Superintendent Luna Urges Attorney General to Stop Legal Battle on Cottage Sites

Here is Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna’s reaction to the Idaho Supreme Court’s decision on Wednesday regarding the Land Board’s decision on cottage site lease rates.

“At this point, what is best for kids is to stop spending precious tax dollars on attorneys in this case. As I said before, if the Attorney General thinks the current cottage site lease rates are unconstitutional, then as a fellow member of the Land Board he needs to put a motion on the table that he believes is constitutional and let the Board debate it in a public forum. We've already spent too many tax dollars on this matter and going to district court without first putting a proposal on the table will just continue to cost taxpayers, and ultimately schoolchildren, dollars that are need elsewhere.”

Read the full Associated Press story about the case.

~ Melissa M.

Rigby Teacher Named 2011 Idaho Teacher of the Year

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna announced Monday that a Rigby teacher has been honored as the 2011 Idaho Teacher of the Year.

Stefani S. Cook is a business education teacher at Rigby High School. As Idaho Teacher of the Year, she will receive $1,000 from the Idaho State Department of Education, $16,000 in technology from the SMARTer Kids Foundation, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to represent Idaho as a nominee for the National Teacher of the Year.

“Stefani Cook represents great teachers all across Idaho. She was selected as Idaho’s Teacher of the Year for her unending passion to raise student achievement, constant innovation in the classroom, and strong will to continue to improve the craft of teaching,” Superintendent Luna said.

Superintendent Luna also noted that Cook doesn’t shy away from using technology in the classroom but has embraced new technologies and is using them to engage her students in the classroom.

Superintendent Luna announced Cook as Idaho’s 2011 Teacher of the Year in a surprise assembly at Rigby High on Monday. In accepting the award, Cook thanked all her students and the faculty at Rigby High for the role they have played throughout her career.

The Idaho Teacher of the Year program began in 1959 and has become one of the most prestigious honors in the state for teachers. The program focuses public attention on excellence in teaching that has a real impact on the students of Idaho.

Every year, school districts and charter schools across Idaho have the opportunity to nominate one teacher for the Idaho Teacher of the Year. A state selection committee representing teachers, education leaders, parents and legislators from across the state choose the Idaho Teacher of the Year from among the nominations.

To learn more about the Idaho Teacher of the Year program, please visit http://www.sde.idaho.gov/site/teacher_of_year/.

Moscow High School student will be in Macy's Day Parade

New York City is a long way from Moscow, Idaho, but for one lucky trumpeter it's worth going the distance. Moscow High School student Niklass Dumroese will perform in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday. He will be part of the trumpet section in Macy’s Great American Marching Band.

The parade can be viewed beginning at 9 a.m. on NBC.

(As reported by the Moscow-Pullman Daily News)

~Niccole B.

Scholarship Application Window Now Open for Idaho Students

The holidays are quickly approaching and so too is the opportunity for Idaho students to apply for financial aid.

The Idaho State Board of Education Student Affairs office would like to notify current and future students that the window to complete online scholarship applications is now open.

“It’s imperative that students do their work now in order to be eligible for funds later,” said Dana Kelly, Program Manager for the Idaho State Board of Education. “Especially in these lean economic times, students and their families need all the help they can get. This is the first step.”

Students should log on to State Board’s website to apply! The deadline for completion of the online application is January 15, 2011.

The State of Idaho, through the Office of the State Board of Education, provides several scholarship opportunities to students, including:

• Governor’s Cup Scholarship
• Robert R. Lee Promise “A”
• Robert R. Lee Promise “B”
• Opportunity Scholarship
• Robert C. Byrd Scholarship
• Tschudy Family Scholarship

~ Melissa M.

It's National Day of Blogging for Real Education Reform. Join the Discussion!

Today is the National Day of Blogging for Real Education Reform, an opportunity for people to discuss real education reform and the opportunities that lie ahead.

Since Superintendent Luna took office in 2007, he has implemented a number of educational reforms across Idaho that led to Idaho schools making significant strides in student achievement. In 2007, just 26 percent of Idaho schools met the high academic goals we set for them. Now, 62 percent of schools are reaching these high goals.

How has Idaho accomplished this?  The credit first and foremost goes to the talented teachers, dedicated parents and hard-working students across our great state.

The investments and reforms we have made to our education system have also contributed to the great success we have seen statewide. Here are some of the things Idaho has worked on in recent years:

• Idaho established a strong Statewide System of Support to provide support and technical assistance to schools and districts at every level. The System includes the Idaho Building Capacity Project, which provides one-on-one instructional coaches to schools identified as in need of improvement.
• Superintendent Luna secured the Classroom Enhancement Package, which included $20 million in new money a year for schools for classroom supplies, textbooks and remediation funding.
• With support from the Governor and Legislature, the state has implemented the Idaho Education Network statewide. The state is halfway into a three-year project of connecting every public high school and college and university to the Idaho Education Network (IEN), a high-speed, secure intranet system that gives students access to unprecedented educational opportunities. The IEN offers unprecedented educational opportunities, such as access to advanced courses and dual credit courses, to students in the most rural and remote parts of Idaho.
• Superintendent Luna created the Middle Level Task Force to address ways the state could better prepare Idaho students for high school and beyond. As a result, the state has now created a Middle Level Credit System to hold students accountable in 7th and 8th grades.
• Idaho is one of only three states across the nation to develop a statewide Teacher Performance Evaluation Framework. The system develops statewide standards for teachers across Idaho.
• Idaho is in the process of adopting Common Core State Standards for math and English language arts. These standards are higher, more rigorous and comparable with any top-performing country around the world.

