State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Nominates Three Schools,
One School District as 2014 U.S. Green Ribbon Schools
ENCINITAS—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today nominated San Diego County's Encinitas Union School District, Lowell and Twain Elementary Schools of Long Beach, and San Domenico School of San Anselmo to compete in the third year of the U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools (ED-GRS) recognition program.
"I am proud to recognize these outstanding schools and district for their comprehensive efforts to green their campuses, their communities, and our state," Torlakson said. "Together with efficient facilities and good health practices, a strong ecoliteracy education develops students into citizens who will be lifelong stewards of our environment."
Today's announcement came at a news conference at the one-acre Educational Farm at Ocean Knoll Elementary School in Encinitas, where representatives for each of the other nominees were also invited to participate.
California is one of 39 states, the District of Columbia, and the Bureau of Indian Education expected to nominate schools and/or a district for the federal recognition. California's participation in ED-GRS was a recommendation of Torlakson's Schools of the Future Task Force. The U.S. Department of Education will confirm state nominees to ED-GRS on Earth Day, April 22, 2014.
Green Ribbon Schools demonstrate exemplary achievement in three "pillars": Pillar I: reduce environmental impact and costs; Pillar II: improve the health and wellness of schools, students, and staff; and Pillar III: provide effective environmental and sustainability literacy, incorporating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education (STEM), civic skills, and green career pathways.
Details on each California nominee are below. For more information, please visit the California Department of Education'sGreen Ribbon Schools Award Program Web site or Torlakson's initiative at Schools of the Future (PDF; 2MB).
California's District Nominee
Encinitas Union Elementary School District 
, San Diego County
A regional model for sustainability and wellness
EUSD serves 5,400 K-6 students in nine elementary schools, all of which have been recognized as California Distinguished Schools. The district is home to one National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Eco-School (bronze level), four NWF Certified Habitats, and two Alliance for a Healthier Generation Schools (bronze level). Two large-scale organic, sustainable farming efforts are blossoming within the district: a 10-acre Agroecology Learning Center (opening this year), and the one-acre Ocean Knoll Educational Farm. Both facilities leverage public and private partnerships and provide food for the Farm to Cafeteria program. The district has reduced lunchtime waste by 85 percent using its award-winning SCRAP carts for recycling and composting., San Diego CountyA regional model for sustainability and wellness
Public School Nominees
Lowell Elementary School , Long Beach, Los Angeles County
Growing, conserving, and learning by doing
, Long Beach, Los Angeles CountyGrowing, conserving, and learning by doing
Every child participates in the Learning Garden, totaling 8,000 instructional hours per year. Student Green Team members divert more than 28,000 gallons of classroom recyclables annually from the trash. Car Free Fridays, promoted and measured by the Student Council, eliminate more than 150 pounds of carbon dioxide per week and encourage exercise. Fifty-five percent of students walk or bike to school, and students take more than 15 walking field trips each year. Lowell received ENERGY STAR certification in 2012 with a score of 98.
Twain Elementary School , Long Beach, Los Angeles County
Robust recycling programs advance sustainability and wellness
, Long Beach, Los Angeles CountyRobust recycling programs advance sustainability and wellness
Parents and Green Team students volunteer daily to help divert trash, reducing lunchtime waste by 85 percent. The Green Team engages 35 percent of eligible students (grades 2-5) as active members, but reaches the entire school community. A monthly "Bottles & Cans Day" earns the school $2,500 annually in recycling income. Twain is an American Heart Association (AHA) Teaching Gardens School. Twain received ENERGY STAR certification in 2011 with a score of 97.
Private School Nominee
San Domenico School , San Anselmo, Marin County
Elevating sustainability as a critical issue of our time
, San Anselmo, Marin CountyElevating sustainability as a critical issue of our time
The independent San Domenico School in Northern California operates a 20-year-old sustainability program that uses curriculum, policies, and practices on campus to inspire campus and community change. The campus is home to a 412 kW solar energy system, which offsets up to 65 percent of school energy use. San Domenico was recognized as the top-ranking, "Emerald Green" school in transportation through Safe Routes to School in 2013 with 75 percent of students choosing green ways to school.
