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MICHIGAN STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

Michigan Merit Curriculum Resources
Michigan Merit Curriculum resources have been developed and made available by the Michigan Department of Education at www.mi.gov/highschool.  Included are documents, toolkit resources, frequently asked questions, and curriculum companion documents.

Supporting Student Behavior Document Available
The document, Supporting Student Behavior: Standards for the Emergency Use of Seclusion and Restraint is now available on the Office of Special Education and Early Intervention Services (OSE-EIS) Web site. The document:
*summarizes how a positive behavior support approach uses proactive
  strategies to reduce or eliminate the use of seclusion and restraint;
*defines the terms "seclusion" and "restraint";
*outlines procedures for emergency use of seclusion and restraint; and
*provides a framework for training.

The document can be found by going to the OSE-EIS Web site at http://www.michigan.gov/ose-eis and selecting the "Laws & Policies" link from the left-hand navigation or by using this direct link: http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,1607,7-140-6530_6598_7376---,00.html.

Federal Growth Model Pilot for AYP
The United States Department of Education (USED) has approved The Michigan Department of Education’s (MDE) application to participate in a growth model pilot. The growth model has been included in AYP determinations for 2007-08 in the draft Report Cards for elementary and middle schools.
The Growth Model:
• Uses performance level change (first reported for fall 2007 MEAP) to
   track student performance from year to year;
•Measures whether students, who are not yet proficient, are “on track”
  to becoming proficient within three years.

If students are “on track” toward becoming proficient within three years, those students will count toward schools making AYP even if they are not yet proficient. This will result in a modest number of schools that did not make AYP after appeals ultimately making AYP in the final determination. No schools will be affected negatively by considering student progress toward proficiency. Additional details on the Growth Model are contained in the Guide to Reading the Michigan School Report Cards.

School Violence Hotline
 The Michigan State Police and the Michigan Department of Education have established a statewide school violence hotline for the reporting of specific threats of imminent school violence or other suspicious or criminal conduct.

The toll-free school violence hotline telephone number 1-800-815-TIPS is operational 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The caller may remain anonymous and information will be forwarded directly to the appropriate Emergency Dispatch Center for action by the law enforcement agency where the affected school is located.

This hotline is not intended to replace the 911 emergency number or any other existing community operated tip lines. The establishment of this toll-free number is another option to report threats of violence on school property.

In nine school shooting incidents in the past two years, Michigan State Police say there were common factors: All occurred in suburban or rural schools, fellow students had recognized warning signs of danger, and had conveyed their fears to parents or officials, and the weapons came from home or from neighbors.

School Improvement Conference
The annual fall School Improvement Conference, sponsored by the Office of School Improvement, will be on Monday November 24th from 4-7 p.m. and Tuesday,
November 25th from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.  With the theme, “School Improvement Plan Development,” the conference will focus on the use of data to create an effective school improvement plan.  The keynote speaker will be Deb Walstrom.  Registration for this conference is available at: www.gomiem.org.

State Superintendent Podcasts
Messages from State Superintendent Michael Flanagan are available in a series of podcasts made available by the Michigan Department of Education.  Previous podcasts include Re-Imaging Education; Career and Technology Education, Education Budget,
School Consolidation, and others.  These podcasts can be accessed at www.michigan.gov/mde (“Superintendent’s Podcasts").

Full Time Kindergarten Schedule
The Legislature has approved a school funding plan that includes a provision to phase in full-day kindergarten five days a week by reducing funding for kindergartners on half-day and alternate-day schedules. Michigan currently funds each K-12 student at the same rate, the change comes in the 2009-10 academic year when only all-day developmental kindergarten and young fives programs would be funded at the current level. These programs essentially provide an extra year of kindergarten for children old enough, but not mature enough, for school.  In 2010-11, kindergartners would have to get at least 70 percent of a full day for schools to collect full funding. 

In 2010-11, kindergartners would have to get at least 60 percent of the instructional time of older students, or funding would be cut in half. The next year, kindergartners would have to get at least 70 percent of a full day for schools to collect full funding.

More Flexibility for Merit Curriculum
A House panel is holding hearings to look at proposals that would add flexibility to the Michigan Merit Curriculum.
 
Legislation (HB 6247) approved by the House Education Committee would allow high school students to request a personalized curriculum earlier in high school. Current law requires most students to wait until they enter their junior year to make modifications to the state-required curriculum.  The bill would also require the Department of Education, by June, to develop guidelines for career and technical education programs that would meet graduation requirements.
 
