Promising steps toward new LCFF evaluation rubric taken at recent State Board of Ed meeting
Published: May 25, 2016
As work on the LCFF evaluation rubric moves forward, CSBA continues to advocate for a clear, coherent and streamlined accountability system that promotes continuous school improvement. Promising steps were taken in that direction during the most recent State Board of Education meeting.
The May 11-12 meeting featured an illuminating
report from the SPI Accountability and Continuous Improvement Task Force, on which CSBA CEO & Executive Director Vernon M. Billy served, and robust discussion of what elements should be included in the LCFF evaluation rubric the SBE will approve this fall.
The wide-ranging report from taskforce co-chairs, CTA President Eric Heins and ACSA Executive Director Wes Smith, earned praise from state board members for a number of its recommendations and points of emphasis, such as:
- Mapping out what California should do to educate students, not just what can it do right now
- A focus on student learning and achievement that identifies the right drivers (as proposed by CSBA) and revolves around support for school districts
- Including a tangible definition of equity that focuses on the whole child
- Involving all stakeholders in the process
- Distinguishing between assessment and accountability
- Creating an index or section of the LCAP to define terms
- Acknowledging the responsibilities of the state
- Making a point of recognizing (with the hope of replicating) excellence
- Identifying practical next steps to guide adoption and implementation
The SPI report influenced discussion of the LCFF evaluation rubric during which state board members stressed that school districts should use additional metrics beyond those that will ultimately be included in California’s evaluation rubric and avoid the idea that “if it’s not a state indicator, it’s not important.”
Significant support was also expressed for a measure of college and career readiness, an independent, composite measure of school climate, a separate system for alternative schools that addresses subgroups more effectively than the current model and the development of a state tool that could prepopulate some LCAP and rubric information for districts and aid in data analysis.
The Board also adopted a motion that incorporates a student academic growth metric for grades 3-8 and results on the Next Generation Science Standards into the rubric; eliminated the proposed grade 3 reading/grade 8 math score composite item; modified the suspension metric to a composite measure of student engagement, including suspension and chronic absence, and postponed approval of an annual process for SBE review of the rubric.
In preparation for the SBE’s July meeting, the Board directed staff to prepare a recommendation on standards for the LCFF priority areas not included in the key indicators (Priorities 1-3, 7 and 8) and options for incorporating college and career readiness measures, local climate surveys and a composite EL indicator into the rubric design. The SPI Accountability and Continuous Improvement Task Force report will continue to influence discussion of the evaluation rubric.