HCPS FL Logo Curriculum and Instruction
Information Item
DATE: Tuesday, July 17, 2012
TO: School Board Members
FROM: MaryEllen Elia, Superintendent
SUBJECT / RECOMMENDATIONS
Students with Disabilities (SWD) and the Impact on School Grades (Curriculum and Instruction Division)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Due to the implementation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) State Waiver, this year’s SWD scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) and the Florida Alternate Assessment (FAA) will count for the school grade at more sites.  While in previous years, gains of students with disabilities who took the alternative assessment have counted in the overall gains in reading and math for the school grade, this year the scores of will be included in the high performance portions of the school grade.  FAA scores will now count in reading, math, and writing for the school grades as they have in the past with Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), and FAA science scores will count in the high performance part of the school grade.

In most instances the SWD scores at our schools will help school grades or have little impact, but for the first time Exceptional Student Education (ESE) Center Schools (Caminiti, LaVoy, Lopez and Willis Peters) will be graded.  The remaining ESE Center Schools (Mendez/East Henry and Simmons ESE) do not have the student enrollment numbers in each grade level to be graded.

The Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) asked each district to choose whether every school would earn a traditional grade or an improvement rating.  When improvement rating is chosen, the scores on the FAA or FCAT will impact the neighborhood school which most probably a school the student never attended.

The District chose to rate Carver and Dorothy Thomas (ESE Center Schools) since many of the students are sent there due to discipline reasons.  The district chose to grade the other ESE Center Schools (Caminiti, LaVoy, Lopez and Willis Peters) because those students were placed there because it is their least restrictive environment as decided by the Individual Educational Plan (IEP) Team.  It is anticipated that these schools will be graded an “F” which is truly not a representation of the hard work of our teachers and students at these schools.  We have been, and are currently, working with the state and United States Department of Education (USDOE) to address this issue.

The District’s commitment in the new state grading implementation has been recognized by state and district leaders, and I served on the State School Grade Task Force.  We also communicated our concerns with the State Board of Education, the FLDOE, and the USDOE.  We believe state leaders have listened and are committed to addressing these issues and, more appropriately, how to assess the student with significant cognitive disabilities at ESE centers.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
All Strategic Objectives
FINANCIAL IMPACT (Budgeted:  No)
N/A
EVALUATION
N/A
SUBMITTED BY:  Maryann Parks, Supervisor, Exceptional Student Education
Joyce L. Wieland   Wynne A. Tye
General Director, Department of Exceptional Student Education
(813) 273-7025
  Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum and Instruction
(813) 272-4221
    A 9.06
Hillsborough County Public Schools (Florida) * Mtg.#20120717_509 (Board Meeting) * Section A Item# 9.06