Eight County Hearings Scheduled

In August this letter along with enough signatures from eight counties was sent to the Idaho State Department of Education.

 

Dear State Board of Education and State Department of Education,

The citizens listed in the following signature pages are asking for a public hearing in regards to the proposed rules regarding education in :

(DOCKET NO. 08-0203-1506/004. INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE/05.)

We have questions and concerns over the ISAT/SBAC, the absence of a validity and reliability report and the incongruence with current IDAPA that says a test given for federal accountability must be valid and reliable. We would like  Idaho children tested by an accurate test, that is measuring what it says it is. How can cut scores be a good way to judge Idaho children, if the test itself is not valid and reliable? Where is the cost analysis? 

The review of current ELA, math standards is concerning, as the last adoption process of standards was not very thorough, transparent or inclusive of the taxpayer….which has left us with barely better than we had before.

There are also concerns with adoption of health, science, humanities, and social science standards, in that we feel that we deserve background on who developed them, an accurate list of the working groups in idaho that may have been involved, the research behind them and where they were tested or piloted to ensure they are worth the price that will be associated with implementation. What evidence are you citing that Idaho will be better off by implementing these Next Generation Science Standards?

It’s time for transparency.

In response SDOE has scheduled meetings in these counties:

Oct. 13     Kootenai County     Lakeland High School (H.S.)

Oct. 14     Bonner County        Sandpoint H.S. Auditorium

Oct. 14     Canyon County       CSI Micron Center

Oct. 14     Bingham County      Blackfoot H.S.

Oct. 19     Bonneville County   Eastern Idaho Tech. College Room 545

Oct. 20     Ada County             Timberline H.S.

Oct. 20     Madison County      Madison H.S. Library

Oct. 21     Adams County       Council H.S. Gymnasium

If you happen to live in one of these counties, or close enough to a location where a hearing will be held, we highly recommend you attend and ask your questions.  As we understand it, the questions will not be answered that night but will be collected to be answered at a later time.

So why attend if no questions are going to be answered?  Because we need parents and citizens to express their concerns.  We can’t let them go back to the legislature next year saying they heard nothing from us.

(If you have a question but won’t be able to attend. Try contacting the SDOE directly.)