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Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100
PSAA Meeting Minutes - December 9, 2013
Minutes of the Advisory Committee for the Public Schools Accountability Act (PSAA) of 1999.PSAA Advisory Committee Members Present:
- Co-Chair: Ting Sun, Educational Programs Director, Natomas Charter School
- Co-Chair: Kenn Young, Superintendent, Riverside County Office of Education|
- Vicki Barber, Retired Superintendent, El Dorado County Office of Education
- Dennis Cima, Senior Vice President, Silicon Valley Leadership Group
- Edward Haertel, Emeritus Professor, School of Education, Stanford University
- Julianne Hoefer, Director, Assessment and Accountability, Fountain Valley Unified School District
- Mia Keeley, Analyst, Admissions and Records/Early Assessment Program, California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office
- Clifford Kusaba, Teacher, California Teachers Association
- Chet Madison, Sr., President, Board of Education, Elk Grove Unified School District
- Colleen A.R. You, President, California State PTA
PSAA Advisory Committee Members Absent:
- Nancy Aaberg, Superintendent, Yuba City Unified School District
- Pat Crowder, Retired Principal, San Diego Unified School District
- Wendell Callahan, Director, Assessment, Research, and Pupil Services, San Diego County Office of Education
- Jeff Patterson, English Teacher, SOAR Prep Academy
- Charles Weis, Retired Superintendent, Santa Clara County Office of Education
Principal California Department of Education (CDE) Staff to the Advisory Committee:
- Keric Ashley, Director, Analysis, Measurement, and Accountability Reporting Division (AMARD)
- Jenny Singh, Administrator, Academic Accountability Unit
State Board of Education (SBE) and Legislative Representative:
- SBE Liaisons to the PSAA Advisory Committee: Ilene Straus, Trish Boyd Williams
- SBE Staff: Patricia de Cos, Deputy Executive Director
Please note that the complete proceedings of the December 9, 2013, PSAA Advisory Committee meeting, including captioning, are available on the CDE PSAA Meeting Webcast Archive Web page.
Public Session
December 9, 2013
Ting Sun called the meeting to order at approximately 10:04 a.m.
AGENDA ITEMS
Item 1
Subject: Welcome and introductions
Mia Keeley, Analyst for Admissions and Records/Early Assessment Program at the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office, was welcomed to the PSAA Advisory Committee and replaces Sonia Ortiz-Mercado who left the Committee in September 2013. It was also announced that members Barber, Crowder, and Weis will be retiring from the PSAA Advisory Committee in December 2013. CDE staff, on behalf of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the CDE, the Committee, and the California educational system, thanked them for their years of service and leadership in guiding the PSAA and Academic Performance Index (API).
ACTION: No action taken.
Item 2
Subject: CDE Update—Information
CDE staff presented an update regarding the Smarter Balanced field test and information about federal waivers.
As a result of input from schools and local educational agencies (LEAs), 95 percent of students will take a sampling of bothELA and mathematics items plus one performance task for one subject. The remaining five percent of students will take either ELA or mathematics items plus one performance task for that subject.
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) provided the opportunity for two types of waivers for statewide testing in 2013–14. The first waiver pertains to double testing. Students taking the Smarter Balanced field tests would be considered exempt from taking other state tests required for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) reporting. California applied for this waiver in November 2013.
The second waiver is a determination waiver. Approval of a determination waiver would allow California to use test results from 2012–13 year to make 2013–14 AYP determinations for K-8 schools. California applied for this waiver in November 2013. (The AYP determinations for grades nine through eleven would not be affected because those grade levels are determined based on results of the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE), which will continue to be administered in 2013–14.)
Public Comment: No public comment.
ACTION: No action taken.
Item 3
Subject: Review Decisions Made at the October 22, 2013, PSAA Committee Meeting—Information
The CDE recommended and the Committee agreed that the literature reviews for the college and career indicator begin with the following measures:
- Advance Placement (AP)
- International Baccalaureate (IB)
- SAT
- ACT
- Dual Enrollment
The CDE will move forward with the literature reviews.
Public Comment: No public comment.
ACTION: No action taken.
