Assistant Superintendent Jeff Pegues spoke about the new KESA (Kansas Education Systems Accreditation) model, called KESA 2.0 during the regular meeting of the USD 503 Board of Education Monday.
Last year was the first year the Kansas State Department of Education implemented KESA 2.0, based on a system level approach.
“If you remember, a few years ago I had a big packet for you guys, it was like 30 pages long, that you read through, that we submitted to the state. We touched progress on a variety of topics that KSDE was tracking us on. We had an outside visitation team which was usually three educators from the surrounding area that would meet with our team if they had questions and then they would write a report that they submitted to the state,” Pegues said. “It was a pretty tedious process before.”
KESA 2.0 is a different process, being more “focused on three core areas: compliance, school improvement, and outcomes, while also incorporating more collaboration and a more streamlined, action-based process to avoid the confusion of multiple systems.”
Districts are scored on each component of the model’s Five R’s framework: Relationships, Relevance, Responsive Culture, Rigor and Results.
Holding up a chart, Pegues explained how districts pick one fundamental area to focus on and the measures of progress. Last year the district chose standards alignment, as it is on the district’s strategic plan. Pegues said standards alignment was something that needed to be done, as the district was behind in doing that.
In looking at other areas, Pegues said the district felt very good about those areas, as it is very active in doing a lot of these things, like quality instruction and structured literacy, as the district had already completed the LETRS training for all of its teachers.
“So this was the most logical choice for us. Professional collaboration and professional development were our structures, so that is the process we went through last year,” Pegues said.
Nov. 3, the USD 503 District Leadership Team met at Greenbush for School Improvement Day, which every school attends. Districts attend with districts of similar size and location. Parsons attended with Iola and Chanute. The leadership team consists of the four instructional coaches, Tyler Thompson, Barney Pontious, Olivia Nolting, Superintendent Lori Perkins and Pegues. The team presented information to KSDE and to the other districts present.
“I think our team did a great job. They presented and talked about what last year looked like, how standards alignment is going, what were barriers to our success, and what were unintended successes that we found,” Pegues said. “We talked through that process, just like the other districts did. In comparison, Iola focused on improving their PLC (Professional Learning Communities) process. Chanute just did structured literacy because their teachers were not trained in LETRS. I felt like, in comparison, our plan was really, really, good.
“Then we met with the KSDE folks, Jay Scott, who is the head of accreditation design at KSDE. He had questions for our team and we talked through that,” Pegues said.
Following that meeting, the district has 60 days to write its second year accreditation action plan and submit it to KSDE. USD 503 will stick with standards alignment, but this year with a focus on English Language Arts (ELA). Last year the focus was math, especially at the elementary level, continuing professional collaboration and professional learning.
“We feel the standards alignment has been very impactful. Our teachers are in this. They have their hands in it. They are going through the curriculum. I think one of the unintended successes is the collaboration and team work, as they are working together. That has created equity for our students in a lot of ways,” Pegues said. “We feel this new process has been really, really good. It’s not as tedious, but we feel we are doing work to improve the schools.”
KSDE will review the 503 action plan, and send it back for revision, of which there is always one or two, Pegues said. The district will then send the final plan back in. It used to be that the ARC (Accreditation Review Council) would review everybody’s accreditation plan. Now they only do if there is a problem.
Perkins expressed her appreciation for the new accreditation model.
“It’s nice because it is stuff we are actually already doing anyway as a part of professional development,” Perkins said. “We got new curriculum, and when you’ve got a new curriculum you have to go through it and see how it is tied to the standards, etcetera.”
Perkins praised the narrower focus, more streamlined process and more limited reporting requirements of KESA 2.0, moving away from the on site visits and the volumes of paperwork that was an unnecessary administrative burden on schools and districts.
IN OTHER BUSINESS, the board:
Heard board member Kala Weidert will be attending the KASB convention in Wichita this weekend as the board’s voting delegate and a presenter.
Heard students do not have school Nov. 26, 27 and 28 for Thanksgiving Break, and the D.O. will be closed Nov. 27 and 28. A lot of people take Nov. 26 off, so there will be limited staff.
Heard parent teacher conferences went well. Perkins informed the board that there were 91% or more in attendance at each of the elementary schools for the conferences; However, teachers make contact with all parents, even if by phone, to bring that to 100%. Middle school was 76% attendance, same as last year. At PHS, 47% attended the student-led conferences.
Accepted $2,682.09 in donations to the schools.
Approved the final KASB recommended updated job descriptions for the district, which included the positions of superintendent, assistant superintendent and communications officer. Hiring of individuals is still based on the discretion of the districts regarding those job preferences. While certain qualifications may be preferred, a district may hire someone outside the scope of those preferred minimums.
Accepted the resignations of Marcus Burgess, part-time custodian at Lincoln, Jackie Robison, PHS secretary, and Sylvia Durant, sub bus monitor.
Hired Joe Campmier Sr, as part-time custodian at Lincoln, Davonte’ Yates, PHS assistant basketball coach, Barbara McCoy as high school drama assistant, and Jessica Vanderpool as PHS secretary.