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State Board Of Education Meeting Postponed
from MIRS 10-14-02
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The regularly scheduled Oct. 17 State Board of Education
meeting has been postponed. The Board will convene on Oct. 24
at 9 a.m. in a Committee of the Whole, followed by a regular
meeting.
According to T.J. BUCHOLZ, board spokesman, the Board's
Accreditation Advisory Committee requested additional time to
gather more information it deems critical in completing work
on Education YES! the state's new accreditation system.
“We realize the Board has proposed a very ambitious timeline
to complete Education YES!,” Board of Education President
Kathleen N. STRAUS said in a prepared statement. “The
Accreditation Advisory Committee is committed to melding
Education YES! and the No Child Left Behind Act together as
seamlessly as possible.”
Even though the agenda for this Thursday's meeting was posted
as late as last Friday on the State Board of Education's web
site, the delay should come as no surprise.
Dr. Philip KEARNEY, chair of the five-member advisory
committee, did tell the Board at its Sept. 7 meeting his
committee would present its recommendations in time for the
Oct. 17 board meeting. However, he also laid out a 12-step
procedure for testing and validating performance indicators to
be used in the cut-score grading process for determining under
achieving schools —a procedure that appeared to be a complex
process — thereby setting the stage for another delay.
The Board earlier adopted a resolution calling for an
accreditation plan to be in place last June for elementary
schools and September for high schools. The latest deadline is
now December.
An accreditation plan adopted by the previous board was
scheduled to take effect in early 2001. Superintendent of
Public Instruction Tom WATKINS and the current board scrapped
that plan because they said it relied too heavily on Michigan
Education Assessment Program (MEAP) test scores.
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