June 2014 Education Chairs Meeting Agenda

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Compass Boardroom

Registration and Box Lunches

1:00 pm - 1:30 pm

Main Sail Ballroom

Welcome and Introductions

• Julie Davis Bell, Education Group Director, National Conference of State Legislatures, Colorado
• Michelle Exstrom, Education Program Director, National Conference of State Legislatures, Colorado

1:30 pm – 2:15 pm

Legislative Session Recap:  College and Career Ready Standards, Assessments, Protection of Student Data and Teacher Evaluations

State legislators will share how their state approached these issues during the legislative session and discuss work that lies ahead.

2:15 pm –  2:30 pm

College and Career Ready Standards:  Moving Forward with Implementation

Whether your state is proceeding with Common Core State Standards or college and career ready standards unique to your state, legislators will want to keep their eye on key areas of implementation to ensure success.  During this session, NCSL staff will unveil a tool that will help legislators manage these considerations, and legislators will have the opportunity to develop an action plan for 2014-2015.

Speakers:

• Michelle Exstrom, Education Program Director, National Conference of State Legislatures
• Daniel Thatcher, Senior Policy Specialist, National Conference of State Legislatures

The Future of State Assessment Systems:  What’s Next for States and Districts?

States are taking different approaches to assessing student mastery of states’ new standards and whether their current assessment system still makes sense.  A panel of experts will debate this issue and explore implications of recent state action. 

Speakers:

• Elizabeth Fagen, Superintendent, Douglas County School District, Colorado
• Michael Gilligan, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, Achieve
• Kati Haycock, President, Education Trust

5:15 pm – 6:15 pm

Reception at the Hotel

Dinner at the Hotel:  Honing Your Legislative Leadership Skills

7:30 am – 9:00 am

Breakfast and Discussion:  Federal NCLB Waivers

NCSL’s federal affairs expert, Lee Posey, will provide an update to legislators on the status of state applications for waivers and will facilitate a conversation with legislators about whether and how the waivers are impacting state education policy.

Moderator and Speaker:

• Lee Posey, Senior Education Committee Director, National Conference of State Legislatures

9:00 am – 9:15 am

9:15 am – 10:30 am

Protecting Student Data Privacy: Finding the Best Approach For Your State

Student data experts and state legislators will give advice and provide insight on this important issue.  State legislators will develop an action plan for protecting student data privacy and ensuring the best use of student data in their states.

Speaker:

Paige Kowalski, Director of State Policy and Advocacy, Data Quality Campaign

Break

10:45 am – 11:45 am

Consultation with the Experts:  College and Career Ready Standards, Assessments, Protection of Student Data and Teacher Evaluations

Legislators will have the unique opportunity to customize the assistance they need through discussions with available experts on topics such as:  grassroots advocacy and communications strategies, assessments, education data, state-federal relations, teacher policy and education funding.  At the end of the session, legislators will have created and planned for further action based on their conversations with the experts.     

Experts:

• Assessments—Michael Gilligan, Achieve

• Education Data—Paige Kowalski and Brennan McMahon Parton, Data Quality Campaign
• Education Funding—Dan Thatcher, NCSL
• Grassroots Advocacy and Communications--???
• State-Federal Relations—Lee Posey and Ben Schaeffer, NCSL
• Teacher Policy—Jessica Keigan and Ali Wright, Teacher Leaders

12:00 pm – 1:45 pm

Lunch with Teachers:  The Role of Teacher Leaders in an Era of Education Reform

Barnett Berry is the founder of the Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ), a dynamic nonprofit that cultivates teacher leaders for 21st century public schools. Berry will moderate a session with 5 expert teachers who are leading the implementation of new standards and assessments. The session will focus on what policies legislators might consider to build and support effective teacher leaders at scale in service of their schools, districts, and states. CTQ is now home to a virtual network of over 5000 classroom experts. 

Moderator:

• Barnett Berry, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Center for Teaching Quality

Speakers:

• Jessica Keegan, Teacher Leader, Colorado
• Justin Minkel, Teacher Leader, Arkansas
• Rod Powell, Teacher Leader, North Carolina
• Cheryl Redfield, Teacher Leader, Arizona
• Ali Wright, Teacher Leader, Kentucky

1:45 pm – 2:30 pm

Main Sail Ballroom

Common Standards and School Choice – Can They Co-Exist?

Legislators will participate in a discussion on the impact common college and career ready standards will have on school choice programs. Will new standards stifle innovation and autonomy in schools of choice? Will they allow states to strengthen accountability of school choice programs?

Moderators:

• Josh Cunningham, Policy Specialist, National Conference of State Legislatures
• Daniel Thatcher, Senior Policy Specialist, National Conference of State Legislatures

2:30 pm– 2:45 pm

Break

2:45 pm – 4:00 pm
Main Sail Ballroom

Private School Choice Accountability

Ensuring program accountability while allowing private choice schools to innovate, differentiate and maintain their school culture is a challenge facing the 24 states with private school choice programs. Legislators will hear how different states have approached accountability in private school choice including challenges of implementation and enforcement.

Moderator:

• Josh Cunningham, Policy Specialist, National Conference of State Legislatures

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Main Sail Ballroom

Virtual Charter School Accountability: Viable Policy Options

One of the most common requests we get from legislators is for information about virtual charter school accountability policies. Virtual schools are a complicated policy matter and states across the country have struggled to establish effective accountability policies that ensure educational quality while taking into consideration the uniqueness of full-time online learning. 

Moderator:

• John Myers, State Liaison, Regional Education Laboratory Central; Vice President, Augenblick, Palaich and Associates, Inc., Colorado

Dinner on Your Own:  Enjoy an Evening in Tiburon

8:00 am – 9:30 am
Main Sail Ballroom

Breakfast: Leading in Challenging Times

A retired military and education leader will share with legislators his expertise and lessons learned on how leaders can move forward, even during the most challenging of times.

Speaker:

• General Mark Hamilton, Major General, U.S. Army(Ret.), and President Emeritus at University of Alaska

Empowering Parents: Using School Data to Make School Choices

A pillar of the school choice idea is to give parents the authority to make the best decision for their child’s education. Representatives from GreatSchools.org will discuss the work they do evaluating school performance across the country including both public and private schools.

Speakers:

• Bill Jackson, President, GreatSchools.org
• Paige Kowalski, Director of State Policy and Advocacy, Data Quality Campaign, Washington, D.C

10:30 am – 11:30 am
Main Sail Ballroom

Charter School Facilities Funding and Beyond

Charter school facilities present a complex challenge for legislators as they balance the need for adequate learning environments with limited state resources and schools that fall outside of the traditional funding model. Legislators will hear about different facilities funding strategies and will be able to discuss with one another how these strategies have played out in practice. 

Speakers:

• Jim Ford, Ford Research & Solutions, Inc.

11:45 am – 12:30 pm
Main Sail Ballroom

Looking Ahead

In small groups, legislators will discuss their takeaways from the school choice portion of the meeting and will incorporate those takeaways into actions plans to bring back to their states. 

12:30 pm – 1:00 pm
Main Sail Ballroom

Box Lunches and Debrief