THE CAREER LADDER AND TEACHER RETENTION

Last week we published "The Career Ladder Explained" a paper designed to describe the basic principles of the new law. In this post, we'll examine the possible effect of implementation of the Ladder in local districts.

Every Idaho district has a salary schedule which is designed to:

• allow teachers to understand what they will be paid, based on their levels of experience and education.
• provide teachers the opportunity to establish a professional development plan based on educational advancement compensation in the district.
• establish a predictable career salary path for teachers.

Districts receive salary funds annually in Salary-Based Apportionment distributions made by the state. Historically, districts have reported information about the experience and education of their staffs, and received funding based on that information, For 2014-15, the minimum apportionment amount was $31,750. Districts were required to pay no less than that amount to first-year teachers. Other allocations were based on teacher placement on the state's salary apportionment grid, but no requirement existed to pay teachers the amount allocated.

For instance, the top allocation, for teachers with 15 or more years experience, and an MA degree plus 30 credits, was $47,002.

Most districts in Idaho paid those experienced teachers more than $47,002 in 2014-15. For example, Moscow's highest salary base salary was $60,773, American Falls $58.776, Meridian $57,677, Lakeland $57,490, Blaine County $75,623, and Boise $64,242.

So, why do districts pay more than the top state salary allocation to their most experienced teachers, and how do they acquire the funding to do so?

The answer to the first question is that the amount of the allocation is considered by most districts to be insufficient for a career teacher, and that they want to be competitive with other districts. The second question is more complicated, but to put it succinctly, districts use local resources to supplement the allocation and pay teachers a higher salary.

The new Career Ladder legislation has the same requirements. The base salary for a first-year teacher in 2015-16 will be $32,700. Other allocation amounts will be based on the same process as in prior years. The Career Ladder is not a salary schedule, even though some districts in the state may treat it as such.

However, there are key differences in the structure of the Career Ladder:

• Many of the "cells" in the old distribution grid had been frozen - the 2014-15 allocation for a new teacher in the old grid was the same ($31.750) as for a teacher with 8 years of experience and an MA degree. The Career Ladder changes that - allocations for newer teachers rapidly increase as the teachers move forward on the new grid. The allocation for a 2015-16 new teacher will increase from $32,700 to $44,375 in just five years, a 35.7% increase.
• Allocations for teachers with more than 13 years experience do not accelerate in the same fashion. The career teacher allocation increases from $47,600 to $50,000, an increase of just 5% in 5 years.
• Though there are payments made to districts for education in the Career Ladder, there are only 2 levels - BA+24 and MA, and they are separate from the reimbursement grid. On the old grid, there were 7 levels of educational allocation: BA, BA+12, BA+24, BA+36/MA, BA+48.MA+12, BA+60/MA+24, and MA+36/EdSp/PhD, . The only lane that required teachers to earn an MA degree was the last one. This represents a philosophical shift from acquisition of credits beyond the BA to earning a Master's degree in a specific area of focus.

District and local teachers' association negotiations teams will have to check their assumptions about salaries in order to make good decisions. Here are some of the questions they may want to ask themselves:

• When we look at the long term effect of how we will pay newer teachers, does it make sense to switch totally to the Career Ladder, knowing that the top salary for a teacher with an MA degree will be $53,500 (with flow through of the Master's degree premium)? 
• Does the district currently use local and/or operational/discretionary moneys to fund salaries? Will we continue to do so?
• Do we want to flow-through the education stipend moneys to teachers, remembering that we have compensated teachers for education on our current salary schedule? Or will the district create a plan to distribute those funds through the bargaining process?
• Do we want to create two salary schedules, one for veteran teachers and one for newer teachers, understanding the problems that will create  (e.g, a higher top-end salary for veteran than for new teachers)?
• In whatever agreement we make, do we want to encourage teachers to acquire a Master's degree by placing a Master's requirement on our schedule or on the Career Ladder?

