And now for a non-election blog post…

One of my more popular blogs lately was the one at the end of September in which I listed all of the accountability requirements for districts and schools during the month of October. Following up from that, here is the November list. In case you’re scoring at home, the “S” before the item means that it is a state requirement. The “F” is for federal.

NOVEMBER 2014

S Annual Student Dropout Report is due to local school boards; Alternative Education (405) 522-0276. [OAC 210:35-25-3]

S Oklahoma Native American Day: On the third Monday in November of each year, teachers and students of the schools of this state are requested to observe the day with appropriate exercises; Indian Education/Curriculum (405) 521-3361. [25 O.S. § 90.12]

S First Quarter Statistical Report (FQSR) deadline is 10 days following the end of the first nine weeks; State Aid (405) 521-3460. [70 O.S. § 5-128]

Due Date

1 S ACE End of Course Project Report, high school only; ACE/Counseling (405) 521-3549.

2 S Oklahoma Technology Survey is available on the SDE School District Reporting Site; Learning Technologies (405) 521-3994. [62 O.S. 1995 § 41.5 m (D) (1) b)]

10 S OPAT Data Report Due; Special Education Services (405) 522-4513.

11 S Celebrate Freedom Week observed during the week of November 11; Office of Instruction/Social Studies (405) 522-3253. [70 O.S. § 24-152] [OAC 210:15-33-1]

15 S AP Participation materials due to College Board; Advanced Placement (405) 521-4288.

15 F Low-Income Student Count Report; October’s Claim for Reimbursement must be processed prior to submission; Child Nutrition (405) 521-3327. [7 CFR, Part 210.9 (b)]

15 F Verification of Free/Reduced-Price Meal Applications; Child Nutrition (405) 521-3327.

15 S By November 15 districts must inform SDE Financial Accounting of any district level changes made to financial transactions already submitted to the SDE; no data submitted by law can be changed or altered by the district or SDE Financial Accounting after November 15; Financial Accounting/OCAS (405) 521-2517 [OAC 210:25-5-4(c)]

15 S Deadline for submitting the Local School District’s Salary Schedule; School Personnel Records (405) 521-3369. [70 O.S. § 5-141 (A)]

15 F School Improvement Plan for each designated Priority school or Focus school currently in improvement must submit an improvement plan to SDE; School Support/School Improvement (405) 522-3253. [PL 107-110, NCLB 2001, 1116 (b) (3) (A)]

18 F Computer-generated school district expenditure reports are due; Federal Programs (405) 521-2846; School Support/School Improvement (405) 522-3395.

26 F Title III Part A: Language Instruction for Limited English Proficient (LEP) and Immigrant Student Annual Performance Report online; Bilingual Education/Title III A (405) 522-6249. [NCLB, P.L. 107-110]

It’s not quite as cumbersome as last month’s reporting requirements, but the list includes many tasks that an amateur or non-educator, such as the Assistant Superintendent for Accreditation and Compliance, probably wouldn’t understand. That’s ok. He can ask one of the qualified people who work for him.

Interestingly, this list of requirements did not include the following, which came out in a weekly message from the SDE to administrators:

The Mid-year promotion report is now uploaded on the Single Sign On and can be found on the Reading Sufficiency Act Survey under the “Third Grade Promotion and Retention” tab. Please note that the due date has been changed to Nov. 14, 2014.

That’s a pretty big reporting deadline. And if you did keep a score sheet, that’s another “S.”

Coming up in December…all kinds of fun A-F Report Card reporting:

ACTION REQUIRED/DEADLINE: 2015 A-F Data Reports are Now Open, first deadline Dec. 19  

2015 A-F Data Reports are now open for submission of data. Data must be submitted or certified by you before the close date of each report. As a reminder, your 2015 A-F School Report Card and Federal Report Cards will be comprised of the data from these reports and is dependent on the accuracy of the data you submit.

Which Reports Are Open?

The following reports are open in the WAVE (https://sdeweb01.sde.ok.gov/SSO2/Signin.aspx). Please sign in and click on the WAVE to access reports.

Report	How-to Video/ Instructions	Current Status	Close Date	State Status
Historical Adjusted Graduation Cohort Report	http://vimeo.com/85837710	Open	Dec. 19, 2014

Which Reports Are Not Yet Open?

The following reports will be open in the A-F Application (https://sdeweb01.sde.ok.gov/SSO2/Signin.aspx ). Please sign in and click on the A-F Application to access reports.

