WEA Mediation to resume Oct. 4

WEA, Weber district and our mediator, Lynn Trenbeath, will resume mediation on Monday, Oct. 4. We will be discussing policy matters and also how we can utilize the Federal "jobs bill" money. Our legislators have informed us that they will probably meet in November for a special session to discuss the money. UEA is pushing for an October meeting. Please contact your legislators and encourage them to meet sooner than later and allow the money to flow to districts for local decision making.

Rick

Report: Teacher bonuses have no effect on scores

Read the AP story in today's Salt Lake Tribune at www.sltrib.com

Dorie Turner writes "Offering big bonuses to teachers failed to raise students' test scores in a three-year study released Tuesday that calls into question the Obama administration's push for merit pay to improve education. The report, conducted in the metropolitan Nashville school system by Vanderbilt University's National Center on Performance Incentives, was described by the researchers as the nations's first scientifically rigorous look at merit pay for teachers. It indicated that students whose teachers were offered up to $15,000 a year for improved test scores registered the same gains on standardized exams as those whose teachers were given no such incentives."

UEA has scheduled a meeting tomorrow with members of schools around the state who are involved either in the pilot merit pay program or SIG (School Improvemen Grant) schools who are offering bonuses based on assessments. Ogden's Madison, Dee and Odyssey are using the MAP assessment for a pre and post test to demonstrate growth that will allow their teachers to receive a $1000.00 bonus this year. We will discuss the programs at the state level.

Rick

The UEA: Working for you

Here is a brief overview of what the UEA has been doing to help members:

• Working with NEA, we helped secure $100 million in federal funds to help Utah public schools. The money can be used for compensation and benfefits.
• Utah Governor Herbert and Lt. Governor Bell met with the UEA Board to talk about public education.
• The UEA Education Excellence Coalition-comprised of parents, education, business and community leaders-began meeting during the summer of 2010. One of the goals is to create a sustainable, long-term plan for the state's K-12 public education system.
• UEA staff members are immersed in redesigning the UEA Website.
• UEA and NEA staff have been working with the local education associations and UniServs involved with School Improvement Grants (Ogden has three schools)
• UEA staff have put in thousands of hours preparing for this years 100th Anniversary UEA Convention, Oct. 14 and 15th.
• Leaders and staff from the UEA and urban and rural education associations met for a full day to discuss membeship and organizing around the Taxes, Economic Development and Public Education Funding message.
• The UEA has begun implementation of the transformation recommendations: (1)Advocating for members' needs through a strong public relations/image/member engagement campaign (2) enhancing the UEA's communication structure and (3) developing a system of collaboration between staff and governance.

rick

Extended Kindergarten Program in schools is in limbo

Read Elizabeth Stuart's entire article at www.deseretnews.com
"Citing a need for more comprehensive data about the success of extended-day kindergarten, legislators on the Education Subcommittee declined to make a decision last week about whether to recommend continued funding for a statewide program."

'We are closing the gap by the end of kindergarten,' said Reed Spencer, elementary language arts specialist for the State Office of Education. 'There is no question about that'.

"Legislators raised questions, however, about whether students maintained those gains as they moved though first, second and third grades."

Rick

Ogden/Weber PAC Recommends Legislative Candidates

The Ogden/Weber UniServ Political Action Committee finished their candidate interviews last night and has made the following recommendations:

House District #6 No Recommendation
House District #7 Recommends Ryan Wilcox
House District #8 Recommends Gage Froerer
House District #9 Recommends Neil Hansen
House District #10 Recommends Randy Rounds
House District #11 Recommends Brad Dee
House District #12 Recommends Richard Greenwood
Senate District #18 No Recommendation

Rick

Jordan Education Association settles for steps and lanes

Jordan Education Association has finally settled negotiations after going to mediation and fact-finding. Jordan teachers will receive their contractual steps and lanes this year. You can read the entire article at www.sltrib.com

Rick

Utah to get funds for school testing

A coalition of 31 states, including Utah, was awarded $160 million in federal funding to develop an adaptive testing sytem for use in public schools. Judy Park, associate superintendent for student services and federal programs for the Utah State Office of Education, cochairs the executive committee of the partnership of states known as the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium. Utah was one of two states that applied for and received federal Race to the Top money to develop an assessment system. The tests the consortium plans to develop will be administered on a computer and given multiple times a year to students in grades 3-6 and 11, and will provide real-time results and a chance to chart student progress thoughout the school year.

For more information, visit www.k12..wa.us/SMARTER/ and www.corestandards.org/

Rick