News and Notes:  News Release
October 18, 2004

Topeka: Assistant Commissioner Posny, KLFA discuss student achievement initiatives

Dr. Alexa Posny, Assistant Commissioner of Education, shared current and planned activities of the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE), including the recently released results of the 2004 assessments, with the Kansas Learning First Alliance (KLFA) at its Oct. 18 meeting. Her appearance highlighted the meeting, which also included an update on the Learning First Alliance (LFA) State Affiliate Conference held in Kansas City earlier in the month, Dr. Milt Dougherty’s demonstration of the recently opened portal created by Kan-ed and approval of KLFA 2004-2005 goals. Over 30 people from 18 of the organization’s 23 members attended.

Dr. Posny pointed out the dramatic gains in student achievement over the last five years, but was very concerned progress could stall out quickly. She expressed particular concern about bringing children in poverty to the proficient level if more resources are not made available to them prior to entering school. She noted 80 percent of elementary students were reading at the proficient or better level, but many of those not making the grade were children in poverty who start school with as little as one-third the vocabulary of their more affluent peers. Other resources would need to be made available as they progressed through school. Without the targeted help, meeting the standards set by the revised Quality Performance Accreditation (QPA) will be difficult and could result in less than full accreditation for many Kansas schools.

She also discussed at length the State Board’s efforts to redesign Kansas schools for the 21st Century, including its reliance on seven core principles. The Board commissioned “white papers” to be written on each of the seven, which will be reviewed with the Board starting in December. Dr. Posny and KLFA members discussed how the papers, three of which were written by KLFA representatives, can be better disseminated among Kansas educators and policy makers.

The State Affiliate conference focused on two tasks, sharing information on the work of the state affiliates and reviewing work Learning First has developed. Washington sent three representatives from their alliance; Ohio was scheduled to attend but both representatives were taken ill at the last minute and were unable to make it. Representatives from four other states, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona, and Wisconsin, attended seeking information on the work of the state affiliates. Also in attendance were members from the staff of the National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), Public Agenda and Learning First. Kansas continues to be the leader in making collaborative decisions that affect student learning.

Learning First has done recent research on the public’s view of public education and has created a publication to help educators/policy makers to refine the message they create about public education. It has several important findings and can be very valuable as an advocacy tool. Learning First has also developed a model for discussing the problem of getting and keeping high quality teachers in high-poverty, low-performing schools. Given that poverty is also quite prevalent in rural areas, the issue has more impact than just in urban districts. KLFA intends to start using that material in the future in a variety of settings.

Kan-ed received its first funding in 2003 and has worked since then to link Kansas schools, hospitals, libraries and institutions of high education with Internet services, including extending interactive distance learning to all schools. Dr. Dougherty identified many of the resources available and how they can help raise student achievement. KLFA hopes to work with Kan-ed in the future as a way of distributing seminars and workshops and archiving material for access beyond the original presentation.

All four goals developed for the previous year were carried over for the 2004-05 school year, but the objectives were revised in light of last year’s work and the current educational environment. The four goals are:
· KLFA will plan and facilitate professional development opportunities that support student learning.
· KLFA will strengthen its organization capacity.
· KLFA will increase its visibility and influence on statewide policy and program issues.
· Each of the three workgroups will develop its own set of goals to support KLFA. (The three workgroups focus on student achievement, professional development and public engagement.)
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The next meeting will be January 19, 2005 and will be held at the Kansas National Education Association (KNEA) building. The March and June meetings will be back at KASB. For more information about KLFA, visit its Web site at www.kansaslearningfirst.org.