WITH SB380, SCHOOLS ARE IN THE BUSINESS OF REFORM

With the passage of the Outstanding Schools Act in Senate Bill 380 last year, school reform in Missouri has become a big business.

Reforms contained in the bill have dominated the time of the State Board of Education and staff at the state department of education over the last few months. Most local school districts have been busy trying to understand the forthcoming reforms and many have had to react to requirements in the law for a minimum local tax levy of $2.75.

One of the goals of the bill was to ease some of the discrepancies in per-pupil funding between school districts, and another goal is to develop a more standardized statewide curriculum.

A new school foundation formula was drafted, replacing one that had been used more than 20 years and was found by a state circuit court to be unconstitutional. To receive new state aid, local districts are required to have a $2.75 minimum levy in place during 1994 -- the first year of a four-year phase-in of the new formula.

A number of school districts also had to seek voter approval of a waiver of the Proposition C property tax rollback. Fifty school districts in Southeast Missouri acted on the rollback last October, which enabled them to retain local tax money. Other school districts have held elections at other times.

Jim Morris, from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, explained that board members and officials in the department are working hard to implement the reforms outlined in the legislation. Senate Bill 380 outlines some very specific procedures to implement some of the reforms that insure public input and feedback. Those procedures will take time to follow, but Morris said the department is optimistic the result will be an improved educational system in Missouri.

State Rep. Marilyn Williams, D-Dudley, vice chairman of the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee, said she believes local school districts are excited about the changes that are coming and the opportunity to provide input.

"I think there is a high energy level among our school districts; that their faith in education has been renewed by the public votes that have occurred passing higher levies and the rollback waivers," said Williams. "It has certainly added some excitement. I think we will see progress made in education, and having added funds to implement these programs is uplifting to the teachers."

In Southeast Missouri, Williams said an increased emphasis on vocational education in the bill should help address the dropout rate.

"If we can give at-risk students the alternative education route, we will be able to keep them in school and off welfare and out of the judicial system," said Williams. "Right now, if a high school student is not going to college, many don't see any reason to continue in school and get a diploma. This will help change that."

The Outstanding Schools Act offers dozens of changes that some school districts can take advantage of. Some, such as A-plus schools, the vocational education grant program, pilot schools, and reduced class size will be available for the 1994-95 school year. Other, more extensive changes will take another year or two to develop and implement.

One of the most difficult things for the State Board of Education to implement is the performance standards. Under Senate Bill 380, the board "shall adopt no more than 75 academic performance standards intended to clarify and define what we expect Missouri students to know and be able to do by the time they complete their education."

Morris explained that the standards are intended to be broad statements and to become the basis of framework for curriculum guidelines. The state is required to develop curriculum models that school districts have the option of using, or they must develop something that is comparable.

Each school district must approve the curriculum within one year after the state board finalizes its guidelines, but Morris noted, "We hope a lot of what we come up with is not radically different from what many are doing now."

Once the standards and curriculum are developed, the final step is an assessment system geared toward the performance standards. "The intent of what we are working toward is to eventually get away from the traditional multiple choice paper and pencil test," said Morris.

"The principle that we and other sites are working toward is performance assessment, or authentic assessment, and our goal is to come up with tests where students are required to do something, such as write essays."

Morris said the standards, curriculum and assessment that the law requires the department and state board to implement "is really the heart and soul of the instructional reform components of the law. We got started formally on this in November and the law stipulates very specific and formal process for us to go through to insure they are consensus goals for the state that reflect citizen and educator input, and grassroots input, so it is not something handed down from on high in Jefferson City."

Several advisory panels have been named to assist in this process. There are six subject area advisory committees of 25 members each, which have been charged with the responsibility of drafting the performance standards. Committee members were chosen from a total of 600 nominees from around the state. The law requires that a majority of these panels be practicing classroom teachers.

The six subject areas are: communication skills, English, reading, language arts; math; science; social studies; health; and fine arts.

The law also provides for two ad hoc committees that will serve as reaction panels. Each has 90 members: one made up primarily of educators not involved in the process of drafting standards, and the other panel made up of primarily non-educators. The ad hoc groups met for the first time in January.

Another review step is the Commission on Performance, a 28-member body headed by Gov. Mel Carnahan. Members include legislators, parents, business people and teachers; among the members is Rebecca Cook of Cape Girardeau, who is a member of the State Board of Education.

"This is sort of a blue ribbon commission with a responsibility to monitor overall implementation of the law, and the impact of the formula change," explained Morris.

This year, Morris said the state board hopes to approve the performance standards to keep the process moving. "The intent here is to set clear, rigorous standards that would apply to all students in Missouri," he said. "The balancing act on this is we don't want a stringent mandatory curriculum. We want to set goals, basic assessment procedures and flexibility by school districts to set their curriculum in the way they see fit to achieve those goals."

If all goes well the new curriculum should be ready for the 1995-96 school year.