HOUSE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

January 22, 2003 Hearing Room E

1:00 PM Tapes 5 - 6

MEMBERS PRESENT: Rep. Vic Backlund, Chair

Rep. Pat Farr, Vice-Chair

Rep. Elaine Hopson, Vice-Chair

Rep. Brad Avakian

Rep. Billy Dalto

Rep. Mary Nolan

Rep. Wayne Scott

STAFF PRESENT: Jim Keller, Committee Administrator

Jeana Harrington, Committee Assistant

ISSUES HEARD: Informational Meeting

Oregon Report Card and Database Initiative Project Presentation by Nancy Heiligman and Nancy Schneider, Oregon Department of Education (ODE).

These minutes are in compliance with Senate and House Rules. Only text enclosed in quotation marks reports a speaker’s exact words. For complete contents, please refer to the tapes.

TAPE/#	Speaker	Comments
TAPE 5, A
005	Chair Backlund	Calls meeting to order at 1:05 PM. Welcomes audience and informs of the presentation ahead. Opens informational meeting.
INFORMATIONAL MEETING
014	Pat Burk	Deputy Superintendent, ODE. Thanks committee again for the opportunity to appear before them. Recalls his previous presentations and expresses that this will be a more specific continuation of the Database Initiative Project (DIP) and the Oregon Report Card (ORC). Defines the DIP and ORC.
054	Chair Backlund	Welcomes Nancy Heiligman.
057	Nancy Heiligman	Office of Finance and Budget, ODE. States pleasure in appearing before the committee. Begins presentation of Database Initiative Project (DIP). (EXHIBIT A). Provides legislative history of DIP. Explains what DIP is. Details the facets of the education database available to schools. Overviews DIP results. Explains recent uses of database data relating to the project. Overviews business drivers of DIP. Refers committee to information provided in (EXHIBIT B).
258	Rep. Farr	Poses concern over “delinquent” students category in (EXHIBIT B).
264	Heiligman	Clarifies that ODE is provided with a definition of delinquent students. Explains that this category is mainly for students placed in foster homes. Adds that definitions are more a stature than anything.
274	Heiligman	Calls committee attention to the various reports of (EXHIBIT B).
317	Rep. Farr	Inquires if the entire database is available at the building level.
318	Heiligman	Responds that both district and school level reports are available on the database. Adds that if a particular report is not available on the website, they can send it to the user. Announces she would be interested in the committee’s input on other data that could be useful.
335	Rep. Farr	Asks question regarding the availability of and access to this data.
338	Heiligman	Responds that it is available on the internet.
340	Chair Backlund	Asks Nancy to inform the committee about TESA.
348	Heiligman	Defines TESA as Technologically Enhanced Student Assessment. Informs that by the end of 2003 half of all schools in Oregon will be testing on this automated system. States that implementation of this system is going very well and adds it should be finished two years from now. Continues that more and different tests will be added in the future. Submits that reports have concluded students are engaged by these computerized versions of tests. Notes reduction in paperwork and the efficiency of data availability.
386	Chair Backlund	Questions whether TESA will eliminate need for testing windows.
392	Heiligman	Affirms and adds that tests will be able to be taken at any time.
403	Chair Backlund	Inquires when, if 50% of schools will have TESA by year’s end, will the process be completed.
409	Heiligman	Answers the projection is four years. Points out the enthusiasm schools have for the program, but that the challenge is the technology available currently at the individual school level.
423	Chair Backlund	Thanks Nancy for her overview and remarks he is glad to hear the program is going well as it has great potential.
430	Nancy Schneider	Director of State Report Card Project. Provides update on ORC. Gives basic overview of presentation.
457	Schneider	Informs the committee that this is the fourth ORC to be released. States it is a major accountability tool. Refers committee to (EXHIBIT C).
TAPE 6,A
005	Schneider	Continues presentation on ORC. Details ORC overall rating. Indicates the difference between ORC and other forms of assessment in that ORC provides parents with the status of the school. Informs committee of updates to the ORC. States that ORC is not meant to be a comprehensive look at the school even though schools are allowed to individualize additional information about themselves.
085	Schneider	Provides committee with major changes that may interest them including the expansion of the program and feedback. Continues that feedback offered three main changes including simplification of ORC, raising standards, and keeping the same target for three years. Comments that they were able to accommodate the latter two. In terms of simplification, revised reporting so that test scores and overall rating stand alone.
131	Rep. Hopson	Asks if that along with relieving confusion associated with the reporting it helped in situations where test scores deflated the overall rating.
133	Schneider	Comments that this is hopefully built into the formula. Adds that although this is the first year of another cycle, since the standards were changed they may not maintain status.
143	Chair Backlund	Requests clarification as to whether the same class is tested throughout the study throughout four years
152	Schneider	Informs it is not the same group of students, that the same grades are tested throughout the four years. Adds that they would like to follow the same group of children eventually.
155	Rep. Hopson	Notes that this is a representation of the school itself and cautions that is what they are trying to measure.
161	Rep. Nolan	Points out that both are valid measurements. One helps follow instruction within a particular grade and the other follows students improvement from year to year.
178	Schneider	Offers format of ORC in form of documents within (EXHIBIT C) including sample report cards. Notes that schools can see their placement within the categories.
199	Rep. Hopson	Inquires whether she is right in assuming that the same fundamental data including all children is used in the determination of class size.
202	Schneider	Answers that it is the number of student in class with the teacher and that all students are included
204	Schneider	Expands on various aspects of the report card for the committee. Predicts what will be encompassed in upcoming meeting featuring the results of ORC. States they have raised the bar and, in doing so, the bulk of schools will drop in status. Anticipates double the number of low and unacceptable schools due to this being the first year of a new three-year cycle. Also anticipates the appearance of exceptional schools. Adds that public release will begin next Thursday, January 30, 2003.
268	Rep. Hopson	Asks if it is safe to say that information released next Thursday will not appear in some districts until March, but that the ORC will be available on web regardless.
273	Schneider	Affirms.
279	Chair Backlund	Questions if report cards go to parents of charter school students.
280`	Schneider	Responds yes as long as the charter school is public. Adds that 150 of the 1200 schools will not be rated this year if this is their first year as a school, or if they are involved in a boundary change.
298	Schneider	Shifts talk to No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Adds that it is a different way to evaluate schools. Informs that according to NCLB legislation, schools either meet or do not meet the standard. Explains that the Oregon system is different in that test scores are divided into five, not two, categories.
342	Chair Backlund	Presumes under NCLB, we will have to change ORC to meet requirements.
344	Schneider	Replies that although ORC is more detailed, Oregon does not meet all of the requirements for NCLB.
354	Schneider	States that there will be confusion as to the ratings of schools. Invites questions.
369	Chair Backlund	Thanks the presenters. Closes informational meeting. Adjourns meeting at 2:45 PM.

EXHIBIT SUMMARY

A – Informational, database project, Nancy Heiligman and Nancy Schneider, 4 pp

B – Informational, comparison report, Nancy Heiligman and Nancy Schneider, 7 pp

C – Informational, oregon report card, Nancy Heiligman and Nancy Schneider, 9 pp