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NATIONAL NETWORK OF CONSTITUENT ORGANIZATIONS E-NEWSLETTER July 31, 2006 We hope you will find the July 2006 edition of the NNCO newsletter to be informative and useful to your work. This newsletter contains the following sections: NNCO BUSINESS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS NNCO ORGANIZATIONAL UPDATES UPCOMING EVENTS RESOURCES AND INFORMATION NNCO BUSINESS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS June Meeting and Follow Up Our June NNCO meeting was a productive one, which generated many concrete ideas for collaboration and for advancing the rigor agenda. You have received a meeting summary, including next steps for NNCOs and the HS Alliance, and they are also posted on the web. We are revising the rigor paper and developing a framework and assessement tool for defining and identifying academic rigor that NNCO members can use in their work with states and districts. We will distribute the revised paper and framework in the next couple of weeks. NNCO Conference Calls Our July NNCO conference call featured a presentation from Linda Murray, former Superintendent of the San Jose Unified School District and current Superintendent in Residence at Education Trust – West.  Dr. Murray spoke about San Jose’s implementation of the A-G curriculum (California’s college preparatory curriculum) for all students district-wide, focusing on the strategies the district employed to support all students and gain support from stakeholders. Participating organizations asked questions, generating an interesting discussion about the elements needed for effective and lasting high school reform. We plan to begin a monthly NNCO conference call to facilitate regular communication between NNCO members and to continue our issue-focused discussions between quarterly meetings. Conference call agendas will be determined by NNCO activities and interests. Some months the calls might be very short and just focus on NNCO business and updates, while some months might feature a speaker or issue-focused discussion. We will not have conference calls during meeting months. Scheduling Calls and Meetings Regular Conference Call We are working to schedule a regular NNCO monthly conference call. Our next call will be in September. Possible times for regular calls are listed below. Please choose one of these times and email your choice to Robin at chaitr@iel.org: 3rd Monday, 1:30-2:30 or 3rd Tuesday, 2:00-3:00 or 3:00-4:00. October Meeting Our next meeting is planned for mid October. It will have more of a state specific focus as requested by NNCO members and may also include an issue-focused discussion on aligning the high school curriculum with requirements for higher education and work. Please email Robin at chaitr@iel.org to let her know which of these dates you are not available for the next NNCO quarterly meeting. October 18 October 24 New NGA Staff Member Please note that NGA recently hired Alex Harris to coordinate the Honor States high school network. Alex brings a wealth of education experience at the school, state and federal level to the organization. He can be reached at (202) 624-7850 or aharris@nga.org. NNCO ORGANIZATIONAL UPDATES Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) Contacts: Angela Hernandez-Marshall, Melissa McCabe CCSSO is developing new tools and materials to assist states in their secondary school redesign efforts. These materials and activities include: Summer edition of a quarterly newsletter on state secondary reform efforts, Supporting Secondary School Redesign Monthly conference calls with CCSSO State Network on Secondary Redesign. June featured the Kentucky Department of Education and Career Cruising’s new online Individual Learning Plan system for middle and high school students. A PowerPoint that describes the system, complete with screenshots, is located on the CCSSO website here. July featured the Kuder Career Planning System, which is being used in several states including Missouri, Nebraska, and South Carolina. CCSSO’s new online Secondary School Redesign Web Forum - a place for state education agency officials and other high school reform leaders to post their thoughts on defining and supporting academic rigor, facilitating smooth transitions into and out of high school, and measuring student achievement Proceedings document for the CCSSO Secondary School Redesign Conference, June 7-9, Atlanta, see conference resources here. National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Contacts: Dick Flanary, Honor Fede Among recent efforts to further advance the Honor States Agenda, NASSP has: Adopted a position statement that is against ability grouping and tracking - see the position statement on the web at www.principals.org/advocacy Signed on to the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) and agreed to serve on