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Education Board
Considering Changes to Accreditation
from
Gongwer News Service,
11-7-02
For more articles visit
www.bridges4kids.org.
The State Board of Education had been working on ways to meld
the Education YES! accreditation system and the federal No
Child Left Behind Act into a single system. But after
discussions with former U.S. Department of Education official
Sandy Kress Wednesday, the board is considering a proposal to
have the federal NCLB act as a modifier for the accreditation
system rather than a part of it.
Under Mr. Kress' proposal, each school would be given a grade
based solely on the criteria in Education YES!, but then would
have that grade amended by the school's ability to meet the
adequate yearly progress requirements of the federal law.
The earlier proposal for dealing with NCLB was to use its
adequate yearly progress standard as part of the performance
change score in Education YES!, but Mr. Kress indicated that
would not be appropriate. And he recommended that the
Department of Education adopt fully the federal standard
rather than trying to seek modifications to make it more
easily comply with the state system.
That discussion leaves the board ready to adopt the structure
for Education YES! at its next full meeting Thursday, November
14, as well as cut scores for the elementary and middle
schools on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program-based
parts of the system.
But outgoing Board Secretary Michael Warren (R-Beverly Hills)
registered concern Thursday that there was not any deadline
for actually issuing report cards to schools. "We're not going
to have cut scores until next year," he said. "It's very
unclear whether it's January or February or March or the end
of the Granholm term."
And, as he has before, he warned that the board and the
department could lose control of the process if the grades are
not in place quickly. "The new governor and the Legislature
are going to lose patience," he said.
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