SCAC Minutes
December 2, 2003

Eileen Kugler opened the meeting and called on Dr. Domenech for updates.

Domenech noted that Dogwood was the one Excel school whose student achievement on tests registered a level of improvement on the Student Achievement Index (SAI) that qualified the school for cash bonuses for all employees this year. He said that given Dogwood's vicissitudes over the past few years (e.g., the fire that destroyed the school building followed by a distributed student body and opening of the rebuilt school) someone should write a book about this achievement. Principal Ricki Harvey and her staff should be proud.

Domenech said that there was a record turnout at the legislative breakfast that morning. Congressman Jim Moran had spoken out about the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. There were bipartisan concerns about NCLB. Del. Vince Callahan had said that the final budget would have little resemblance to the governor's proposed budget. The new Local Composite Index (LCI) figures have come out. FCPS' LCI went down slightly, which means we will get slightly more state money than we would at the previous year's rate. The additional amount is small, but this is much better than in recent years when we lost money over previous years. Prince William and Loudoun Counties lost money on the LCI this year.

Nell Hurley said she had heard Kate Hanley say that there is a value for FCPS in Prince William County's LCI loss, since this will make it more likely that Prince William will join the rest of Northern Virginia in the call for reform of state funding for local education.

Ellen Oppenheim said that FCPS supporters need to tell our state legislators not to vote for any bill that does not provide more funding for FCPS.

Ray Worley said the LCI formula is a problem. It should be based on students' needs.

Domenech said that, at that Thursday's School Board meeting, Bob Frye would be introducing a motion on the TJHSST admissions policy: to create a blue ribbon committee comprising representatives of organizations with expertise in this area and to study the possibility of replacing the "pool of 800" from which TJHSST freshmen are chosen with a pool of all students above a particular cut score, the number in the pool to vary from year to year based on the number above the cut score.

Jeanine Martin asked how many would be in the pool under such a method. Domenech said it would probably be more than 800, but the number is unknown until the study has been done.

Worley said there are not enough members of ethnic minorities on SCAC. Kugler agreed and suggested that an organization such as the Title I Advisory Committee might be able to suggest minorities for SCAC membership.

Domenech noted that, at the previous School Board meeting, the Board decided not to approve the PACE charter school proposal and that he was recommending against approving the charter school and, instead, approving an FCPS ABA program that would be an option for parents of autistic children.

Oppenheim asked if parents of children in the new program would be required to sign a contract agreeing to provide ABA therapy at home. Domenech said that legally we could not hold parents responsible for this.

Worley asked if it is possible to determine whether this program would produce the results to justify the amount it would cost. Domenech said that the pilot ABA program of a few years ago for ten students produced great results for two, poor results for two, and no difference in results for six. Domenech said FCPS will petition the state to allow the ten-to-one ratio that was part of the PACE charter school proposal.

Kugler noted that the new School Board has fewer representatives of ethnic minorities than did the previous Board.

Paul Regnier explained the various handouts that had been e-mailed to SCAC members and provided in hard copy at the meeting, including the various items used by the Office of Community Relations to communicate with parents and the wider public about No Child Left Behind.

Kugler introduced Nick Fischer to discuss what FCPS is doing to respond to NCLB mandates.

Fischer said NCLB instituted a paradigm shift making schools responsible for the achievement of every child. Achievement averages are no longer good enough; there are no more "invisible" kids. NCLB also looks at students' progress, not just at absolute scores.

Every state has its own measures for meeting NCLB standards. Measures in the early years are diagnostic, to ensure that students have the knowledge and skills they need by graduation time. The focus is on reading and math.

FCPS is doing very well on meeting these federal standards. We are keeping track of all measures, including teacher-made tests and other measures as well as standardized tests in order to discover where there are skills problems. We are helping ensure that school-based teachers understand what all the measures (including school-based testing) are actually testing and what the test results mean. We are helping schools provide more time on task, including more time after the school day and helping teachers to figure out what to do with the information they get from the measures.