These are all important questions. Teams may want to plot the reimbursement increases on their current salary schedule against those on the Career Ladder, and then extend the amounts they would pay teachers on each to 20 or 30 years. This will give an estimate of career earnings for new teachers. Teams should also consider the impact on retirement earnings of paying a lower top salary over a long career. 

In any event, it makes sense to take the process slowly and consider options before making a salary agreement. It's complicated, and, even though districts and teachers' associations can only agree for one year at a time, the implications of the first agreement under the new law are critical for the future of teacher salaries.

As we noted in the Career Ladder explanation, the new law provides for reimbursement increases for newer teachers, and does much less for career teachers. Teacher recruitment is critically important to Idaho districts; so too is retention of veteran teachers, and consideration of those who wish to make make teaching in Idaho a career.

THIS AND THAT FOR APRIL

Here are a few interesting tidbits for April, 2015.

TIMBERLINE, CAPITAL, BORAH, BOISE MAKE IT SIX IN A ROW

The Boise District's four comprehensive high schools made the Washington Post's list of the Most Challenging High Schools in America. It's the sixth year in a row that all four schools have made the list. For Boise High, it's 17 straight appearances on the list, and for Timberline, it's 13. Borah has made the Post list seven years in a row, and Capital six. 

About 10% of America's high schools make the Washington Post list. The criteria are simple - schools must give more Advanced Placement or International baccalaureate exams than they have graduating seniors in a given year. The Post list was the brainchild of Jay Mathews, the Washington Post education columnist.

Only nine Idaho high schools made the Washington Post list in 2015. The four Boise high schools were joined by Century High School (Pocatello), Wood River (Blaine County), and fast-rising Vallivue High School (Caldwell). Two charters made the list as well - North Star Charter (Eagle) and Coeur d'Alene Charter.

TESTING STORIES, FROM BOISE AND ACROSS THE NATION

In case you have not noticed, SBAC testing is underway across the state of Idaho and the nation. It's been interesting to watch the progress (or lack thereof in some cases) across the country. From statewide computer crashes in seven states to massive opt outs in New York and students not showing up for the tests in Seattle, it's been an interesting few weeks. We have had 35 opt-outs from SBAC testing in Boise.

Here are Boise teacher and student reports about the SBAC testing from Week 2, Week 3, and Week 4 of the testing. In general, teachers and students are voicing the concerns we thought might emerge: the tests are too long, directions and questions are confusing, Special Ed and LEP students are struggling mightily, and computer glitches are popping up now and then, especially with audio on the test. However, students are trying their best, according to teachers, and feel like many of the questions, especially in math, are realistic and match what they have been taught.

IDAHO ED NEWS FEATURES DEBATE OVER CHARTERS

Recently, Idaho Ed News featured an interesting op-ed by Vallivue teacher Levi Cavener, who writes a blog called Idaho's Promise. In his op-ed, Cavener described conclusions he has made in reviewing demographic data from charters across the state provided by the Idaho department of Education. Cavener indicated that the demographics of charters differ significantly from those of non-charters in the same area.

A representative of the Idaho Charter Network responded to Cavener, claiming that he had "cherry-picked" the data he used in his op-ed. The representative then used an example of what she noted as similar populations at two charters in Nampa (Victory and Liberty) and Reagan Elementary in the Nampa District, and claimed that achievement at the charters was higher.

Well, here's the data for the schools cited by the Charter Network representative, straight from the State Department of Education data file. Judge for yourself - are the schools demographically comparable?

2014 STATEWIDE KINDERGARTEN ENROLLMENT DROPS

Idaho's 2014 public school kindergarten class is almost 1000 smaller than its predecessor. Could it be the beginning of a trend?

In our last post, we pointed out that Boise's 2014 kindergarten class was 150 smaller than the 2013 class, owing to lower birth rates during the recession. Now it turns out that the statewide count is down, which could have ramifications for Idaho's enrollment for the next few years.

