Some rural school districts want their own alternative to state mandated tests, and Bayfield Superintendent Troy Zabel is interested.
He presented the idea for the Student Centered Accountability pilot project to the school board on April 29. The Mancos and Dove Creek districts are centrally involved in the idea, which was discussed recently at a West Slope superintendents' meeting, Zabel said. Other districts are Steamboat Springs, South Routt County, Windsor, and Walsenburg.
"I've held off jumping on the band wagon for this," he said. "It's grown some legs around the area." He sees some of it as protest against the increasing number of mandated tests schools must give.
The pilot project will have to get approval from the Colorado Department of Education and the State Board of Education, both of which are in a lot of political turmoil, he said. The State Education Commissioner is leaving.
The pilot project "really addresses the things we've been talking about in our UIP (Unified Improvement Project)," Zabel said. "Building relationships, not using just test scores, one snapshot, for accountability," The UIP is required by the state.
"This is just the start of discussion," Zabel said. The pilot is "centered on students, valuable and meaningful assessment data that our teachers believe in and kids buy into; improving instruction, (but) one size fits all doesn't work. The current system doesn't allow for that flexibility. (The pilot) uses a body of evidence including student and parent satisfaction, the kind of course offerings."
Districts would be able to collaborate and look at each others' programs, he said.
The proposal "really resonated with me that this is what we've been talking about," Zabel said. He thinks it was written by attorney Kathy Gebhardt, who has been involved in statewide educational issues, including a current lawsuit against the state over failure to provide the school funding increases required by Amendment 23, passed by voters in 2000. Instead, the legislature has cut per pupil funding, a move referred to as the "negative factor."
Zabel continued, "I'd like us to explore this. I think it has a 50-50 chance maybe of being approved. It would allow us to do things more creatively. Blended learning would be one. I think this deepens accountability and makes it really meaningful, broader."
He wants it on the May 12 agenda for possible board action. "We'd enter into creating this alternative accountability and get a waiver from the state assessments. A lot of the measurements would be the same from district to district, but these are the things we are doing." The pilot project would run from three to five years, with waivers from current test requirements.
"It makes sense," Zabel said. "It's more work on the front end, but I think more meaningful work."
Proponents are submitting it to the state board in mid May. "With the climate of the current state board, I think it will pass, but there is still the federal No Child Left Behind stuff. The only control the feds have over us is money. All our Title (special education) money is tied to that. There are some big hoops to go through," Zabel said.
Districts that get to participate in the pilot program will be those already signed on when the state board approves it, he said. "They have asked us to sign on. They aren't actively soliciting others to sign on." He wanted to let proponents know the district is interested and bring it for board action on May 12.
Board member Janie Hoover questioned whether school staff "will buy into this with everything they're already having to do."
Zabel said, "It will be an accountability system that they have control over. The current one we don't. If students blow it off, we're held accountable. I think staff will be pretty excited." The Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB) and Colorado Association of School Executives (CASE) have signed off on it, "to see what can be developed as an alternative state model," he said.
Board member Carol Blatnic commentedd, "This is more of a thoughtful plan than what's going through the legislature." The legislative session ended on May 6. Several bills dealt with testing mandates.
Zabel said the state tests given earlier this year will have no validity because statewide, so many parents opted their kids out of testing.
