4/13/10
EDA 550 Instructors’ Guidelines
The following information is provided to assist you in designing coursework that supplements and enhances the EDA 550 syllabus and which aligns consistently with the ELLC standards and the NYSTCE assessments that your students must successfully pass for the SBL and SDL certification.
The Challenge
Our challenge is to prepare our students for success as leaders of the future and insuring that their aspirations are achievable. We must teach our future leaders the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that will enable them to successfully lead in an increasingly complex educational environment where every child has the academic, social, and emotional capacity to master the life and work related challenges of the twenty-first century. However, before they get the opportunity to lead, we must insure that our future leaders successfully complete the required NYSTCE, the first and perhaps the most important step in achieving certification as a building or district leader.
Our goal is to insure that every student in our program is well prepared to meet success on the NYSTCE assessments. Another important factor in achieving this goal is the relationship between our students success in passing these exams and the continued NCATE accreditation of the St. Rose downstate leadership programs facilitated by CITE. A college must maintain an 80% passing rate to maintain good standing under the rigorous NCATE certification process. Failure to maintain this standard can result in loss of accreditation.
We strongly believe that strong instruction provided by highly qualified instructors, using a strong curriculum and materials that provide our students with the necessary theories, methods, and tools to lead successful schools is the best guarantee of our students’ success on the NYSCTE. By further aligning our work with the ELLC standards and the NYSCTE frameworks, success on the assessments will be a foregone conclusion and we will be providing the educational community with highly qualified, committed leaders that can truly impact student success.
What You Need to Know About the NYSTCE Frameworks:
Overall, the NYSTCE assessments measure student’s theoretical and practical knowledge and dispositions on the ELLC and ISLLC leadership standards. You can review the test prep materials at http://www.nystce.nesinc.com/NY_SLA_Preparation.asp. Generally, the themes pertinent to success on the assessments focus on data informed decision-making, visionary leadership, student-centered decision-making, collaboration among all stakeholders, and the tenets of authentic “learning communities” and organizational behavior and learning. Put another way, the assessments measure the students knowledge and abilities to be successful future leaders and to avoid top-down, hierarchal leadership.
Our challenge, and therefore the emphasis of our instruction, is to provide our students with the knowledge, skills and dispositions about how successful leadership should work; not the way it has worked in the past. In a fast-paced, high-stakes testing environment, creating an environment where all stakeholders participate in and support the shared vision, everyone shares in the responsibility of making every child successful. Therefore, the leaders of the 21st century need different skills and dispositions.
Many of our students have not experienced many truly collaborative and effective leadership environments. In our experience, if students answer test questions based upon their current reality, they may very well fail the test. The test focuses on what leaders should know and be able to do to move schools successfully into the 21st century.
Below are several applicable facts about the NYSTCE assessments that all instructors should know:
· The NYSTCE’s are based on the concepts, skills, and dispositions outlined in the ELLC standards on which all our coursework should be based. All readings and class work should align with the concepts, skills, and dispositions outlined in the ELLC standards, particularly as identified in the course specific guidelines below.
· The minimum passing score on each section of the test is 220. We believe that students with strong test taking capabilities have the capacity to successfully challenge the SBL assessment after the first four (4) classes (EDA 505, 590, 510, and 503). We recommend that less confident test takers wait to complete all 6 courses before taking the SBL assessment. Beginning with Cohort 28, coursework may be realigned and we feel that students with strong test taking capabilitie should be able to successfully challenge the exam after the first three (3) classes (EDA 505, 590, and 503). EDA 510 will be their fourth class.
· Broadly stated, the NYSTCE’s are based upon the tenets of leading authentic Learning Communities where collaboration, transparency, and high expectations for student achievement are the norm. This paradigm shift causes the assessment to emphasize leadership as it should be, and by implication, condemns top-down leadership that is predominant in our present national school culture.
· Students taking the assessments who demonstrate the top-down, authoritarian leadership and who respond according to their beliefs on the test will fail the assessment.
· The SBL and SDL frameworks are virtually identical but responses shift from the building perspective to the district perspective. For example, on the SDL exam there is more about school boards, fiscal accountability, broader view of stakeholders, etc.
· Student success on the assessments is predicated on application of conceptual content knowledge rather than factual recall.
· The NYSTCE assessments are divided into two sections and several sub sections. There are both multiple choice and extended response questions of varying values on the assessment. Even the multiple-choice questions may require reading lengthy passages and data charts.
· The assessments are now given at testing cites throughout the State and the exam is completely on a computer. Students who are not familiar with technology will find the time limits on each assessment challenging.
· Students can sit for both sections of the test on the same day or they may take one section in each of two test administrations dates. CITE data indicates that students who take both sections of the test on the same date do less well on the afternoon part of the test. We strongly recommend taking Part One on one day and Part Two on another day.
· If students pass one out of two sections of the assessment, they only need to re-take the section they failed.
· Student competence in written expression of content knowledge is particularly important to their success. Parts 1 and 2 of the assessments require 2 Short (150-300 word) and 2 long (300-600 word) extended responses. The long responses are weighted double the short and represent 1/3 of their total score on each part of the assessment. Please immediately refer any student demonstrating weakness in this skill specific to “on demand” or other course work to Ilene or Lydia to participate in our free writing tutorial.
Given this fact, instructors should attempt to model assignments where practicable in this format.
· At the beginning of each course, please review the SBL and SDL Preparation Guide frameworks, particularly those sections that specifically apply and which are emphasized in the class you are teaching. The frameworks, based upon the ELLC standards, apply to every course in our catalog. Please familiarize yourself with the frameworks and how your course content directly connects within the frameworks. Explicitly reference those concepts within your course instruction, in-class assignments and projects. http://www.nystce.nesinc.com/NY_SLA_Preparation.asp
· As prescribed by the NYSED, students are recommended to NYSED and considered SBL program completers when they have completed the program as prescribed by the College. However, the students do not receive SBL certification until they pass Parts 1 and 2 of the NYSTCE assessment.
o In contrast, as prescribed by NYSED, SDL students are not considered program completers until such time as they pass Parts 1 and 2 of the SDL assessment.