Kindergarten enrollment in most of Idaho's large districts dropped in 2014-15. Here are Idaho's kindergarten enrollment numbers for the past several years:

Note that the drop from 2013-14 to 2014-15 in kindergarten enrollment coincides with the decline in Live Birth Rates between 2008 and 2009:

Overall, Idaho's public school enrollment continued its pattern of growth in 2014-15:

However, since each of the Live Birth Rate figures from 2009-2012 is lower than that of 2008, we may see smaller kindergarten classes in the state for several years, which could slow the rate of PreK-12 enrollment growth in the state.

Since 2009-10, Idaho's overall public school enrollment has grown by about 4%, or about 13,000 students. If the next several kindergarten classes are similar in size to that of 2014-15, Idaho's overall enrollment growth could slow to only 1-2% during the next 5 years.

Of course, other factors, such as ingress and egress of families, impact enrollment in the state. It will be interesting to see what happens with the student population, given the impact of the Great Recession on Live Birth Rates in Idaho.

2014 CENTURY SCHOLARS - A STELLAR GROUP

As we approach the award ceremony for the 2015 Century Scholars on April 14, it's time to take a look back at the 2014 Scholars - a group of Boise School District students who are now enrolled far and wide across the United States (and even abroad) in college. 

The Century Scholars Awards are sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of Boise, organizations committed to service and supportive of education. The Scholars awards were originated in Boise by then Superintendent Stan Olson as a means for recognizing the best and brightest in Boise's schools. The awards recognize students with the highest GPA in Boise's five high schools, along with the two private high schools in the city.

Eighty-eight of the 100 (5% of the senior class) 2014 Scholars were from the Boise District. Here are some statistics about those students:

Average Scholar Weighted GPA:  4.22

Average SAT score: 1981 (of 2400)

Number of Scholars who scored 2000 or above on the SAT: 47

Number of perfect (800) Scores in SAT Reading: 4

Number of perfect scores in SAT Math: 10

The 2014 Scholars are currently attending colleges and universities in 26 states. Fifteen (18%) are going to school in Idaho - 7 to Boise State, 4  to the University of Idaho, 3 to the College of Idaho, and 1 to Idaho State University.

Twelve (15%) are at college in these locations in California:  Stanford, Claremont-McKenna, Occidental, Pepperdine, Cal-Berkeley, Cal-Davis, Cal-Santa Barbara, UCLA, and USC (2), California Polytechnic.

Ten (12%) are in Utah: 5 at BYU, 2 at the University of Utah, 2 at Utah State University, and 1 at Westminster College in Salt Lake City.

Some are attending elite private universities around the country: Colby College (ME), Colorado College, Emory University (GA) (2), Grinnell College (IA), Wake Forest University (NC), and Santa Clara University (CA).

Others are at Ivy League and other prestigious universities and colleges: Harvard, Cornell, Penn, Princeton, Georgetown, and the University of Chicago,

State colleges, especially those with strong engineering programs, are also favorites of the 2014 Century Scholars: Arizona State, Montana State (3), Portland State, Texas A & M (2), Tulane, Colorado (2), Iowa, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pittsburgh, and Western Washington.

And finally, two of the 2014 Scholars are enrolled at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, one is on a mission for his church, and one is enrolled at a university in South Korea.

Quite an auspicious group of Boise Schools grads. It's true - our students can (and do) go everywhere!

THE CURIOUS CASE OF KINDERGARTEN ENROLLMENT AND THE RECESSION

The Pew Research Center has published several articles about what happens to birth rates in times of economic downturn. As you might expect, they decline, as families decide to put off child bearing until economic times improve:

From the article by Gretchen Livingston and D'Vera Corn: "The U.S. birth rate, which had been relatively stable or rising, began falling after 2007, when the Great Recession began and the decline persisted even after the official end of the recession in 2009."

