You have probably heard in the media that the state testing and accountability system we know as CATS is changing. The legislature passed a bill on Friday that will change the state assessment three years from now. I have personally felt that the system needed tweaking and the time had come to make some changes, but also believe strongly that our schools must remain accountable to the community. We met with all of our school principals Monday morning to review the status of the changes so they would be able to help answer your questions. The biggest change for this spring (2009) is that writing portfolios, Arts and Humanities, and Vocational/Practical Living will no longer be part of the direct assessment. Our schools are going to honor the hard work done by our students and provide feedback on the work that our kids have already done to date. Principals are working with teachers about the best ways to handle this in each individual school.

Beginning in the spring of 2010, Portfolios, Arts and Humanities, along with Practical Living and Vocational Studies, will become part of a program review which is like an evaluation to determine the quality of these offerings for students.

Next spring and under the new testing system, all of the other content areas will continue to be assessed. For the next two years the state will not calculate an accountability index for schools, but will provide us with the tools we need as a district to do these calculations for ourselves. We feel it is important that we do this for two reasons – to maintain our accountability to our families and community and to be able to measure the progress we are making with our kids. The work and commitment to helping kids learn at high levels is incredible right now in our district and it is important that we celebrate the results when they come back.

It does not matter what test is used; we must continue to concentrate on every individual child. We will continue to monitor our progress as we move toward our goal of every child reaching proficiency.

I realize that this has been a brief summary and issues like this can be somewhat complicated, so if you have questions feel free to contact your school principal or me directly. As we receive additional information we will keep our principals updated. Please know that our focus will remain on doing what is best for our kids. Thank you for your continued support.