an advisory group for the DQC Using Data Quarterly Meeting Signed on as a cosigner of the principles on high school reform and 21st Century Skills Invited the following to submit a story for a policy focused newsletter: Amee Guidera (DQC), Matt Gandal (ADP), Ken Kay (21st Century Skills) Talked to the NASSP Board of Directors about policy initiatives related to theNNCO Following are highlights from work with the Honor States: Virgina: Completing the training of mentors for a mentoring, Breaking Ranks II Leaders program Louisiana: Coordinating with Donna Nola-Ganey, Louisiana Department of Education, to hold a NGA/Breaking Ranks II training that will include train-the-trainer and literacy components on October 23-25, 2006 in Baton Rouge, LA Minnesota: Met with Alice Seagren, Commissioner, Minnessota Department of Education to discuss strategies for incorporating NASSP's Breaking Ranks II resources into the reform priorities of Minnesota Michigan: Registered Diane McMillan, the new Associate Director for the state association and an active participant in MI’s reform efforts, for the August 2-5, 2006 Breaking Ranks II training in Washington DC Massachusetts: Prepared for the three-day program, Breaking Ranks Strategies for Leading High School Reform - Beginning the Conversation Leadership Development, to take place on November 13-15, 2006 in Franklin, Massachusetts National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Contact: Michael Wotorson NAACP is developing educational strategies and materials for its constituents, including the following: An "Equity Matters" Issue Brief which looks at resource distribution disparities in public education Plans for the 7th Biennial Daisy Bates Education Summit which will coincide with the 50th anniversary observance of the Little Rock Nine Modules on Drop-Out Prevention and College-Bound Curriculum National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) Contact: Carlas McCauley NASBE has developed several new resources to assist State Board members in understanding the NGA/Achieve Agenda and updating them on Honor States Progress. Products include the following: A Power Point presentation on high school redesign that will be added to the website An online survey for Board members in Phase I and Phase II Honor States to determine their level of involvement and understanding of the NGA Honor States Grant The 2nd Edition of the Newsletter highlighting state progress toward meeting the goals identified in the NGA Honor States Grant Presentation to new board members at the New State Board Members' Institute on July 23, 2006 National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Contacts: Sunny Deye, Julie Bell NCSL is focusing on incorporating the NGA/Achieve Action Agenda into its publications and conferences. Activities include: Planning the Annual Meeting session on improving dropout rates by increasing rigor and relevance featuring Mike Cohen and three state legislators on state initiatives  Also invited are Rep. Messer from Indiana, Sen. Kuipers from Michigan, and Del. Gutierrez from Maryland Finalizing a magazine article for State Legislatures magazine on increasing the rigor of the high school curriculum and improving dropout rates - featuring Indiana, Michigan, and Maryland to be published in the September issue Participating in a call with Matt Gandal from Achieve and Ilene Berman from NGA to ensure coordination of Honor States work State Higher Education Executive Officers Contacts: Paul Lingenfelter, Sharmila Basu Conger The Gates/NGA/Achieve High School Reform Initiative is prominently featured in SHEEO's national conferences this summer. Following are highlights of some of the relevant sessions: At the SHEEO Annual Meeting, held July 18-22 in Anchorage, Alaska, work with the initiative was highlighted in the following sessions:  “Improving America’s High Schools: What can, what must higher education do?”– luncheon session on Friday, July 21, featuring Michael Cohen (Achieve, Inc.), Stan Jones (IN Commission for Higher Ed), and Sheri Ranis (Gates Foundation); moderated by Jack Warner (RI Bd of Gov. for Higher Ed) “High school redesign and college readiness” – roundtable discussion on Thursday, July 20 featuring Linda Beene (AK Dept of Higher Ed), Michael Cohen (Achieve, Inc.) and David Spence (SREB) At the SHEEO Professional Development Conference, to be held August 15-17 in Chicago, Illinois, work with the initiative will be highlighted in the following sessions: “Challenging All Students to Prepare and Succeed: Focus on P-16 Systems” – concurrent session on Tuesday, August 15 featuring Linda Baer (MnSCU), Susan Bodary (Ohio Governor’s Office), Mary Ellen Fleeger (Univ System of NH), Steve Floyd ( AK Dept of Higher Ed ), and Jon Tafel (Ohio Bd of Regents); moderated by Tammy Korgie (NE Coord Comm for Postsecondary Ed “ Measuring What Matters: Connecting