Though the authors further indicate that birth rates appear to be stabilizing, we looked at Ada County birth rates (we've always used them in our calculations of kindergarten size) during the recession to see the potential effect on District kindergarten enrollment. Here are the birth rates for the past nine years:

The Boise District typically receives about a third of the Ada County Live Births five years later. So, for example, in 2012,  the kindergarten class was 1829, 32% of the live births in 2007. In 2013, there were 1918 kindergartners, 34% of the live births in 2008.

So, knowing that we would likely receive around a third of the live births again in 2014, we were able to anticipate a smaller kindergarten class. That class came in at 1763, 34% of the live births in 2009.

Here are the Boise District kindergarten class numbers since 1998, with projections based on live birth rates for the next few years included:

We'll see if the projections play out as well as they have in the past few years. If they do, we can expect flat enrollment numbers rather than the substantial growth which had occurred in district enrollment from 2008 to 2013. District enrollment grew by almost 1100 students during those years, but declined slightly in 2014.

DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES 
IN THE BOISE SCHOOL DISTRICT

As the city of Boise has grown, substantial changes in the demography of the Boise District have transpired. In this post, we explore a few of the changes that have occurred.

Free-Reduced Lunch Status

Though we have data that go further back, we'll look at the shifts that have taken place since 1990. Typically, we use free/reduced lunch (frl) status in the elementary schools to help us understand changes in the student population. Here is the overall District elementary free/reduced lunch trend since 1990, displayed in a line graph. 

So the free/reduced percentage has grown from just over 1/4 of students to almost half in 24 years. It's important to remember that the statewide 2013 1-6 free/reduced percentage was 54%. However, in the early 90's, Boise was far below the state average in frl percentage.

Here's a look at frl percentages over time, by elementary school in the District. First, 1990:

In 1990, there were 30 elementary schools in the Boise District, with 13,400 students. The explosion of enrollment in southeast Boise had just begun, and significant growth in northwest Boise was a few years away.Note that only two Boise elementary schools were over 50% frl, and the District average was just over 27%. Garfield School had 23% frl, and Jackson 22%. The largest district enrollment ever would occur in 1998, at just over 27,000.

Ten years later, the picture looked a little different. 

By 2000, enrollment had already dropped from the 1998 record high to 26,500, as residents sought cheaper housing in Meridian and other spots across the valley. Over a third of District students qualified for free/reduced lunch in 2000, and 12 schools had over 50% frl. Garfield and Jackson were over 50%. All of the southeast Boise schools were now on line, as was Shadow Hills, opened in northwest Boise in 1997 to relieve overcrowding at Cynthia Mann and Pierce Park.

Fast forward to 2014:

Free/reduced lunch rates stabilized from 2003-2008, then began moving up slightly at the end of the first decade of the 21st century. In 2014, District enrollment is just under 26,000, having recovered from the the low point of 24,700 in 2008 (though another phenomenon is now affecting enrollment). Sixteen schools are now above the 50% line, the District is at 47%, and Garfield stands at almost 80% free/reduced. Jackson School became the Boise Language Academy in 2008 when Grace Jordan came on line, and was torn down in 2013, after BLA students were moved to Hillside and Borah. 

Ethnicity

The ethnic breakdown of District student has also changed over the years. The percentage of Caucasian students has declined from almost 95% in 1990 to just under 80% in 2013:

Meanwhile, the fastest growing ethnicity in terms of percentage is Hispanic/Latino:

though Asian and Black ethnicity percentages  have grown as well, primarily because of the growth in the Limited English refugee population in the Boise District.

Boise's student population has become much more diverse than it was 25 years ago. Students have many opportunities to learn about other cultures and traditions. Much of the added diversity has come because of Boise's status as a relocation center for refugees from around the world.

Limited English Population

The growth in the Limited English population is illustrated in the above chart. In the late 80's. one-fifth of a percent of the District student population was LEP; as of 2014, 6.5% of the student population qualifies in this category. We examined how these data compare to statewide data in an earlier post.