· There are test prep meetings that are provided by CITE free of charge that precede each administration of the assessment. Tutorial assistance is available to students who are unsuccessful in their first attempt to pass the assessment.
Please familiarize yourself and remind students of the assessment Study Guide materials available on line at www.citeeducation-strose.com
Course Specific Guidance for EDA 550 Instructors
· Overarching Guiding Ideas:
The following Guiding Ideas (GI’s) represent our beliefs about leadership within the framework of the legal, fiscal and historical contexts which guide educational governance and informed decision-making. Guiding ideas, along with the specific learning outcomes, are provided to instructors to assist them in developing class discussions and assignments that consistently reinforce these desired behaviors and skills in our students.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
As you are aware, many of our students work in NYC Schools, and therefore have little familiarity about school finance other than the “Galaxy” program. They are often under the false assumption that “Galaxy” is all one needs to know about school finance. Nothing is further than the truth, and as such, while Galaxy can be discussed as a “tool” for school finance, it is the thinking and skills necessary to make this and every other tool work that this course in school finance emphasizes.
Instructors should also be cognizant of the fact that the NYSCTE references nothing about NYC School or their practices in any shape or form. The NYSCTE assesses school finance from a statewide perspective only.
This class should use finance as the tool for implementing vision and change. The focus of the course should relate to the Guiding Ideas, Learner Outcomes, and NYSCTE frameworks listed below.
Finance GI’s
o We believe EDA 550 students should demonstrate their understanding of the authority, powers and duties granted to the NYS Board of Regents and State Ed Dept through the Education Law
o We believe EDA 550 students should demonstrate their understanding that schools operate within a complex and demanding fiscal environment.
o We believe that EDA 550 students should demonstrate their understanding about the role and fiduciary responsibilities of Boards of Education for the fiscal management of school systems.
o We believe EDA 550 students should demonstrate their understanding of the relationship between and among the federal, state and local school boards in setting fiscal policy, and the distribution of revenue and expenses.
o We believe EDA 550 students should demonstrate their understanding of basic budgeting concepts (expenses, revenue, fund balance, reserves, TANS, BANS, etc.) and their practical use in the school setting.
o We believe EDA 550 students should demonstrate their understanding of the relationship between and among the federal, state and local tax revenue sources and their impact on setting fiscal policy and budgets.
o We believe EDA 550 students should demonstrate basic understanding and affects of various revenue sources (federal, grants, RTTT, state) and their impact on local tax rates.
o We believe that EDA 550 students should demonstrate their understanding that schools advance the interests of students by sound, ethical, and student-centered fiscal policy.
o We believe EDA 550 students should demonstrate their understanding that school budgets are tools to implement and support a school or district vision.
o We believe EDA 550 students should demonstrate their understanding the tenets of equity, equality, and fairness in setting fiscal policy.
o We believe EDA 550 students should understand the principles and structures relating to fiscal accountability and fraud prevention.
o We believe EDA 550 students should understand the principles of school budgeting and it effects on the internal and external school community.
o We believe EDA 550 students should demonstrate their understanding and awareness of the legal implications resulting from the fiscal decisions they make.
o We believe EDA 550 students demonstrate their knowledge of federal, state and district statutes and their impact on fiscal policies, programs, and governance.
o We believe EDA 550 students should demonstrate their understanding of basic grant funding sources and their application an accountability standards in the school setting.
o We believe EDA 550 students should demonstrate their understanding the basic principles of collective bargaining (Taylor Law) and its affect on a district’s programmatic and fiscal health.
o We believe EDA 550 students should demonstrate their understanding of the numerous bond instruments and their uses.
· Learner Outcomes:
These standards shall form the framework for activities covered in the EDA 550, Education Finance course.
College of Saint Rose and CITE candidates shall:
a. Implement school building/district fiscal operations, which are in accordance with the legal statutes that govern it.
b. Keep pertinent school personnel informed of all changes in the schools’ fiscal operation and institute and monitor these changes.
c. Provide leadership in establishing equitable and fair funding for equal educational opportunities for all students.
d. Utilize the professional legal and fiscal resources (School Attorney, External Auditor, Internal Auditor, Internal Claims Auditor, State Education Department, and NYS Comptrollers Office) furnished by the school district to interpret and internalize legal implications of fiscal policy.
e. Implement the Taylor Law in a professional manner, which recognizes and controls for fiscal impacts while optimizing and aligning to the districts vision for educational success.
f. Understand the basic tenants of how school laws impact the financial operations of a school district.
g. Confer and communicate to all concerned about all matters, which have fiscal implications for the school unit and for the district.
h. Develop and demonstrate the skills needed to work with a board of education to facilitate the development of a vision of learning for a school district that promotes the success of all students. (ELCC 1.1)
i. Develop a building/district budget in alignment with the needs of the districts educational program as well as the needs of the local taxpayers.
j. Use data-based research strategies to create a vision that takes into account the diversity of learners in a district and provides fiscal resources that ensure equal access and opportunity for all children. .
k. Demonstrate knowledge of ways to use a district's vision to mobilize additional fiscal resources to support the vision.
l. Make and explain decisions based upon ethical, legal, and sound fiscal principles. (ELCC 5.3)
m. Demonstrate the ability to engage, students, parents, members of the school board, and other community members in advocating for adoption of fiscal policies and annual budgets and bond referenda (ELCC 6.2)