FCPS uses staff development to influence teachers' instructional skills. We are ensuring a coherent message from all involved in instruction and an emphasis on reading and math.

Ron Henry said he would like to see test result information disaggregated by gender. He said he knows this is required by NCLB. Fischer said this information has been given to individual schools. Bill Oehrlein said that schools have the information in any way you would want. Fischer said you can get the information if you ask for it.

Brenda Greene asked what principals feel they need to give up in order to provide more time on task in reading and math. Fischer said we are now in the first year of high stakes testing, and, in the first year of such testing, schools typically narrow down. Once they learn to teach reading across the curriculum, they will find they need not give up anything.

Kugler asked about participation of limited-English-proficient (LEP) students. Fischer said this is an issue. Our schools teach in American but expect LEP students to learn English. He said that he hopes federal education officials focus on how long it takes to learn English. He said he believes federal and state officials will provide some flexibility on this issue.

Hurley asked about the NCLB requirement for LEP students to learn in English, about how NCLB determines economic need, and about requirements for tracking ESOL students and how well they are doing. Fischer said FCPS is disaggregating data to determine how individual ESOL students are doing at different periods of ESOL services. He said a good school system not only does things well but also knows what it is not doing well. LEP students come into FCPS at differing ages with differing English language skills; different strategies are needed for students at differing ages and skill levels. Developing motivation to learn English is critical. Free and reduced-price lunch eligibility is the only marker available for determining which children are economically disadvantaged. Unfortunately, high school students are much less likely than younger children to apply for this designation (even when they would qualify). The federal government does not allow extrapolation of earlier-grades eligibility to high school students.

Fischer said that SOLs and NCLB require definition of expectations and then measurement of each student's achievement of defined expectations.

Bradshaw asked how many Title I schools FCPS has. Fischer said there are about 30, but fewer than ten might possibly fail to meet NCLB standards for two consecutive years.

Bradshaw asked about the "school choice" option under NCLB if a Title I school fails to meet the standards for two consecutive years. She understands that where school choice has been implemented, 3 to -5 percent of parents choose to move their children to different schools and that very few of these are low-income parents. Fischer said these are the figures he has seen.

Fischer said there is a great deal of negotiation going on between school systems and state and federal officials about various aspects of NCLB.

Terhar noted that it is possible that the "choice" option could come into effect because particular subgroups (e.g., disabled, ethnic minority, language minority) of students in a school do not meet standards and that when the choice option does go into effect students from low-income families do not get first choice to move. Also, a school may swerve from being required to offer choice to not being required to offer choice from year to year.

Ben Cooper noted that NCLB will require a 100 percent graduation rate (based on SOL end-of-course exams) within ten years. Fischer said that probably 95 percent of students, including the disabled, will be able to meet the goals in that time frame and that without the 100 percent goal, the 95 percent figure might not be reached.

Kugler introduced members' issues.

Bradshaw asked if the FCPS ABA proposal is more expensive than the PACE charter school as proposed. Domenech said it probably would be, but there are many variables. Current FCPS student-teacher ratios in classes for autistic students are five (plus two aides) to one in preschool and six to one in grades K-6. The state requirement is eight to one. The PACE proposal projected a ten to one ratio; FCPS will petition the state to allow a ten to one ratio. If the FCPS ABA program is put in place, parents who choose it will be opting their children out of other services (e.g., speech therapy) that many autistic students now receive. Greene asked if this will be the case even if the student's IEP calls for other services. Domenech said that, at the IEP level, parents will make the choice of the ABA program or a program that offers other services.

Kugler asked how this ABA proposal connects with the Gibson report's recommendations for cutting back on special education programs to save money. Domenech said the two are going in opposite directions.

Eileen Filler-Corn asked how the NCLB requirements correspond with seemingly contradictory requirements in IDEA. Fischer said this had not yet been made clear by federal officials.

Kugler mentioned that members would discuss the budget at the January 13 meeting.

The meeting was adjourned.