ParentInfo, October 1, 2007

Last Updated on Tuesday, October 02, 2007 at 5:02 AM

*Parent Advisory Council Recommendations

*NAEP Scores Released

*KCCT/CATS Data Out Tuesday

*A Busy Month for Schools

*The Benefits of Family Meals

Parent Advisory Council Recommendations

The Commissioner’s Parents Advisory Council (CPAC), a group formed to advise the state commissioner of education on policy issues, has issued a set of recommendations to improve family and community involvement in Kentucky’s public schools.

In January 2007, CPAC developed a document called the Kentucky Family and Community Involvement Guide to Student Achievement. The guide outlined six objectives to help parents and other adults support student achievement:

Relationship-Building: School staff build productive, personal relationships with students’ parents.
Communications: Two-way information flows regularly between school staff and parents about students’ academic achievement and individual needs.
Decision-Making: School staff encourage, support and expect parents to be involved in school improvement monitoring and decisions.
Advocacy: School staff identify and support a parent or other adult who takes personal responsibility for a child’s learning needs.
Learning Opportunities: School staff ensure that families have opportunities to support children’s learning.
Community Partnerships: School staff partner with community members to improve student achievement.

CPAC recommends that the Kentucky Department of Education take four major actions to implement these objectives:

Set high expectations, measure performance and report progress, using the Kentucky Family and Community Involvement Guide to Student Achievement as an audit tool.
Help schools improve relationship-building and communications by adopting “customer satisfaction” training modules for school districts, making involvement data available publicly and establishing community involvement advisory councils at school, district and state levels.
Provide resources and support through recognition of local achievement, research materials and training.
Build capacity through professional development for parents, teachers, school officials and the community.

The council’s goal is for Kentucky to become the first state in the nation to set a standard for family and community involvement that is focused on student achievement.

The Commissioner’s Parent Advisory Council was formed in 1999. Its 37 members are selected by the commissioner of education and represent ethnic, gender and geographic diversity. The group meets four times a year in Frankfort.

NAEP Scores Released

The results of the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading and mathematics show that Kentucky's 4^th and 8^th-graders made gains when compared to the state's performance in previous NAEP assessments.

Scale scores for 4^th- and 8^th-graders in 2007 are near the national average. The NAEP grading scale ranges from 0 to 500.

4^TH GRADE READING SCALE SCORE

KENTUCKY - 222 NATION - 220

8^TH GRADE READING SCALE SCORE

KENTUCKY - 262 NATION - 261

4^TH GRADE MATHEMATICS SCALE SCORE

KENTUCKY - 235 NATION - 239

8^TH GRADE MATHEMATICS SCALE SCORE
KENTUCKY - 279 NATION - 280

Since 1998, Kentucky's 4^th-graders have gained four points on the NAEP reading assessment. Kentucky’s 8^th-graders’ scores have remained steady, with minor gains and losses. Since 2000, Kentucky’s 4^th-graders have gained 14 points on the NAEP mathematics assessment, and 8^th-graders have gained 9 points.

For more than 30 years, NAEP has been the country’s only nationally representative and continuing survey of students’ educational achievement. NAEP protects the confidentiality of students, teachers and schools that participate by not reporting individual student, teacher or school data. NAEP provides results for major demographic groups, and states that meet NAEP reporting criteria are able to compare their results with both national results and the results of other states.

For information about the performance of students by gender, race and eligibility for free/reduced-price school meals, visit NAEP’s State Profiles pages.

KCCT/CATS Data Out Tuesday

Scores from Kentucky Core Content Tests students took last spring will be out Tuesday as part of the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS) annual data release. Parents should contact the child’s school for individual performance results.

It should be noted Kentucky’s assessment and accountability program is in transition. The 2007 Kentucky Core Content Test is new, and student performance standards for novice, apprentice, proficient and distinguished have changed.

Due to multiple changes in the system, the 2006 and 2007 data must be linked for school and district accountability using a concordance table, which is a statistical process. The 2007 Kentucky Performance Reports reflect the transition by reporting two accountability index scores—Adjusted by Concordance and Nonadjusted.

Both scores provide valuable information depending on their uses— accountability or instruction.

o The Adjusted Accountability Index links the 2007 performance to the past system. The score is related to the performance trends, the original goal and assistance lines in a school’s or district’s growth chart.

o The Nonadjusted Accountability Index and Content Area Indices provide the connection to the absolute goal of proficiency (100) by 2014. It is the first instructional look at the current position of a school or district compared to absolute goal of proficiency. Nonadjusted data is calculated for 2007 using new content area weights and new cut scores for student performance (novice, apprentice, proficient and distinguished).

State, district and school CATS and KCCT data will be available on the KDE Web site

Tuesday.

A Busy Month for Schools

October is a busy month for schools in Kentucky.

First it’s Walk to Schools Month, a month to promote safe walking and biking to school. Many schools will kick off the month with Walk to School Day on October 3. The day is designed to enhance the health of school kids, improve air quality and the environment, and to create safer routes for walking and bicycling to school year round.

National School Lunch Week is October 15-19. The week is designed to help raise awareness for the important role that school nutrition programs play in the lives of American children. The National School Lunch Program provides lunches to approximately 480,000 students every day in public, private and parochial schools and residential child care institutions in Kentucky

America’s Safe Schools Week is October 21-27. The National School Safety Center's goal in this campaign is to motivate policymakers, as well as students, parents and community residents, to vigorously advocate school safety. School safety includes keeping campuses free of crime and violence, improving discipline, and increasing student attendance. Schools that are safe and free of violence, weapons and drugs are necessary to ensure the well being of all children and the quality of their education. The Center for School Safety invites you and your student to sign an online pledge to help keep Kentucky schools safe and drug free.

National Bus Safety Week is October 22-26. National School Bus Safety Week is a way for everyone - parents, students, teachers, motorists, school bus operators, school administrators and others- to join forces and address the importance of school bus safety. The theme this year is “Be Aware, Cross with Care. A free resource guide and activity book is available online.

Red Ribbon Week is October 23-31. The mission of the Red Ribbon Campaign is to present a unified and visible commitment towards the creation of a DRUG-FREE AMERICA.

Some schools may also recognize Fire Prevention Week (October 7-13). This year’s theme is “Practice Your Escape Plan.” Everyone needs an escape plan in the event of a fire. If you have a plan, make sure everyone in your family knows what it is. Then practice your escape drill. If you don’t have a plan, this is a good time to put one together and put it to the test. The National Fire Protection Association offers a fire escape plan that you can individualize for your home and a fire escape checklist online.

Benefits of Family Meals

With fall ball and other after-school activities back in full swing, the family meal

often falls victim to a busy schedule. However, research shows kids who eat with their parents tend to better in school. And there are other benefits as well.

According to the British Columbia Medical Association, children who eat at least one meal a day with their families develop more nutritious eating habits since mealtimes give parents a chance to lead by example and demonstrate healthy food choices. Families also usually save money eating at home.

“Mealtime encourages conversation and interaction around the dinner table, which improves a child’s vocabulary and communication skills. This leads to better performance in school and fewer behavioral problems,” says the BCMA’s Web site.

Mealtime also helps to instill a sense of belonging in children, and provides a way to transmit family values and traditions. As a result, children who eat with their family at least once a day are less likely to smoke, drink, use drugs, or attempt suicide.

Here are some tips from the BCMA for great family mealtimes: