Approve the End of Course Exam (ECE) Clearinghouse Grant to be Submitted to the Florida Department of Education (DOE)

The End of Course Exam (ECE) Clearinghouse is to develop a statewide test/item clearinghouse. The purpose of the clearinghouse is to support the Special Teachers Are Rewarded (STAR) program. The clearinghouse will allow each district to access exams especially in those areas that are not FCAT relevant. These exams will come from the school districts that have already developed exams, including Hillsborough County. Initially the exams will be distributed through an email request or fax. Prior to the second year, the district will review, develop and implement a process for electronic access to the exam file. The Clearinghouse will also promote additional test development for the district. These exams will be in high priority need areas such as Vocational Education and subjects in grades 11 and 12. Our current exams will be reviewed and revised as needed over the life of the project. (See attached copy of the grant)

Goal 5 – The district will eliminate the FCAT achievement gap by a minimum of 10 percentage points as reported by No Child Left Behind. Critical Success Factor 5.a: Recruit and retain high-performing teachers.

The grant will be used to support a staff of three, which will include a Supervisor, Programmer, and Secretary. In addition, some equipment will be provided by the grant such as a server and additional storage. The DOE grant also includes approximately $400,000 for Maintenance and Development of subject-area exams. The majority of these funds will be used to hire subject-area experts (Teachers) to write the exams. The total amount of the grant is $759,320.

The evaluation is based on developing the clearinghouse and tracking statewide district use of the exams and the ease of use of the clearinghouse. Quarterly reports will be sent to the Board and the DOE showing the progress to date.