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Superintendent's Message
Dear Colleagues:
What a privilege it was to be with so many of you at today's Superintendents' Collaboration in Lafayette. My thanks to the many of you whose staffs led sessions for the nearly 300 administrators present. And my thanks to all of you for taking of your precious time to support colleagues.
The world after high school demands resilience, ingenuity, and discipline. We have 14 years in which to provide young people experiences that help to foster these capacities.
That implies a rigorous daily experience, an intellectual challenge. It implies that teachers must thus understand the nature of this challenge. As administrators, we must support them in achieving this understanding. They too must be challenged, and through challenge, they will learn.
As with any craft, learning comes from practice with tools more than through a manual or guidebook. This is why, in a time of learning for teachers, the state has provided specific guidance on assessments, sample assessment items, sample plans, and guidance on classroom practice.
And as in any craft, our job as leaders is to facilitate practice with these tools. This is why the state has trained Teacher Leaders and network teams, just as it is why the state is providing training on Professional Learning Communities and supporting the Teacher Advancement Program. These are the habits of practicing, using tools.
I hope you benefited from your colleagues' plans for helping teachers to practice using tools, learning the intellectual challenges their students are experiencing. I thank you again for your contributions today.
As always, thank you for all you do for our children,
John
John White
Louisiana Department of Education
Twitter @LouisianaSupe
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Compass
Compass Information System - Upload Process
Functionality is now available in the Compass Information System (CIS) that allows districts to upload final evaluation data. The process has been updated to reflect improvements made to Compass in January and will enable districts to upload all data entry for end of year evaluations.
To support districts planning to use this function, please use the following resources available in the Compass Information System:
To schedule a conversation with a Compass team member about creating and uploading your file, please e-mail compass@la.gov.
Final Evaluation Resources
Compass is designed to give educators the feedback and support they need to improve in the classroom and to prepare students for college and career. A critical component of this design is the end-of-year conversation, grounded in final evaluation data.
Statewide, final evaluations have been submitted for 75 percent of teachers and 57 percent of leaders. Complete reports on Compass implementation can be downloaded from the Compass Information System. A de-identified, district-by-district comparison is available by viewing the Compass Implementation Report. Dashboards in CIS now show final evaluation information, including final evaluation completion rates.
Note: All final evaluation results are due into the Compass Information System by July 29th.
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District Support
2013-2014 Instructional Support Tools (Science and Social Studies Included)
In order for students to achieve on new, more rigorous standards, teachers should be empowered to make choices as to how and what students learn. Rather than being told to simply follow a Comprehensive Curriculum, teachers statewide are designing curriculum and assessments based on the needs of their students. For guidance on the ELA and math standards shifts refer to the "Standards" tab in the Classroom Support Toolbox. The following resources have been released to support teachers' instructional choices:
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Assessment and Accountability
Assessment Summary Reports Release
Please forward to district superintendents, district test coordinators, school test coordinators and principals. LEAP, iLEAP, LAA1, LAA2, and ELDA summary reports for spring 2013 assessment administration will be released on July 18 through LEAPweb. These reports include:
- Achievement level report
- Performance report
- Subgroup/education classification report
- Economic status subgroup report
- Special education exceptionality report
- Test accommodations report
EOC summary reports combining December 2012 and spring 2013 administrations were released through the test system on July 15. These reports include:
- Achievement level report
- Subgroup report
- Economic status report
- Special education exceptionality report
- Test accommodations report
- Summary report CSV file
SRCL STEEP Assessment Webinars
The System to Enhance Educational Performance (STEEP) assessment is a benchmark and progress monitoring assessment used in SRCL sites for students in grades 4-12. Cohort 1 and 2 district- and site-based teams are invited to participate in a series of webinars to learn more about the assessment.The Cohort 1 syllabus is available here and the Cohort 2 syllabus is available here. Both include the webinar series' schedule.
Please e-mail jill.slack@la.gov with any questions.
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School and Course Choice
Course Choice Professional School Counselors Informational Webinar Series
Please forward to all professional school counselors. Course Choice will provide students and their families with access to rigorous college and career course offerings that best match students' abilities and needs beginning SY 2013-2014. In order to update educators on the recent reboot of course choice, the Louisiana Department of Education will offer online informational training to all school-based professional school counselors on the program and school roles and responsibilities in the Course Choice approval process at the dates/times below. Please choose one webinar to attend.
- July 22, 2013 2:00-3:00 p.m.
- July 26, 2013 9:00-10:00 a.m.
- August 5, 2013 9:00-10:00 a.m.
- August 8, 2013 9:00-10:00 a.m.
- August 12, 2012 2:00-3:00 p.m.
Webinar login information below:
2013 Fall College Board Counselor Workshops
In order to assist teachers in preparing students for college and careers, the College Board will offer a series of 2013 counselor workshops. These free workshops offer an opportunity to network with colleagues, share best practices and more. To register click here.
For additional information, please e-mail tristen.guillory@la.gov
Identifying Students for Advanced Placement (AP) Coursework
The new cohort graduation index recognizes a score of 3 or higher on at least one AP exam or an International Baccalaureate (IB) exam of 4 or higher as the highest level of achievement earned by a cohort graduate. Each student with at least one AP score of 3 or higher or an IB exam of 4 or higher will earn the maximum 150 points toward the graduation index. Students who take an AP or an IB course and earn a 1 or 2 on an AP exam or a 1, 2, or 3 on an IB exam receive 110 points toward the graduation index.
Your school can now offer from up to 34 AP courses in subjects that prepare students for college and careers. The Department will provide a webinar to help school administrators, counselors and principals identify students for 2013-2014 AP courses utilizing a set of existing tools such as the ACT Plan exam results and the PSAT AP Potential tool.
Webinar information below:
- When: Thursday, July 25th, 2013 from 3:30 pm - 4:00 pm
- Click here to log in.
- Toll-Free: (877) 336-1831
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Finance
FY 2014 MFP Payment Schedule
Please forward to district superintendents and business managers. The FY 2014 MFP payment schedule is now available to allow for cash flow planning based on receipt of MFP payments. Click here to view the schedule.
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