & A" document about the new graduation requirements. I hope this will be helpful to you and your board as you review your own graduation requirements. HONORING THE TEACHER OF THE YEAR The Board and Commissioner King hosted the annual banquet at which we formally honor the new Missouri Teacher of the Year and the state finalists. We enjoyed meeting and honoring Girard (Jerry) Thornton, an elementary physical education teacher in the Francis Howell School District (St. Charles County). He will represent Missouri well in the National Teacher of the Year program. We also extend our congratulations and commendations to the following finalists in this year’s Missouri Teacher of the Year program: Paula Berner Ross Bullington Myra Collins Brad Peck Christine Renault We appreciate the continuing support of all the corporate and association sponsors that enables us to recognize the exemplars of fine teaching in schools throughout our state. Enclosed is a copy of a new publication from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education: Missouri Public School Accountability Report. This report was recently updated with data from 2004-05. The information included in this document is very similar to the information that the Department publishes about each building and district. I encourage you to keep and use this report; it provides useful statewide statistics about many of the indicators that are important at the local level. On behalf of the State Board of Education, enclosed is a Christmas greeting to you and the members of your board. We wish you a mild winter with not too many snow days and a peaceful and productive New Year. I extend a special "Thank you" to Emily Peak, the student artist from Wellsville-Middletown Elementary School, who illustrated this card. Thanks, also, to her instructor, Vickie Robinson, and the staff of the Missouri School for the Deaf, for their assistance in printing the greeting cards. You and your board do vitally important work on behalf of about 900,000 kids in our public schools. And these are challenging times. We look forward to working with you to continue the efforts to improve Missouri’s public school system for all children and youth. Sincerely, Peter Herschend, President |
Revised: October 02, 2006