These are just some of the reforms Idaho has implemented over the past four years.  We recognize we still have a long way to go. The ultimate goal has to be ensure every student graduates from high school and not only graduates but is prepared to go on to postsecondary education or the workforce without the need for remediation.

If you are interested in learning more about education reform happening on a state and national scale, here are a few things to check out:

• Take a look at the Education Alliance of Idaho’s recommendations for improving student achievement across Idaho. For two years, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna, Governor Otter, key educational stakeholder groups, and representatives of the state’s largest corporations worked to develop and agree upon these goals and performance indicators.  
• Read the text of Bill Gates's speech to the Council of Chief State School Officers last week. He outlines his ideas for moving education forward.
• Secretary Duncan has also weighed in on National Day of Blogging for Real Education Reform with his ideas.
• ASCD has pulled together several other articles on education reform.

 ~ Melissa M.

Idaho Compares Student Achievement in 12th Grade to National Peers for First Time

Idaho’s 12th graders are performing above the national average in reading and on par with their peers nationwide in mathematics, according to the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the only nationally representative measure of what American students know and can do.

This is the first time Idaho has ever received state-level results for NAEP in Grade 12. This year, Idaho was one of 11 states to voluntarily participate in a pilot program to release state-level results.

“Idaho volunteered to participate in this pilot program because it’s critical for us to gather data on how our high school seniors are performing if we are going to continue to improve our public education system and ensure every student graduates from an Idaho high school ready for the 21st century,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna said. “Now, in future assessments, we have the initial data we need to begin to identify changes or trends in the reading and math achievement of our seniors.”

In addition to Idaho, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, South Dakota and West Virginia participated in the pilot program, allowing their state-level results for the NAEP Grade 12 in reading and mathematics to be released this year.

Superintendent Luna participated in the national conference call with the other chief state school officers from participating states and fielded questions from reporters.

Here are the results for Grade 12 students in Idaho:

• 78 percent of Idaho’s high school seniors scored at or above grade level in reading, compared to 73 percent nationally. Of the 10 other states participating in the pilot program, none had a greater percentage of students meeting grade-level in reading than Idaho.
• 66 percent of Idaho’s high school seniors scored at or above grade level in mathematics, which was not significantly different from the 63 percent nationally. Of the 10 other states in the pilot program, four had a greater percentage of students meeting grade-level in mathematics than Idaho.

“The results of this national Grade 12 assessment are consistent with what we have seen in our statewide assessments. The majority of Idaho students are performing well in reading and mathematics, but our goal must be for every student to graduate prepared for postsecondary education and the workforce without the need for remediation,” Superintendent Luna said. “We are on the right path and headed in the right direction, and we will continue to work until we reach our goal.”

The NAEP Grade 12 is given every four years. The next Grade 12 assessment will be given in 2013. Idaho students in grades 4 and 8 take the NAEP in reading and mathematics every two years.

More detailed information on the results of the 2009 NAEP State Grade 12 pilot program is available on the State Department of Education’s website.

~ Melissa M.

State Board Approves Common Core State Standards

Members of the State Board of Education today approved the K-12 Common Core State Standards for mathematics and English language arts to better prepare Idaho students for the 21st century.

The standards will now go to the Idaho Legislature in January for final approval. If adopted, the new standards will go into effect in the 2013-2014 school year.

“We must ensure we build a public education system that prepares all students to be successful in life after high school. Idaho students are ready for this challenge,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna said.

Idaho initially signed on to the Common Core State Standards Initiative in June 2009. The final standards were published in June 2010.

Adopting the Common Core State Standards is voluntary.  Thirty-eight states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands have already adopted the Common Core State Standards. Neighboring states Oregon, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have all adopted these standards.

Staff from the State Department of Education traveled across the state in June and in September hosting two series of regional public meetings to explain the Common Core State Standards and to gather feedback.  The Department also hosted official public hearings in each region across Idaho throughout October.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative builds directly on previous efforts of leading organizations and states that have focused on developing college- and career-ready standards. These standards define the knowledge and skills students should have within their K-12 education careers so that they will graduate from high school able to succeed beyond high school in post-secondary education and the workforce.

Specifically, the standards:

• Are aligned with college and workforce expectations;
• Are clear, understandable and consistent;
• Include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order skills;
• Build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards;
• Are informed by standards in other top-performing countries, so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society; and
• Are evidence-based.

Learn more about the Common Core State Standards and how they compare to Idaho’s current standards on the State Department of Education’s website.  Be sure to let us know if you have any questions!

~ Melissa M.