Course Choice Informational Webinars 

Course Choice will provide students and their families access to rigorous college and career, publicly-funded course offerings that best match student's abilities and needs beginning SY 2013-14. On December 6, the LDOE hosted an initial Course Choice informational webinar for professional school counselors and district staff. This webinar provided a Course Choice Program overview, explanation of forthcoming District Support Systems, and an outline of key implementation dates. Beginning  December 17, this webinar can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/CCWebinars

Additional webinars will be conducted to answer stakeholder questions.  The next webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, December 19,  at 2:30 p.m. The webinar will focus on Course Choice providers and the various types of course offerings that will be available.  To join online select the following link: http://tinyurl.com/cczqofz. To connect with your telephone only call 1-888-621-7121 (toll free), enter event number 716092. We encourage all professional school counselors to participate. To assist us in providing the most helpful information, please send questions to coursechoice@la.gov in advance. 

Spotlight on Component 2c: Managing Classroom Procedures

As Compass observations continue across the state, the LDOE newsletters will include a regular feature on the components within the Compass Teacher Rubric, along with videos of exemplar performance to help educators and evaluators become more familiar with the content of the rubric. This week, we'll turn our focus to Component 2c: Managing Classroom Procedures with a look at a 5^th grade English Language Arts class.

A well-managed classroom is a prerequisite to good instruction and high levels of student engagement. Through established and efficient routines and procedures, teachers are able to focus on preparing students to meet the rigorous Common Core standards by maintaining momentum and maximizing instructional time.

Click here to view another video of Effective: Proficient teacher performance related to this component.

Click here to view an explanation of the evidence and rationale for the Effective: Proficient rating in this video.

HCIS System Announcements

A number of updates are now available in HCIS.  Included are: 

• The ability for teachers and leaders to report the results of their Student Learning Targets (SLTs). 
• The ability for evaluators to provide ratings on SLT results. 

Please make your HCIS users aware of the Completing the SLT Process guide and the HCIS Help Desk.

Clarification on Professional Growth Plans

Professional growth plans may be recorded in the Human Capital Information System (HCIS). Professional Growth Plans DO NOT need to be submitted to the state separately via compass@la.gov or any other channel.

EAGLE Update

Please forward to all District and School Test Coordinators and Teachers.

New Handscoring Tutorials in EAGLE

The LDOE has added 4 new Handscoring Tutorials to the EAGLE system. These new handscoring tutorials feature transitional writing prompts that provide interactive training for teachers and show how to score student response to open-ended questions in EAGLE. Also, the rubrics can be used to show students examples of strong and weak responses.

The four new units are:

• Grade 4-"Flying Cars or Helper Robots"
• Grade 6-"Class President"
• Grade 8-"Words of Wisdom"
• English III-"Cyberbullying"

Sign in to www.LouisianaEAGLE.org, select the 'Enter Handscores' icon in the top menu, and click on HANDSCORING TUTORIAL. Scroll down the list of handscoring tutorials and look for the red tag that says "New" next to each of the four new units.

PLAN and EXPLORE Accommodations

Please forward to District Test Coordinators and School Principals (Grades 8, 9, and 10).

The EXPLORE and PLAN Supervisor's Manuals provide guidance for EXPLORE and PLAN accommodations, including how to appropriately code answer documents and when students should be tested in a separate room (e.g., Test Read Aloud, Answers Recorded). However, there is no formal review process from ACT, and the decision to provide accommodations should be based on the student's IEP, Section 504 IAP, or LEP Accommodation Plan.  

The timelines for testing accommodated students with EXPLORE and PLAN are as follows:   

• Grade 8 students (EXPLORE) receiving accommodations should be tested between March 4 and March 8.  
• Grade 9 students (EXPLORE) and Grade 10 students (PLAN) receiving accommodations should be tested between March 19 and April 2.  

Refer to the EXPLORE link http://act.org/aap/louisiana/explore.html  and to the PLAN link http://act.org/aap/louisiana/plan.html.

 ACT, PLAN, and EXPLORE Reports

Please forward to District Test Coordinators and School Principals (Grades 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12).

We have received a number of questions about the reports that will be provided by ACT.  Please see below for an estimated delivery schedule.

For ACT:

• Three to eight weeks after answer documents arrive at the scoring center:
  • Students with college-reportable scores will receive student score reports; and
  • High schools will receive ACT HS Checklist Reports, along with individual student ACT HS reports.
• No later than June 28, 2013:
  • Principals will receive student notification letters for students with non-college-reportable scores  due to state-allowed accommodations.
• No later than August 23, 2013:
  • High schools and districts will receive ACT profile reports and ACT student level data files for students with college-reportable scores.