Item 4
Subject: Review California Code of Regulations, Title 5 (5 CCR) Sections 1039.2 and 1039.3 as it relates to the Reassignment of Accountability Data—Action
Part 1: Consider Revisions as Required by Assembly Bill (AB) 97
The 2013–14 Budget Bill (AB 97) requires by January 30, 2014, that the PSAA Advisory Committee review and recommend to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI) and the SBE any proposed changes to the 5 CCR sections 1039.2 and 1039.3 regarding the reassignment of accountability data to the school and school district of residence. Current regulations specify that students who are referred to an alternative school and who test at the alternative school shall have their test data reassigned to the school and school district that referred the student.
Elisa Wynne, Project Manager, Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), SBE office, provided context for the LCFF legislation related to the regulations regarding reassignment of test data to the school and school district of residence. The LCFF made specific changes to the way funds are provided to County Offices of Education (COEs). CDE staff presented and the Committee discussed two options for reassigning accountability data from a COE back to the district of residence:
- Add regulations that reassign accountability data for students who are served by the COE, but for whom the county is not directly funded, back to the district of residence.
- Status quo. Continue using the existing reassignment rules.
The Committee concluded that it would be in a better place to make decisions on this issue once the LCFF plans and template are finalized and decisions on adding new indicators in the API are made.
ACTION: Member Young moved to not make a recommendation at this time regarding the revisions required by AB 97 and to continue with existing reassignment rules under Option 2. However, the CDE staff should bring this item back to the Committee at a later time once LCFF plans and reporting, and new indicators for the API, are in place.
Member Madison seconded the motion.
Yes Votes: Members Sun, Young, Barber, Cima, Haertel, Hoefer, Keeley, Kusaba, Madison, You.
No Votes: None.
Absent: Members Aaberg, Callahan, Crowder, Patterson, Weis.
Part 2: Consider Other Revisions Related to the Reassignment of Accountability Data
The PSAA Advisory Committee reviewed two issues raised by LEAs regarding the reassignment of accountability data as required by 5 CCR, sections 1039.2 and 1039.3: (1) the definition of continuous enrollment for students who take the CAHSEE from July through December (i.e., grades eleven and twelve students) and (2) the use of exit codes in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) that are used to reassign accountability data back to the school that referred a student to an alternative school.
Definition of Continuous Enrollment for CAHSEE Results July through December
Current regulations state that students who take the CAHSEE from July through December must be continuously enrolled from the prior school year. This requires those students to be enrolled up to nine months longer than students who take the CAHSEE between February and June. The Committee considered three options for using CAHSEE results in the API:
- Exclude grade eleven and twelve CAHSEE results from the API (would not impact the 5 CCR but would require SBE approval).
- Change the definition of continuous enrollment for July through December CAHSEE administrations to require enrollment of 125 calendar days or more (would require revision of the 5 CCR and SBE approval).
- Maintain the current definition of continuous enrollment.
The Committee concluded that there were apparently no disadvantages to adopting Option 2 and that an even shorter number of enrollment days, such as 90 (rather than 125) calendar days of prior enrollment could be the requirement.
ACTION: Member Barber moved to recommend an amended version of Option 2, which would change the definition of continuous enrollment for July through December CAHSEE administrations to require enrollment of 90 calendar days or more, which would require revision of the 5 CCR and SBE approval.
Member Madison seconded the motion.
Yes Votes: Members Sun, Young, Barber, Cima, Haertel, Hoefer, Keeley, Kusaba, Madison, You.
No Votes: None.
Absent: Members Aaberg, Callahan, Crowder, Patterson, Weis.
Use of CALPADS Exit Codes for Reassignment of Accountability Data
Current regulations state that if students voluntarily transfer to an alternative school, the scores are not reassigned back to the school of residence. Assessment results are only reassigned when students are referred to an alternative school. The CALPADS exit codes used for this purpose are the T160 (voluntary) and T167 (referred) codes.
The CDE received input from several school districts indicating that not all districts use the exit codes properly. The CDE evaluated the coding for T160 and T167 to determine inconsistencies and found disparities in how districts use the T160 and T167 codes. The CDE developed two options for consideration by the PSAA Advisory Committee:
- Maintain the current calculation for reassignment of scores.
