A-F Grading System Disapproval - Restore Oklahoma Public Education May 2, 2012 According to the Waiver (page 67,

, 68),
LEAs (Local Education Authority) that are unable to demonstrate capacity and the ability to facilitate improvement will relinquish control of all aspects of a Priority Schools operations that directly or indirectly relate to student achievement to the SEA (State Education Authority) to be included in a theoretical, geographically-unbound group of schools, known as the C3 Schools (C3S). The State Board of Education and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction will assume control of the operations and management for schools designated as C3S as they directly or indirectly relate to student achievement; In addition, the State Board of Education may choose to reserve a percentage, not to exceed 20% consistent with the requirements listed below, of the LEAs Title I, Part A allocation to allow the SEA to begin or continue implementing the Turnaround Principles in C3S Priority Schools in the LEA. Each LEA with at least one Title I Priority School will be required to set aside a percentage of its Title I, Part A allocation, which is reasonable and necessary to implement the Turnaround Principles in the Priority Schools and to provide school choice options for parents/guardians of students in the school, in consultation with the SEA. This percentage will be determined on a sliding scale... As stated above, LEAs with identified Priority Schools will be required to implement the Turnaround Principles defined in this ESEA waiver package. LEAs that are unable to demonstrate capacity to do so will relinquish control of all aspects of a Priority Schools operations that directly or indirectly relate to student achievement to the SEA to be included in the C3S. Also according to the Waiver (page 80), No teacher or administrator in a Focus School will be exempt from participation in required training or professional development, regardless of the time of day, week, or year; Also according to of the Waiver (Page 86-87), The SEAs School Support/School Improvement Team and other SEA staff will provide timely and comprehensive monitoring of, and technical assistance for, LEA implementation of interventions in Priority Schools and Focus Schools. [Monitoring Structure:] Priority schools will be required to implement one of four United States Department of Educations SIG models, or implement an intervention that satisfies the Turnaround Principles. Monitoring of Priority and Focus schools will be conducted by the SEAs School Support/School Improvement Team in collaboration with the Office of Federal Programs, the Office of Student Support, the Office of Instruction, the Office of Special Education, and the Office of Accountability and Assessment. And page 88: The SEA has chosen to participate in multi-state consortia and collaborative associations in order to develop its own capacity to serve LEAs and schools. The SEA will continue to participate in these multistate organizations and to seek out additional support from other states implementing similar reform strategies. CONCLUSION A-F is REQUIRED for an NCLB waiver. Was a waiver required? Did a majority of parents and districts approve the necessity of even gaining a waiver? Only 5 out 15 solicitations supplied with the waiver were FOR the waiver. Results of the A-F grading system could result in communities losing local administrative access to schools. The federal Department of Education prescribed much of the framework for the A-F system. Issues that apply to one local Oklahoma district may not apply to another one size fits all from Woodward to Poteau? Ambiguity in the grading system has already caused schools to be labeled as C3 schools that most probably were not in that category, ie; Santa Fe High School in Oklahoma City. Schools deemed unsatisfactory due to this grading model will be forced to use the Turnaround strategy, which has been proven ineffective in several cities including Arne Duncans home town of Chicago, but nearly 6 million dollars in SIGs have been granted Oklahoma. Is this about money or kids? Schools should be accountable to their communities and taxpayers, the State Department of Education should not usurp the authority of administrators hired by local school boards accountable to parents.