Report	Open Date	Close Date
A-F Advanced Coursework	April 1, 2015	July 3, 2015
Annual Statistical Report (ASR)	TBD	10 days after the end of school
SMART Report	TBD	10 days after the end of school
Grades 3-8 & EOI Assessment Post-Code Correction	June 4, 2014	July 3, 2014
OAAP Testing Data Correction	Mid-June	Mid-July
A-F Calculations Review	Mid-August	Late August

Where Do I Submit My Data?

The Historical Adjusted Graduation Cohort Report is available via the WAVE (https://sdeweb01.sde.ok.gov/SSO2/Signin.aspx ).

How Do I Submit My Data?

For training webinars on how to complete these reports, please visit the SDE Webinar Sign up Page , and select the training you would like to attend. Where available, instructions and how-to videos have been included for each report above. Please click on the link for each report. 

What If I Don’t Submit My Data?

The Historical Adjusted Graduation Cohort Report reports goes through a submission process in which the Principal must “Confirm” and the Superintendent must “Certify” the report. Failure to certify any report by the close date will be considered passive agreement that the data are correct and will be used as is in all accountability measures, including A-F.

Do you ever wonder why your district’s central office has so many employees or what keeps them busy? This would explain part of it.

Nothing Like Waiting ’til the Last Minute

 

Districts work really hard this time of year to complete their accreditation reports. That’s why some find it frustrating that at 3:32 on the day those reports are due, the SDE sends out a notice that schools will have three more days to complete them.

 

OSDE: Deadline for Accreditation Application and October 1 Child Count OK State Dept of Ed sent this bulletin at 10/15/2013 03:32 PM CDT To all district superintendents, On behalf of Accreditation and the Office of Student Information, thank you to all districts that have certified the October 1 Child Count and Accreditation Application. As the October 15th deadline nears, the Oklahoma State Department of Education is pleased to report that over 90% of districts have been able to certify their reports. However, because nearly 10% of districts have asked for assistance from the OSDE and the department continues to respond to those requests, the Superintendent has extended the deadline for both the Accreditation Application and the October 1 Child Count to Friday, October 18th at 5:00 PM CDT. This will allow the Office of Student Information enough time to address all requests for data support from districts needed to certify the October 1 Child Count. The OSDE shares the districts’ commitment to reporting accurate data and is equally committed to supporting districts as they complete these reports. Because of statutory obligations, there will be no further extensions. Regards, John Kraman Executive Director, Student Information Oklahoma State Department of Education

 

Never mind how hard 90 percent of the districts worked to complete them on time. Or what other tasks they pushed to the side to complete the reports. Or that most of the state is on fall break two of the next three days.

 

Oh, and at the end of the day on the 15^th, no A-F Report Cards. Maybe tomorrow, right?

Accreditation…With a Side of Warning

 

A reader today pointed something out to me that I had completely missed. At last week’s State Board of Education meeting, while I was paying attention to budget questions and ACE appeals, they approved accreditation requests for school districts – some with deficiencies, some with warnings. According to the SDE news release:

For the coming school year, there are 372 nonpublic, public, charter, and career and technology education districts accredited with no deficiencies; 83 with one deficiency; 27 with multiple deficiencies; 111 districts accredited with a warning; and 9 listed as on probation.

The complete list is here.

The reader’s concern is that the number of districts receiving a warning with their deficiency report has increased from 38 to 111. The short answer to this is that the procedure is routine and goes back three or four years. The number of districts with warnings correlates to the number of schools that were placed in Needs Improvement status under the No Child Left Behind rules – rules that no longer apply due to the state waiver. Last year, as expected under the unrealistic goals set by NCLB, the number of schools and districts not making AYP spiked.

So a school district’s accreditation status for 2012-13 depends in part on test scores from the 2010-11 school year. Regardless of who is running the show up there, that’s ridiculous.

I also found interest in this nugget from my reader. For the 2011-12 school year, all charter schools in the state were accredited with no deficiencies. Warnings are not listed on the spreadsheet.

Compare that with the 2012-13 accreditation report and … wait … only one charter school received a warning? Santa Fe South Middle School received a warning, but not Justice A.W. Seeworth Academy (234 API –Needs Improvement). While several other charters did not make adequate yearly progress, they had still avoided the Needs Improvement designation.

I don’t know if this is an oversight or an inconsistency. And it really doesn’t matter. What it really points to is the idea that accreditation (a state process) should never have crossed streams with Adequate Yearly Progress and Needs Improvement (federal). If districts meet state statutes, that should be enough to keep accreditation.