Limited English numbers declined from 2010-2014 because the flow of refugees slowed during this period of time and the SDE changed the qualifying criteria for the program. We have noticed an uptick in refugee enrollment during the current school year.

In 2011, we did a study of the progress of our Limited English students. We were interested in seeing, among other things, how our population of exited LEP students (LEPx) were doing compared to the general student population. The following charts show our findings in Reading and Math. 

Our findings? As students were learning the English language, fewer were proficient on the ISAT than were proficient in the general population. When they had met the criteria to exit the program (LEPx)and understood the language, the percentage that were proficient was comparable to that of the general population.

It's exciting to see our Limited English students become a part of the vibrant school culture in the Boise District, and gratifying to see the progress they make in academic programs.These kids will be an integral part of the future success of the Boise community.

STUDENT ACCOUNTABILITY ON THE SBAC:

THE HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION REQUIREMENT

In the previous two Data Points posts, we've written that:

• the SBAC will be given this spring to students grades 3-8 and 10, and schools are required to do the testing under the NCLB waiver. Science exams will be given in grades 5, 7, and 10.
• Much lower percentage of students (30-40%) will meet the cut scores for proficiency on the SBAC/Science exams than did on the old ISAT (75-90%).

And now, the State Board of Education is proposing rules to the Legislature that will use those proficiency scores to determine eligibility for high school graduation.  The road ahead is littered with potential serious problems for students.

Here is the language in the proposed State Board of Education rule, introduced in the Senate Education Committee last week:

"IDAPA Rule 08.0203.1401.06 Proficiency. Each student must achieve a proficient or advanced score on the grade ten (10) Idaho Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) in math, reading and language usage in order to graduate...A student who does not attain at least a proficient score prior to graduation may appeal to the school district or LEA, and will be given an opportunity to demonstrate proficiency of the content standards through some other locally established plan...

g. Students who graduate in 2019 are required to pass the ISAT  (SBAC) in grade eleven (11) in mathematics and English language usage at a proficiency level set by the State Board of Education...

i. Students who graduate in 2019 will be required to pass an end of course assessment in biology or chemistry at a proficiency level set by the State Board of Education."

Students must pass all 3 assessments in order to graduate from high school, or demonstrate proficiency using some "alternate route" designed by districts. Using the proficiency percentages generated from the SBAC pilot in English Language Arts and Math, and adding in the unknown of the yet-to-be-administered Science EOC, it's not hard to imagine 60-70% of students statewide involved in retakes in junior year and pursuit of the "alternate path" to high school graduation.

In fact, to check our assumptions, we looked at members of the Boise District high school graduating class of 2009, and identified those class members who have graduated from college with a certificate, an Associate degree, or a Bachelor's degree. Then we used the SAT and ACT scores of those students as a proxy for the SBAC, and identified the students who did/did not meet the "college ready" standards of those exams.

We found that 40% of these college graduates did not meet at least one of the readiness standards of the College Entrance Exam they took in high school. Among those who obtained an Associate degree or a Certificate, the percentage not meeting the standard was 63%; among 4-year degree holders it was 39%. 25% of STEM majors did not meet the criteria, and over half of Business majors' scores fell  below the cutoff. In other words, if these students were held accountable to the proposed graduation standards, many of them would have been required to take remediation in high school and been told they were not "college and career ready".

And what of the students who are earning Professional-Technical licenses in areas such as Auto Body, Welding, or Heavy Duty Diesel, courses that will assure them of being career ready and employable right out of high school? They will also need to prove they are "college ready" by passing the SBAC.

The Individual Mandate for high school graduation will go into effect for the class of 2019, students currently in the 8th grade, if the proposed rule noted above is affirmed on February 18 at the State Board meeting in Boise, and is ultimately approved by either of the legislative Education Committees.