What’s Happening in Washington?!

1. What’s Happening in Washington?!

2. Today’s Agenda • ESEA Reauthorization & Waivers • Update on Legislative & Policy Proposals • Next Generation of Assessments • Teacher Evaluation • Special Education Funding Outlook

3. 3

4. 7 Senators are past educators 44 Representatives are past educators

5. 2007…2008…2009…2010…2011…2012…2013? What a difference 7 years makes!!

6. CEC’s ESEA Guiding Principles • Supporting a Well Prepared Successful Educational • Workforce • Improving Outcomes for All Children Through the • Collaboration of All Educators • Strengthening Assessment and Accountability for ALL • Meaningful Systems that Encourage • Collaborative and Supportive Measurement, Evaluation, • and Reward of Professional Performance • Developing Improved Strategies that Create Positive • School Reform • Meeting the Unique Needs of Gifted Learners • Providing Full Funding to Execute the Goals and • Provisions of ESEA

7. Lots of Talking… Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA)

8. American Association of Administrators, Policy Insider Oct 2011

9. White House Announces Waivers September, 2011

10. ESEA Waivers • Remove 2014 AYP deadline • Funding Flexibility • Changes to Accountability • Flexibility for HQT Plans

11. ESEA Waivers • 4 Conditions: • Adopt College & Career Ready Standards • Develop Assessments that Measure Student Growth • Develop Differentiated Accountability System • Develop Guidelines for Local Teacher and Principal Evaluations Based on Effectiveness

12. ESEA Waivers 42 States + Washington, DC have waivers

14. 2013 House vs. Senate ESEA Bills Total Opposites!!

15. Where are we in the legislative process?? Passage by House Education Committee Passage by Senate Education Committee

16. Student Success Act (HR 5) House Version of ESEA CEC Opposed, as did most of the education & disability communities • July 19, 2013: Passed House by 221-207 vote; all Democrats and 12 Republicans voted against • Two days of debate • 18 amendments passed • 4 amendments defeated • 4 withdrawn

17. Student Success Act (HR 5) House Version of ESEA

18. Student Success Act (HR 5) House Version of ESEA

19. Strengthening America’s Schools Act Senate Version of ESEA CEC supported with some reservations, as did most of disability community; education community split Passed Senate Health, Education, Labor, Pensions (HELP) Committee June 12, 2013 Passed with only Democrat support Two days of debate and amendments

20. Strengthening America’s Schools Act Senate Version of ESEA

21. Strengthening America’s Schools Act Senate Version of ESEA

22. What’s Next for ESEA?

23. Common core state standards & The Future of Testing New Assessments, Adaptive Assessments, & Racing to the Top

24. Race to the Top Assessment Contest Aligns to the Common Core State Standards

25. Two Consortia: 1% • Dynamic Learning Maps Alternate Assessment Program (DLM) – Kansas University $22 million • 13 States - Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. • Accessibility - keyboard, drag-and-drop, touch-screen, and compatible with a variety of assistive technologies commonly used by students.

26. National Center & State Collaborative 19 States: Alaska, Arizona Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Wyoming

27. Assessment Consortia: PARCC http://www.parcconline.org/ Computer Based

28. Assessment Consortia: Smarter Balanced Computer Adaptive http://www.smarterbalanced.org/

29. TIMELINE • 2012-13 School Year: First year pilot/field testing and related research and data collection • 2013-14 School Year: Second year pilot/field testing and related research and data collection • Over-sampling of students with disabilities due to previous under-sampling. • 2014-15 School Year: Full operational administration of PARCC / Smarter Balances assessments • Summer 2015: Set achievement levels, including college-ready performance levels

30. Teacher evaluation It’s a New World!!

31. Policymakers: A Shift in Focus Highly Qualified Highly Effective Outputs Inputs

32. System Components Complex Role Measure Evidence-Based Practice Recognize Professionalism Incorporate Research CEC’s Position: Components of Special Education Teacher Evaluations

