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Location

• ESC-20
• From TEA:
  • John Lopez
  • Kelly Griffin (?)
  • Karen Kahan (dropped in)

New Stuff (Last Update: 09/18/2008)

• View a sample tutorial for administrators to take the assessment.

Audio Reflections

• My audio reflections on this broadcast are being converted to MP3. Should have it soon.
• Want to share your reflections about the NCLB Tech Report via a podcast? Contact me via email at mguhlin@gmail.com

General Reflections (from Miguel)

• Very quick overview, hard to read the slides unless you were sitting in the front 2 rows (I was)
• this comes across as pretty straightforward.
• Much of the info is already on the web site (links shared below)
• No surprises in the info shared here, and that’s good!
• One of the questions asked was how infoSource Learning’s SimpleAssessment.com aligns to TA:TEKS, as opposed to ISTE NETS. I emailed their rep the question and will share the response when I get it.
  • Response from Rep: The Simple Assessment is based on the older NETS-S, and I have been told by Tech folks in Texas that this version lines up nicely with the TEKS. I do not have documentation on this, but I am asking around.

Notes

• Additional data at the district level has been requested for districts.
• The STaR Chart system will open on 09/15/08 and close on Nov 30, 2008
• New icon labelled “NCLB” will appear on the STaR Chart.
• All NCLB data must be entered by the 30th so that data can be aggregated.
• Basic info is at http://starchart.esc12.net/nclb/default.html

Section 1

• If teacher has her his or her own computer for home use should be counted.
• http://starchart.esc12.net/nclb/section1.html

Section 2

• Local decision as to how to acquire the data (local, commercially purchased, district choice). This is local control issue
• http://starchart.esc12.net/nclb/section2.html
• In the form, you can specify how you collected the information. If commercial, you specify who.
• Questions on this portion:
  • How many 8th grade students are in the District?
  • How many were assessed?
  • How many were found to be tech literate?
  • How does your district provide instructions for Tech Apps for grades 6–8?
    • Core content integration
    • Separate TA:TEKS course
    • Combination of these.
• Questions:
  • What is the snapshot date? End of the year is the best chance for assessment. This is for 2007–2008. If you already had that data collection setup in place, then you can do this. If you didn’t collect that information in Spring 2008, then you can collect it from 9th graders who were 8th graders in Spring 2008.
  • If district does not receive T2,Part D funding, they don’t need to fill this out? “That is correct”
  • What number does the total number of 8th graders have to match up to (e.g. PEIMS, AEIS)? “I’ll have to check to see what that will match up against,” responded John Lopez. “Should line up with the eMac (?) system. I’ll follow up with that. That would be the most current data.”
  • How does this Nov 30th deadline match up to other completion deadlines? Do teachers have to have their STaR Charts completed by deadline? “

Section 3

• Campus level - School Administrator Proficiencies
• http://starchart.esc12.net/nclb/section3.html
• Teachers and librarians are being covered under 2007–2008 STaR Chart data.
• Campus Administrators - new assessment built-in.
• Add a campus administrator section.
• Similar to the STaR Chart
• Choices under each area reflect Early Tech, Developing Tech, Advanced Tech, Target Tech matched to ISTE NETS for Administrators 2002 version.

Web site

• Under the Overview page, you’ll see new step by step instructions.
• Going over the different sections and how to enter the information.

Questions from Folks/Notes

• Where should phone calls go? Not to Region 12. Contact information is posted on the site…nclbtech@tea.state.tx.us.
• Contact for NCLB portion. One of the issues is that campuses have changed administrators. is the procedure to still contact ESC-12 to get access corrected for admin of those campuses? “STaR Chart” says Cathey George “changes are done by STaR Chart staff…starchart@esc12.net”. “Any login information,” responds John Lopez, “but we will handle any other questions about populating the data.”
• Is this going to be information requested every year from this time on? “Yes,” John replied. “We’ve been trying to get this info into the hands of people…this is a new requirement. At some point, we’ll have to decide when 2008–2009 information will be recorded but that will have to be decided on…collected until they tell us otherwise. With direction from Federal Government, we will be collecting the data.”
• Will you be able to tell if district/campus if they have submitted their NCLB section? Yes…it shows up. What about section 1 and 2, at the district level, how will you know campuses/districts have submitted it, will some info show up there or will it default there? “For each one of the sections, it will let you know which one has been successful,” responded John. That will stay.
• When we start looking at completing eRate forms, we try to make certain that the ePlan is submitted before form 470? Is this NCLB reporting going to hold up submission of the ePlan? “No, it is totally independent. The only tie between STaR Chart and NCLB is that they are the web page but they go to different” places via the link.
• If you want TechApps…”We’ll wait until the latter part in May and have a submission window through the end of September (about 4 months); feds don’t require us to report this until February, which is why we’re closing in November.”
• TEA is recommending we have 100% STaR Chart before campus principal submits the campus STaR Chart. On the NCLB section, they can go ahead and do this before the teachers have submitted their’s 100%. “Yes, that is correct. They don’t have to go back and re-do it.”
• Trying to find a correlation between NETS and TechApps TEKS. Is there such an animal? “Karen Kahan, director for Ed-Tech, shares that Don Knezek is working on something. I’ll have to follow up.”
  • Reason for asking is that we’re using the Simple Assessment—based on ISTE NETS rather than TEKS Apps. “The vendor said it was aligned to TEKS,” said John. “We will follow up with that.”
    • Miguel: So, quick summary: Does Infosource Learning’s SimpleAssessment align to TA:TEKS or just the NETS?