National standards in science backed
The Arkansas Board of Education on Thursday endorsed the use of recently developed national science standards as a guide for updating Arkansas’ own 2005 kindergarten-through-12th-grade science standards.
The Next Generation Science Standards, completed last year, are now available for states to choose to use. The standards are the result of a two-part developmental process initiated by the National Research Council.
That council brought science and engineering experts together to define what it means for students to be proficient in science. Then policymakers from states that chose to participate, university educators, kindergarten-through-12th-grade teachers, scientists, business leaders and others developed science standards based on the framework established by the initial team of experts. The Achieve organization facilitated the work of the state-led standards development.
Tracy Tucker, the Arkansas Department of Education’s director of curriculum, said the state board’s endorsement of Next Generation Science Standards gives the state agency the authority to build “upon a great body of research and the expertise of many from across our nation and our state.”
Implementation of new standards would start with kindergarten through fourth grade in 2016-17. The standards would be put in place in the upper grades in subsequent years.
Yell County district exits distress list
Western Yell County School District, which has its headquarters in Havana, will now be able to make spending decisions without consulting the Arkansas Department of Education.
The Arkansas Board of Education on Thursday released the district from the state’s fiscal-distress program.
The district was placed in the fiscal-distress program in April 2012 because of spending practices that, if left unchecked, would have depleted the district’s reserves. The district’s net legal balance of $974,010 in 2009-10 had dropped to $125,827 by 2011-12, at least in part because of enrollment declines, which can result in a reduction in state aid.
Districts labeled as fiscally distressed must prepare and carry out a financial-improvement plan under the guidance of the state. Failure to show progress in correcting the problems can result in a state takeover of a district, which can include the removal of the superintendent and school board and the merger of the district with another district.
The Western Yell County district cut 11 teaching positions and three support-staff jobs in an effort to bring its spending in line with revenue. It reduced the number of workdays for four employees and moved eight positions from the operating budget to categorical and federally funded programs. The number of bus routes was cut from 5.5 to 4.
The district’s reserves had grown to $777,007 in February.
NLR district denied waiver for weather
The Arkansas Board of Education on Thursday denied a waiver of the 178-day school-year requirement for the North Little Rock School District for the hours missed because of delayed openings and early dismissal times on three inclement weather days this winter.
The district missed a total of 4 hours and 40 minutes on those three days and will have to make up 1½ days for that, as the result of the state board decision.
Superintendent Kelly Rodgers had proposed that his district be allowed to add minutes to the remaining school days this year to make up the lost hours and to avoid the expenditure of as much as $300,000 that would be necessary for another 1½ days of school.
Arkansas Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell told the state Education Board that approval of the alternative makeup time doesn’t conform to the parameters set by the department and board for granting waivers of the 178-day rule. The more than 70 districts that received waivers this year had each missed more than 10 days, and they were making up at least 10 days by holding classes on previously scheduled school holidays. Other districts had asked to add time to school days but were denied by the department, he said.
The board approved a waiver for the Bergman School District. That district was previously approved for a two-day waiver and later asked to be excused for one more day, making the school year 175 days this year.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 04/11/2014