A number of groups and organizations were present at the committee hearing on September 23rd to share what they are working on in preparation for 2011.

 Full-Day Kindergarten Implementation Committee
The Full-Day Kindergarten Implementation Committee shared their past year's work, and discussed the importance of full day kindergarten for Oregon's students. The group reported that 96 of Oregon's districts currently offer some form of full-day kindergarten. Noting that half-day programs equate to only two and a half hours of instructional time per day, the group stressed that full-day programs are necessary to meet the needs of all learners and to close the achievement gap. The group also encouraged the Senate Education Committee to consider extending truancy statutes to include all children who are enrolled in school, regardless of age (current policies only apply to students aged seven and older).

Online Learning Task Force
The Online Learning Task Force - an initiative of the State Board of Education - presented on their findings from recent years' work. The Task Force offered a number of proposals for the future of virtual schools including: creating policies separate from those applying to brick-and-mortar charter schools, requiring virtual schools to be sponsored by an Oregon school district or education service district (ESD), requiring state-level reviews of all virtual schools, limiting districts' ability to keep students from transferring to a virtual school, and changing the funding structure for virtual schools.

Education Vision and Policy Task Force - COSA
COSA's (Confederation of Oregon School Administrators) Education Vision and Policy Task Force- a group of superintendents from across the state - presented a list of working goals and priorities for the coming legislative session(s). Primary goals for the 2011 session include:  making the State Superintendent a Governor-appointed position, creating a P-20 Council to replace or oversee the current Board of Education and Board of Higher Education, implementing a rigorous statewide performance evaluation system for all educators, strengthening the statewide delivery system for quality professional development, continuing to expand Oregon's commitment to mentoring new teachers and administrators, developing new career pathways and compensation models by investing in research-based initiatives like the CLASS Project, and adopting the Common Core Standards.

Chalkboard Project
The Chalkboard Project provided an update on their recent work and an overview of the goals for the 2011 session. Chalkboard announced their receipt of $13.2 million in federal Teacher Incentive Fund dollars and discussed recent student achievement results that show Tillamook and Sherwood school districts seeing double the student achievement growth as comparable districts in secondary grades. Chalkboard's goal for the 2011 session is to create a school district collaborative grant for districts to voluntarily work toward reform in areas such as career paths, performance evaluations, professional development, and compensation.

Oregon Education Association, Oregon School Employees Association, the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators, and the Oregon School Boards Association
Representatives from the Oregon Education Association, Oregon School Employees Association, the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators, and the Oregon School Boards Association were on hand to explain their process for evaluating policy proposals for the upcoming session. The groups' evaluation rubric includes: how the proposal fits with previous laws and administrative rules, the potential benefit to students, key elements of the policy along with impacts and consequences, potential fiscal or revenue impacts, alignment with the Quality Education Model vision and goals, viability of proposed funding sources or impact of passage without funding, and alignment with the organizations' funding priorities.

Higher Education Task Force
Senator Hass and Dana Richardson, Legislative Director for Senate President Peter Courtney, spoke to the work of the Higher Education Task Force and findings from the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education (WICHE). For the 2011 session, the Task Force is primarily considering: proposals for more autonomy for Oregon's universities, increased dual-credit opportunities for high school students, and putting the state's 40-40-20 goal into statute.

It looks to be a promising - and busy - legislative session for education in Oregon.

To listen to the Senate Education Committee hearing, click here: http://bit.ly/aDnoHX

To listen to the House Education Committee hearing, click here:
http://bit.ly/aWcmHf