For EXPLORE and PLAN:

• Two to four weeks after answer documents arrive at the scoring center:
  • Schools will receive a student list report with two copies of all student score reports;
  • Schools and districts will receive an EXPLORE/PLAN Profile Summary Report (by grade) which includes only students who tested under standard time conditions, as well as an Item-Response Summary Report (by grade) and a data file with all tested students (by grade).

Sample reports and related resources can be found at the following links:   http://www.act.org/explore/downloads.html  http://www.act.org/plan/downloads.html

 EOC US History Test

Please forward to District Test Coordinator, School Principal, and School Counselors.

The Department has recently received several questions regarding EOC graduation cohorts, in particular the US History EOC. 

What is the EOC policy for current students?

• According to policy approved by BESE in June 2009, students who started high school in 2010-2011 (i.e., typical "juniors") are required to score "Fair" or above on the English II or English III EOC, Algebra I or Geometry EOC, and Biology or US History EOC.
• EOC results must account for 15 to 30% of students grades and the LDOE provides conversion tables to help district convert EOC scale scores to traditional grades (e.g., A, B, C). 

Since the US History EOC was operational for the first time this year, how does it influence graduation and student grades?

• Achievement level results will be provided during summer 2013.  Because the LDOE cannot provide grade conversion tables until results are final, districts are discouraged from including US History EOC results in student grades during the 12-13 school year.
• However, the US History EOC may still help students meet their graduation obligations. Students and schools will receive US History results in summer 2013.  

Because schools and students will not have US History EOC results until summer 2013, what can we do to help ensure our current juniors (i.e., started in 10-11) are on track to graduate in Spring 2014?

• If they haven't already retested, students who have taken the EOC Biology test and scored Needs Improvement should be advised to participate in the EOC Biology test during the retest opportunities - May 2013, June 2013, December 2013, and May 2014. 

Act 1 - Compensation - Submitting Compensation Plans for Review

The LDOE will provide ongoing support to districts as they revise their compensation plans and will conduct a final review of compensation plans this spring. If your district is interested in receiving technical support prior to formally submitting your plan, contact Act1@la.gov.  The LDOE can connect you with technical experts, review and provide feedback on your draft plan, discuss communication needs, and much more.

All districts should plan to submit their plans by April 1, 2013 for final review.  At that time, we will assess each plan against a rubric that articulates the requirements of Act 1. Until then, we will review plans on a rolling basis. Please access that rubric here.

If you have questions, please contact Act1@la.gov or Gary Jones at Gary.Jones@la.gov. 

Act 1 - Compensation - Panel Discussion and Workshop Follow-up

On December 6, BESE Member Holly Boffy facilitated a Panel Discussion with several Superintendents on changes to teacher compensation.  Read about the panelists' plans by clicking here  or access an archived recording of it here: http://statestream.louisiana.gov/?nodeId=463

LDOE also hosted workshops on sustainability and communications. You can access the materials from those sessions, including a sustainability testing model and communications templates, by clicking reviewing the sustainability presentation and communications presentation.

Act 1 - Compensation - District Spotlight - St. Charles Parish

A successful compensation design process engages local stakeholders early and often.  St. Charles Parish began work on its new system by creating a task force to offer advice on the plan, leading to a locally tailored system that recognizes excellence in the classroom, while also offering rewards to attract teachers to the classrooms where they are needed most. 

St. Charles teachers rated Effective: Emerging or higher are eligible for up to a $750 salary increase.  Highly Effective can receive up to $1000.  St. Charles is offering larger rewards to teachers in VAM subjects, and additional pay for teachers with advanced degrees teaching in high-demand subject areas.

Looking ahead, it's important that teachers and community members understand the big-picture goals of the system - as well as how the details will affect educator pay.  That's why St. Charles is designing and implementing a strong communications plan, including an explanatory video for teachers to make sure they understand how these new changes will recognize and reward their hard work in the classroom.

FY2012-13 MFP Budget Letter (December 2012)

Please forward to Superintendents, Business Managers and Financial Officials of City/Parish Public School Districts.

The December Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) Budget Letter contains payment information for each city or parish school district inclusive of the second quarter payments for the Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence Program (SSEEP).  Second quarter SSEEP payments are based on the December 3, 2012, count date.

The following MFP Budget Letter documents are attached:

 SRCL Project Directors: SRCL Cohort 1 - Year 2 Funding Budget Forms

Please forward to SRCL Project Directors and SRCL Fiscal Managers.

Please complete and submit the attached budget forms to  DOEFederalBudgetsRevisions@la.gov by January 14, 2013. The funding period for SRCL - Cohort 1 Year 2 Allocations is December 5, 2012 through September 30, 2013. LEAs should not begin obligating Year 2 funds until Year 1 funds have been obligated.  If you have any questions please call Julie Cutrer at (225) 342-0181.