Wednesday Churn: SBE vote

What’s churning:

The State Board of Education today is expected to vote on regulations to implement the state’s educator effectiveness law.

But unlike most state regulations, which are issued in complete form and go into effect in relatively short periods of time, the board’s decision on the regulations for Senate Bill 10-191 is just one step in the long process.

Key sections of the regulations aren’t intended to be finalized until after new evaluation methods are piloted this year and next in selected school districts. And under a special provision in SB 10-191, the 2012 legislature gets review power over whatever the board adopts.

A key debate during drafting of the regulations has been the amount of flexibility school districts would have in customizing their own evaluation systems for principals and teachers. As drafted by Department of Education officials, the regulations basically would allow districts to use their own systems as long as they “meet or exceed” state standards.

See this page on the CDE website for links to the current draft of the regulations, a table that tracks changes from previous drafts, comments submitted to the department and CDE responses to comments.

You also can listen to the board meeting live today using this link. Discussion of the rules is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m.

What’s on tap:

The State Board of Education meeting at 9 a.m. with briefings on the state’s planned NCLB waiver application, recent NAEP rest results and other matters. The session is at the Department of Education, 201 E. Colfax Ave. Agenda

The CU Board of Regents opens a two-day meeting, starting at 1 p.m. The session is at the Boulder East Campus, 4001 Discovery Drive. Agenda