EDUCATION OVERSIGHT BOARD MEETING MINUTES December 18, 2002 9:00 A.M. Oklahoma State Capitol Building Conference Room 412B Oklahoma City, OK 73105 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Pete Churchwell, Kenneth Bridges, Ron Dryden Ed Long, Don McCorkell, Sen. Penny Williams, Rep. Larry Roberts BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Gerald Dickerson, Karen Yarbrough OTHER REGULAR ATTENDEES: Office of Accountability Staff: Robert Buswell, Matt Hesser, Jerry Hsieh, Leonard Hall VISITORS: Rep. Joan Greenwood, Thomas Blaney - GIT Call to Order and Roll Call: Mr. Churchwell called the meeting to order at 9:00 am and declared a quorum present. Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the November 20, 2002 meeting were approved with a slight correction. Report of FY 2003 Expenditures: Reports were distributed to board members, with discussion from Mr. Buswell. Mr. Buswell reported on budgets for both the Oklahoma Educational Indicators Program and the Oklahoma School Performance Review Program. A short discussion followed. Report on the Oklahoma School Performance Review Program: Mr. Buswell, presented for Dr. Hall who was at another meeting pertinent to the program. Dr. Hall's report stated that the advisory committee had met once and that the design of the RFP was almost completed. The draft RFP had been sent to Central Purchasing for review and following its return will be sent to prospective bidders once a district has agreed to be reviewed. Bidder proposals will be initially screened by Central Purchasing and then given a final evaluation by the Office of Accountability and a selection committee. It was reported that Dr. Hall had visited with a number of districts about volunteering for the reviews and some have expressed a true interest in participating in the program. The proposed timeline schedules awarding a contract near the end of February and having the reviews completed in a 6-to-8 month time span. All of the districts showing interest have stated that, at this time, they would be unable to cover 25% of the cost. Realizing that it could slow the timeline somewhat, the EOB requested that they approve the design of the RFP at the January board meeting. Report on the Oklahoma Educational Indicators Program: Mr. Hesser reported that the office was still in the data-gathering phase of the process and that progress was very similar to previous years. He went on to discuss the 2002 Questionnaire that had been mailed out on November 8. Roughly 90% of the 1,796 surveys had been returned and had already been entered into the database as of the time of the meeting. Dr. Coppedge noted that there were questions on the survey regarding schools efforts to comply with the Safe Schools legislation and the Bullying Prevention Act. He was hopeful that good information would be derived from those questions. Senator Williams was also interested in the questions that dealt with student mobility. It was explained that the O of A was attempting to collect data that would allow a standardized mobility rate to be calculated for schools across the state. Based on a preliminary review of the data, the office was hopeful that the numbers would be usable this year. Mr. Long pointed out that a statewide student record keeping system would have solved the issue of calculating a mobility rate. He asked where the state was in terms of developing a statewide student data system. Mr. Buswell reminded the board that OBEC and the SDE were currently working with outside contractors to develop a quality system. He cautioned the board, however, about the importance of monitoring progress until the system was fully implemented. Mr. Buswell then passed out a sheet covering the preliminary EOI test results for school year 2002 by race, gender, socioeconomic status and scholastic program. The spring testing results had finally come in from the testing company and the office was able to compile the preliminary results for the whole school year. Mr. McCorkell pointed out that male students under-performed female students in every category. Report on Interim Study Committee on HR-1, the No Child Left Behind Act: The board referenced an article titled "States Revise the Meaning of Proficient" from the October issue of Education Week. It was explained that Oklahoma's school testing program has four performance categories: Advanced, Satisfactory, Limited Knowledge, and Unsatisfactory. The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) has given states the ability to define "Proficient," as used in HR-1, based upon each state's own testing program. While the EOB, and the O of A, have previously reported the percent of students scoring "Satisfactory or Above" when considering school performance in Oklahoma, the State Board of Education recently adopted "Limited Knowledge or Above" as being "Proficient" for the purposes of HR-1 reporting. The Education Oversight Board expressed concern that this interpretation would make things look rosier than they were, which would in turn, make it difficult for Oklahoma to show progress under HR-1. Next, a report that outlined the methodology used to calculate the Academic Performance Index (API) was distributed and board members were invited to read it at their leisure. Board members questioned whether the API was going to be accepted by the USDE as a measure of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and whether it should be the only measure of AYP used in Oklahoma's HR-1 reporting. The board also had questions about the "Reasonable Limit Values" (RLV) used in the API formula. The board noted that the determination of RLVs was critical to setting expected performance levels and felt that it was important to learn more about how RLV's were determined. New Business: None Announcements: Dr. Coppedge wanted to remind the board how important it and the Office of Accountability are to the State of Oklahoma. Dr. Coppedge had made a presentation to the Governor Elect's transition team in which he emphasized the importance of maintaining this neutral body and this office of neutrality that looks at the quality of education in the state and reports it to the public. He felt it was very critical to keep this reporting to the public concept in place. He wanted the board to know, as he exited his position as Secretary of Education and CEO of the Office of Accountability, that he had emphasized that issue repeatedly. He hoped that everyone would keep these issues in mind and wanted to thank all of the members for all of their hard work over the years. Mr. McCorkell made a motion that the board express its appreciation to Dr. Coppedge for his non-partisan leadership over the last eight years. The motion passed unanimously. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at approximately 11:00 a.m. The minutes of the December 18, 2002 Meeting of the Education Oversight Board were approved (as submitted) or (with corrections) on January 15, 2003.