i_coessacomm_2016a_2016-08-31t09:12:00z3 Hearing Summary

Date: 08/31/2016

01:54 PM -- Update from the Colorado Department of Education



Alyssa Pearson, representing the Colorado Department of Education (CDE), distributed the department's presentation (Attachment G) and spoke about the Colorado accountability system. She described Colorado's performance indicators and how they are weighted for elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and school districts. She responded to questions from the committee and described the department's accreditation and improvement plan types. She responded to questions about reports for subgroups that the department creates on behalf of districts. She spoke about accountability as both a flashlight and a hammer in Colorado. She responded to questions from the committee about the state's five-year accountability clock.



Attachment G.pdf



02:15 PM



Joyce Zurkowski, Director of Assessment, CDE, spoke about participation in statewide assessments and responded to questions from the committee.



02:16 PM



Ms. Pearson continued her presentation, discussing components of ESSA's accountability requirements and how they relate to Colorado law, as well as the timeline for implementation of ESSA. She spoke about items to consider when choosing a non-academic indicator. She gave examples from other states and spoke about the department's listening tour. Ms. Pearson and Ms. Zurkowski responded to questions from the committee. Ms. Pearson continued her presentation, discussing the department's next steps in creating the state plan required under ESSA.



02:33 PM



Ms. Zurkowski spoke about ESSA's impact on statewide assessments in Colorado. She described ESSA's requirements for assessments and how Colorado's requirements differ. She described participation trends in statewide assessments. She described an exception for advanced eighth grade math students and spoke about adaptive assessments. She described the use of nationally recognized high school assessments in place of statewide standardized assessments. She described the pilot program, or innovative assessment demonstration authority. Ms. Zurkowski responded to questions from the committee regarding assessments outside grade level.



03:16 PM



Representative Pettersen thanked the participants and asked for public comment.



03:17 PM -- Senator Evie Hudak, representing herself, spoke about parent engagement and early childhood provisions of ESSA. She distributed two handouts to the committee (Attachments H and I).



Attachment H.pdfAttachment I.pdf



03:21 PM



The committee adjourned.