K-12 and Higher Education Data” – concurrent session on Wednesday, August 16 featuring Peter Ewell (NCHEMS), Aimee Guidera (DQC), and Brad Phillips (Cal-PASS); moderated by Hans L’Orange (SHEEO) UPCOMING EVENTS NNCO Timeline of Events Please review this timeline of upcoming NNCO member organizations' events. Events are color coded by organization and collaborations are indicated by two-color boxes. We hope the timeline will be a useful resource in planning upcoming events and activities and thinking about opportunities for coordination and collaboration with other NNCO members. RESOURCES AND INFORMATION Below are some links to information referenced at the June NNCO Meeting: Tools and Resources for Advocacy from Achieve Achieve’s new Web site features advocacy tools and data. To support state efforts to ensure that all students who graduate high school are college and work ready, Achieve has revamped its Web site, including a new section containing campaign materials with powerful data on the case for action and examples of places that are practicing these reforms and seeing results. This section also includes advocacy resources such as a database of communications tools and public awareness campaign materials, PowerPoint presentations, fact sheets that address concerns around the ADP agenda, summaries of compelling poll data, and updated education pipeline and economic data. Identifying Potential Dropouts. As states raise high school graduation requirements, they also must raise graduation rates. Achieve recently released a report that provides education officials a brief overview of research about the dropout problem and identifies the best strategies for building an early warning data system that can signal which students and schools are most in need of interventions. Information About Rigor-Related Projects from NGA NGA Phase Two Strand on AP Expansion Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Nevada, and Wisconsin, in partnership with the College Board and NGA Center, will work to improve disadvantaged students' access to, and success in, college-level Advanced Placement (AP) courses. The states will pursue two activities simultaneously: 1) Development of a statewide AP expansion strategy that includes the implementation of programs and policies that increase student preparation for and success in AP courses--and that prepares many more teachers to teach AP; and 2) The implementation of an intensive AP expansion effort in one urban and one rural public school district, whereby a number of innovative AP expansion strategies can be field-tested and evaluated.  NGA Phase Two Increasing Course Rigor Project A collaboration between the NGA and ACT, the goal of the project is to develop statewide strategies for increasing the rigor of core courses in high school that prepare all students for college and workforce training. The project intends to develop the following deliverables: A professional-development support system that is responsive to teacher needs Benchmark and end-of-course assessments to monitor student progress and course achievement A data-feedback model to guide intervention and assist in instructional decision making State policies to increase the rigor of core courses in high school Description of the College Ready Roundtable The College Ready Roundtable is a forum for discussion and collaboration involving leading education policy experts working jointly to dramatically transform high schools so that all students graduate ready for college, work and citizenship. The CRR identifies, develops, and provides resources to policymakers and key stakeholders at all levels. The Roundtable is preparing its first set of white papers, scheduled for release by the end of the year. Among them are two action briefs on building longitudinal data systems and formulating accurate graduation rates. The CCR is also at work on longer, analytical reports on the key issues of accountability and assessments in high schools. These papers and other resources for policymakers will be available on the website.  Please visit College Ready Roundtable for additional information on the College Ready Roundtable's mission, members, and activities. The Education Policy Team at Holland & Knight LLP provides coordination for the work and activities of the College Ready Roundtable. Support for the College Ready Roundtable is provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Summary of P-16 Collaboration in the States from the Education Commission of the States This ECS table provides summary information about state P-16 initiatives, including information about the goals of the initiative, its funding, how it was established, and its membership. If there are any resources you would like to share with the recipients of this newsletter, please send an e-mail to chaitr@iel.org. 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