Bearcat Wrap-up Podcast - Week 2: Learning About LEARNS, ATLAS, and Accountability

Episode Date: August 25, 2023

Happy Friday!Thank you for all you did this week to successfully complete the first full week of our new school year. Getting through the first full week is tough enough without the added heat wave but we have dealt with it patiently and will be getting some much-needed relief from the weather next week. In this week’s Wrap-up, I want to share some insights gained from Mrs. Buckley’s first LEARNS workgroup meeting for school accountability and provide other tidbits that may be of interest to you.A Shift in the Purpose of AssessmentThe first assessments from the new ATLAS system will not be ready until September 15th but the planning for their use began months ago. After hearing the report from Mrs. Buckley about accountability, I can tell that our use of the assessments will be more about testing our teaching than it will be a reflection of student ability. We will not be using the interims as tests for grades in the gradebook. We will be using the interims like scientists or investigators to test strategies, and establish what is working and what is not to create best practices for delivering the curriculum to our students. I know that many of you operate in this way already, especially those who have worked for several years to establish strong PLCs. You use assessment to drive instruction by determining if students are learning grade-level standards and adjusting approaches when they are not. The buildings and the district will use these assessments in the same manner to determine if our overall instructional practices are getting results for our students. More on AccountabilityIn this first in-person LEARNS Accountability meeting, the focus was on student growth and accountability models. Arkansas has used the Value Added model for student growth over the last several years and while it is highly effective, there is room for improvement. Value-Added typically weighs individual student achievement in higher proportion than student growth which is not in line with the state’s goals for schools. To address this, the formula used will be adjusted so that student growth and achievement are more evenly weighted. Measuring growth in greater proportion provides a focus on student achievement over time and across groups, allowing for more specific data that can then be used to drive instruction. In the September accountability meeting, the focus will be on the School Quality and Student Success indicators. There are several factors included in the SQSS such as attendance, graduation rate, on-level reading, and community service, and for each indicator, it is important to know the purpose, how much impact it has on student success, and to what extent a school has control over that factor. If you are interested in offering input, review the SQSS factors at My School Info and share your thoughts with Mrs. Buckley. Employee Health Insurance There is some good news for us who are insured with the state’s public school employee insurance plan. The Arkansas Legislative Council’s oversight committee for the Employee Benefits Division (EBD) was presented with a budget proposal this week. On slide ten of this proposal, the numbers indicate a reduction in employee contributions for every plan. Some have more than others, so I encourage you to take a look at them. The EBD was restructured by the legislature two years ago because it was losing money. As a result, rates went up for both school districts and employees. An oversight committee was established to make sure that the state employees could rely on a sustainable insurance system and make budgetary decisions. This reduction in employee rates shows that the restructuring and the oversight seem to be working well on our behalf.Tech UpdatePlease be aware that our Chromebooks were updated this summer to the operating system needed to take ATLAS assessments. However, some of the programs we use for student interventions have had upgrades that require more than ATLAS and our Chromebooks may or may not be able to accommodate. Our tech crew is updating Chromebooks so we will be able to use all of these tools but this is taking some time and some of the older Chromebooks may not update any further. If that causes problems using our intervention software, we will get that fixed.ClosingOur Ladycat Volleyball season has started strong and we had a very good home opener last night. Our Bearcat Football season begins tonight at 8 o’clock in Bob Carver Bearcat Stadium. Please come out and support these teams and band members when you can. Hopefully, it will be a little cooler at kick-off with the later start. We are also hosting football and volleyball players and coaches, band members and directors, and parents from the Cossatot River School District, to give them the gameday experience. These are two new sports for this district. Please welcome them as soon as you have the opportunity. It was a really good week at Mena Public Schools!!At Mena Public Schools our students are prepared, our staff is supported, and our community is confident.Have a great weekend!! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bearcatwrap.substack.com