- Define voluntary transfer as any student transferring to an Alternative Education Program (AEP) school for non-disciplinary reasons and eliminate the T167 exit code. The number of eligible reassigned records would increase 30 percent.
The Committee concluded that this topic is an implementation issue rather than a policy issue. Regarding implementation, better education, training, clear definitions of "voluntary" and "referral," and consistency in providing examples should be provided to school districts to enable them to use the exit codes more accurately and consistently.
ACTION: Member Haertel moved that the PSAA Advisory Committee recommend Option 1 to maintain the status quo but with encouragement to monitor the situation and consider options for providing training and clarifying the use of the T160 and T167 CALPADS exit codes.
Member Barber seconded the motion.
Yes Votes: Members Sun, Young, Barber, Cima, Haertel, Hoefer, Keeley, Kusaba, Madison, You.
No Votes: None.
Absent: Members Aaberg, Callahan, Crowder, Patterson, Weis.
Lunch Break
Item 5
Subject: Review Options for Calculating a High School API in 2014 and 2015—Action
AB 484 repealed the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program, and mandates that the Smarter Balanced assessments for English-language arts and mathematics be field tested in the spring of 2014. As a result, there will be fewer assessment results available for inclusion in the API over the next two years. AB 484 also authorized the SSPI, with approval of the SBE, to determine if API scores would be a valid measure of school and school district performance for the 2013–14 and 2014–15.
The CDE conducted simulations to evaluate if current available data for the calculation of an abridged high school API would be a valid measure of school and school district performance for 2013–14 and 2014–15. Using 2011 and 2012 test data, the CDE analyzed correlations for two types of comparisons:
- Status Comparisons: 2012 Full Growth API versus the 2012 Abridged Growth API (using two weight and point structures)
- Change Comparisons: Change from 2011 Base API to 2012 Growth API using two different methodologies
- Full Base to Full Growth and Full Base to Abridged Growth
- Full Base to Full Growth and Abridged Base to Abridged Growth
The results of the status comparisons showed a high correlation of 0.97 for both weight and point structures. The results of the change comparisons showed significantly lower correlations (0.64 and 0.67) than the status correlations.
The Committee discussed the Technical Design Group (TDG) recommendation that the Growth and Base API for high schools not be produced for 2014 for the following reasons:
- Producing an API in this manner dramatically changes the API construct and purpose.
- Traditionally, over time, more data (i.e., rigorous tests) have been added to the API whereas reducing the number of assessments in the API drastically reduces the information being included.
- The CAHSEE was built for individual student-level accountability and should not be used as the main measure to compare school-level growth.
ACTION: Member Barber moved to adopt the recommendation of the TDG that the Growth and Base API for high schools not be produced for 2014.
Member Haertel seconded the motion.
Yes Votes: Members Sun, Young, Aaberg, Barber, Cima, Haertel, Hoefer, Kusaba, Madison, Patterson, You.
No Votes: None.
Absent: Members Callahan, Crowder, Weis.
Item 6
Subject: Review Options for an Alternative Graduation Data Indicator for Alternative Schools Accountability Model (ASAM) Schools, Including Schools that Serve a Large Percentage of Students Who Are Credit Deficient —Action
The PSAA Advisory Committee had requested at a prior meeting that the CDE and the TDG develop an alternative graduation data indicator for ASAM schools and charter schools with a large percentage of credit deficient students. A proposed alternative method was developed and analyzed. The proposed alternative would use grade twelve graduation data only and produce an API with full assessments and one year of graduation data based on grade twelve students. The one-year rate would capture all grade twelve students enrolled as of Fall Census Day in October.
The analysis showed that incorporating one-year instead of four-year graduation data for ASAM and charter high schools increases the API for most schools under all scenarios.
The PSAA Advisory Committee concluded that it should take no action at this time. It requested the CDE obtain further input from stakeholders and provide additional alternatives as an agenda item at a future Committee meeting.
ACTION: No action taken.
***ADJOURMENT OF MEETING***
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 1:46 p.m.
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 1:46 p.m.
Questions: Karen Heiner | KHeiner@cde.ca.gov | 916-319-0635