This is a work in progress and the committee is still looking at proposals that would add even more flexibility to the Michigan Merit Curriculum
 
Agriculture Panel Approves Farm-To school Initiates
A package of bills that would provide more connections between the agricultural commodities grown in Michigan and the food that school children eat in school received unanimous support from the House Agriculture Committee. Sent to the full body for consideration were HB 6365, HB 6366, HB 6367 and HB 6368.  Collectively the bills put the state's "Select Michigan" program into statute and expanded what Michigan products fall under the program, created duties for the departments of Agriculture and Education to coordinate and provide information for farm-to-school initiatives and increased the threshold for schools to obtain competitive bids. The bills would provide more coordination and information for schools and producers to get involved in initiatives that introduces children to local agriculture.

Proposed Budget Figures
As school districts face rising student enrollment, increasing fuel and transportation costs, and the task of implementing No Child Left Behind with the minimal resources provided by Congress thus far, today's proposed increases in the federal education budget are nominal. With these funding levels, many education programs will receive increases that are less than the inflation rate, essentially amounting to cuts when one factors in today's rising costs. Here are the proposed FY 09 budget numbers:

$242 million (+3.5 percent) for Head Start, for a total of $7.1 billion
$665 million (+4.6 percent) for Title I, for a total of $15.1 billion
$604 million (roughly a 5 percent increase) for IDEA, which despite a promise to fund 40 percent of the program, brings the federal government's share to only 17.5 percent

Michigan ASCD
Professional Development Opportunities

Current ASCD Election Includes a Michigan Candidate, Sara M. Shubel
Sara M. Shubel, Superintendent of East Grand Rapids Schools, is a candidate for President-Elect of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).

Sara is currently on the Board of Directors of ASCD.

Sara is also a current member of the Michigan ASCD Board of Directors.

She has been the President of Michigan ASCD and has held other leadership positions within the organization.

Janice Brown to Head The Kalamazoo Promise
The Kalamazoo Promise Inc. has named Janice Brown, former superintendent of Kalamazoo, its executive director.

As superintendent of Kalamazoo Public Schools, Brown arranged for anonymous donors to fund the scholarship program, which has drawn national attention as an economic-development vehicle.

The program provides college scholarships for Kalamazoo Public School graduates, paying up to full tuition for four years at any Michigan public college or university. The only requirements are that students live within the school district and attend Kalamazoo Public Schools through high school.  Brown remains the only person to have publicly acknowledged that she knows the identities of the donors.

The Promise administration office is separate from the school district and is a nonprofit organization whose operations are funded by the donors.

About 800 students are attending college this fall on Promise scholarships.

Janice is a member of Michigan ASCD and is currently coordinating Michigan ASCD’s popular Curriculum Leaders Institute.

Evaluating Online Learning
 The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement has released its latest guide in a series of publications highlighting innovations in education. Titled "Evaluating Online Learning: Challenges and Strategies for Success," the new guide is designed as a resource for leaders and evaluators of K–12 online learning programs. It discusses the challenges of evaluating these kinds of programs and features seven examples of evaluations that address a broad spectrum of online learning options, from programs that provide online courses to web sites that feature education resources. These evaluations can serve as models to help school leaders determine whether online programs and resources are performing as promised, while identifying critical areas for improvement, federal officials said. http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/academic/evalonline

Graduating Black Males
Michigan is the worst in the nation when it comes to graduating black male students from high school.

A report by the Schott Foundation for Public Education indicates that Michigan graduates 33 percent of black males compared with 74 percent of white males.
Detroit Public Schools graduates 20 percent of black males and 17 percent of white males, according to the report."

The foundation's study, released during a national conference of minority journalism organizations in Chicago, used 2005-06 data from the U. S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights, which was the most recent available. It also used data from state departments of education and local school districts.

Nationally, 47 percent of black male students and 75 percent of white male students graduated on time.

41 Schools Get Infrastructure Money
Forty-one Michigan elementary and middle schools will receive more than $8.7 million in federal Safe Routes to School funding. The schools will implement safety improvements and education programs aimed at encouraging healthy lifestyles, and also improve opportunities for students to travel safely between home and school.

The Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the Michigan Fitness Foundation reviewed the grant applications. The schools receiving funding will implement education and encouragement programs during the 2008-09 school year, and complete infrastructure work, such as sidewalks and crosswalks, in 2009. The Safe Routes to School program encourages parents, teachers, neighborhoods and schools to work together to improve safety for children who walk and bike to school.

Schools receiving funding are in these cities: Benton Harbor, Stevensville, Watervliet, Flint, Grand Blanc, Augusta, Lowell, St. Ignace, Muskegon Heights, Pontiac, Saginaw, Maysville, Detroit, Grosse Ile Township, Hamtramck and Highland Park.