Good afternoon and welcome to the week two wrap-up entitled Learning About Learns, Atlas, and Accountability. Educators are beginning to learn more details pertaining to the Learns Act and the shift that's occurring, especially for assessment and how schools are to be evaluated. Happy Friday. Thank you for all you did this week to successfully complete the first full week of our new school year. Getting through the first week is tough enough without the added heat wave, but we've dealt with it patiently. We'll be getting some much needed relief from the weather next week. In this week's wrap up, I want to share some insights gained from this Buckley's First Learns work group meeting for the school accountability and provide some tidbits other tidbits that may be of interest to you a shift in the purpose of assessment the first assessments from the new Atlas system

will not be ready until September 15th but the planning for their use began months ago after hearing the report from miss Buckley about accountability I can tell that our use of the assessments will be more about testing our teaching than it will be a reflection of student ability. We will not be using the interims as tests for grades in the grade book. We will be using the interims like scientists or investigators to test strategies and establish what is working and what is not to create best practices for delivering the curriculum to our students.

I know that many of you operate in this way already, especially those who have worked for several years to establish strong PLCs. You use assessment to drive instruction by determining if students are learning grade level standards and adjusting approaches when they are not. The buildings and the districts, I'm sorry, the district will use these assessments in the same manner to determine if our overall instructional practices are getting results for our students. More on accountability.

In the first in-person Learns Accountability meeting, there's a link to more information in the text, the focus was on growth and accountability models. Arkansas has used the value-added model for student growth over the last several years, and while it is highly effective, there is room for improvement. Value added typically weighs individual student achievement in higher proportion than student growth which is not in line with the state's goals for schools. To address this, the formula used will be adjusted so that student growth and achievement are more evenly weighted. Measuring growth in greater proportion provides a focus on student achievement over time and across groups, allowing for more specific data that can then be used to drive instruction. In the September accountability meeting, the focus will be on school quality and student

success indicators. There are several factors included in the SQSS such as attendance, graduation rate, on-level reading, and community service and for each indicator it's important to know the purpose, how much impact it has on student success, and to what extent a school has control over that factor. If you are interested in offering input, review the SQSS factors at myschoolinfo, there's a link in the text to that site, and share your thoughts with Mrs. Buckley. Employee health insurance. There's some good news for us who are insured with the state's public school employee insurance plan. Arkansas Legislative Council's Oversight Committee for the employee benefits division was presented with the budget

proposal this week on slide 10 of this proposal there's a link in the text the numbers indicate a reduction in employee contributions for every plan some have more than others so I encourage you to take a look at them. Again, there's a link in the text. The EBD was restructured by the legislature two years ago because it was losing money. As a result, rates went up for both school districts and employees. An oversight committee was established to make sure that the state employees could rely on a sustainable insurance system and make budgetary decisions. This reduction in employee rates shows that the restructuring and oversight seem to be working well on our behalf.

Tech update. Please be aware that our Chromebooks were updated this summer to the operating system needed to take the Atlas assessments. However, some of the programs we use for student interventions have had upgrades that require more than the Atlas and our Chromebooks may not, more than Atlas and our Chromebooks may not, may or may not be able to accommodate. Our tech crew is updating Chromebooks so we will be able to use all of

these tools but this is taking some time and some of the older Chromebooks may not update any further. If that causes problems using our intervention software we will get it fixed. In closing our Lady Cat volleyball season has started strong and we had a very good home opener last night. Our Bearcat football season begins tonight at eight o'clock in Bob Carver Bearcat Stadium. Please come out and support these teams and band members when you can. Hopefully it will be a little cooler at kickoff with the later start. We are also hosting football and volleyball players and coaches, band members and directors and parents from the Custod River School District to give them the game day experience.

Please welcome them as soon as you have the opportunity. It was a really good week at Mena Public Schools. At Mena Public Schools, our students are prepared, our staff is supported, and our community is confident. Have a nice weekend.