Education Department looks at new student proficiency goals
By Kristine Galloway
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Via Wyoming News Exchange
CHEYENNE — Educators in Wyoming are working toward new student proficiency goals.
The Wyoming Department of Education on Friday presented new 15-year goals to the State Board of Education.
Julie Magee, director of accountability for the Department of Education, told the board the changes are part of updates made to the state plan under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
“We did aspire to make as few changes as possible to the plan because we want to provide as much consistency to the schools as we can,” she said.
Following ESSA’s passage in 2015, the U.S. Department of Education required every state education department to submit a state plan by January 2018.
Magee explained that the U.S. Department of Education approved Wyoming’s Consolidated State Plan on Jan. 16. However, the approval required the state Education Department to amend the definition of an ineffective teacher and resubmit the state plan by Jan. 15, 2019.
Magee said the state released a new definition for an ineffective teacher in September.
A memo sent by Chief Academic Officer Shelley Hamel on Sept. 4 states that an ineffective teacher is one who has three or more years of experience but is unable or unwilling to meet a variety of teaching practices, including:
- Preparing to meet the needs of all students
- Applying a depth and breadth of content knowledge
- Using student data to individualize instruction
- Seeking continual growth
Magee said changes also needed to be made to the ESSA state plan because the state changed the methods it uses to measure student achievement.
Previously, the Wyoming Department of Education measured achievement in the third through eighth grades with the Proficiency Assessment for Wyoming Students (PAWS) and in the 11th grade with the ACT.
Now, the department assesses achievement in the third through 10th grades with the Wyoming Test of Proficiency and Progress (WY-TOPP).
According to information provided to the State Board of Education, proficiency goals for elementary and middle school students are now lower, and proficiency goals for high school students are higher.
Under the previous state ESSA plan, elementary and middle schools were expected to have 59 percent of their students performing proficiently or better in math within 15 years. The Department of Education lowered that to 57 percent proficient or better in the new plan.
Previously, those same schools were expected to have 65 percent of students performing proficiently or better in English language arts in 15 years. That threshold was moved to 59 percent.
The previous plan required high schools to have 46 percent of students performing proficiently or better in math in 15 years, and that number is now 47 percent.
The largest change is in the percentage of high school students required to be performing proficiently or better in English language arts within 15 years.
The old plan required 39 percent of students to be at least proficient, and the new plan moves that up to 53 percent.
Additionally, the state Department of Education increased the percentage of English language learners expected to be making good progress toward learning English.
Under the previous state plan, schools were required to show that 44 percent of those learners were making progress within 15 years. The new plan requires schools to show that 59 percent of English language learners are making good progress.
Magee told the board that they also used the new definition of an ineffective teacher to determine if students have the same access to high-quality education in schools with a high number of low-income families or a high number of minority students.
“This shows that Title 1 schools have a higher proportion of effective teachers than non-Title 1 schools, which is interesting and a very positive thing,” she said.
“What this implies is that there is no equity gap for students that are being served in Title 1 schools.”
Title 1 schools are those that have a high percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch and receive extra funding from the federal government under Title 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
Magee said, “For students in high minority schools, again there is no equity gap. Those schools actually have a higher proportion of effective teachers to non-effective teachers.”
The Department of Education began accepting public comment on Nov. 7 regarding the proposed changes to the ESSA state plan. Public comment can be provided through Dec. 7 online at http://bit.ly/ESSAplanchanges.