33. Process: How did we get here? Political Context The Obama Administration, with bipartisan support from Congress, included incentives to change teacher evaluation systems in signature education programs like Race to the Top and ESEA Waivers. CEC convened an expert advisory workgroup to inform its discussion of new teacher evaluation systems. CEC developed preliminary recommendations for its ESEA Reauthorization Recommendations. CEC worked for over a year with members and experts in the field to draft a Position Statement. CEC Work Begins - 2009 CEC Drafts Position - 2012

34. CEC Member & Outside Expert Input Timeline: 9/2011 – Board of Directors Approved Concept 1/2012 – Small Expert Panel Identified Issues/Challenges 3/2012 – Representative Assembly Commented; – CEC Members and Convention Attendees Commented at 2012 Convention Town Hall 6/2012 – CEC CAN Network Commented; – Over 600 CEC Members Commented Online 7/2012 – PAS Team Developed Draft Position Statement 8/2012 – Close to 40 National Experts Commented 9/2012 – Representative Assembly Commented 10/2012 – Board of Directors Approved

35. Teacher Evaluation Systems Shall: Include Fundamental System-Wide Components • All educators must be included in one evaluation system. • Evaluation systems must identify appropriate professional development opportunities for teachers based on the results of their evaluations. • Evaluations must support continuous improvement. • Evaluation processes and all measures of teacher effectiveness must be open and transparent to the teacher being evaluated.

36. Teacher Evaluation Systems Shall: Identify the Complex Role of the Special Education Teacher • Evaluations must clearly identify and be based on a special education teacher’s specific role and responsibilities during a given school year. • Evaluations must take into account the population of children and youth and their range of exceptionalities that special education teachers instruct. • Evaluations must be conducted by evaluators with expertise related to evidence-based service delivery models and individualized teaching practices and interventions in special education.

37. Teacher Evaluation Systems Shall: Measure the Use of Evidence-Based Practices • Evaluations must be based on multiple reliable measures and indicators that support valid measurement of special education teacher effectiveness. • Evaluations should never be based solely on student growth. • Statistical models that estimate a teacher’s contribution to student growth, such as value-added models, should not be applied to any teacher until there is a general consensus among researchers that the model provides a valid estimate of a teacher’s contribution to student growth.

38. Use of IEP Multiple indicators of special education teacher effectiveness may include … IEP development and implementation. Evaluations should not use a student’s progress on their goals, objectives, and benchmarks in the IEP as a measure of a special education teacher’s contribution to student growth.

39. Teacher Evaluation Systems Shall: Recognize the Professionalism of Special Education Teachers • Evaluations must respect special education teachers’ professional practice and provide them with constructive and actionable feedback, resources, and opportunities to assist in addressing any areas for professional development and lead to well-grounded personnel decisions. • Special education teachers must have reasonable case loads and paperwork responsibilities; competitive salaries; benefits; access to resources; and positive working conditions.

40. Teacher Evaluation Systems Shall: Continually Incorporate Findings From Research • Leaders of evaluation systems reforms must collaborate to ensure that the development and implementation of evaluation systems are carried out in a systematic, coordinated, and efficient manner. • Research should identify reliable measures and indicators of student growth that can be validly used to evaluate special education teachers. • Policy makers and leaders should consider the intended and unintended consequences of wide-scale implementation of teacher evaluation systems.

41. CEC Tools For you! CEC Position on Special Education Teacher Evaluation Visit: www.cec.sped.org Policy & Advocacy Teacher Evaluation Toolkit for Special Educators!

42. CEC Tools For you! Learn, Understand, Navigate New Teacher Evaluation Systems with the Help of your CEC Colleagues Through this Online Dialog! Visit: www.cec.sped.org

43. Special/Gifted education funding The Federal Government is OPEN! The Story of Sequestration How did Special/Gifted Education Fare in FY 2013? What to Expect for FY 2014

44. Federal government Is…. OPEN! • 1st shutdown in 17 years • 16-day shutdown spurred by debate over government funding levels & funding of healthcare law • October 1 federal funding for IDEA went to states as scheduled • Deal keeps government funded until January 15, 2014; raises debt ceiling until February 7, 2014

45. 3

46. 5

48. Sequestration Hits… 7

49. Federal Budget FY 2012 Chart Courtesy of Committee for Education Funding

50. Funding Cuts Due to Sequestration • 2013 9