SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Nearly 80 state legislators from 16 states gathered here October 1-3 for the Southern Regional Education Board’s 58th annual Legislative Work Conference, bringing together lawmakers in a nonpartisan setting to discuss crucial preK-12 and higher education issues, hear from national experts and develop solutions.
The chair of the SREB Legislative Advisory Council, Tennessee House Speaker Pro Tempore Lois DeBerry, and Council vice chair Senator David Sokola of Delaware, presided at most of the conference sessions. Representative Douglas Yongue of North Carolina, a veteran member of the Council, also provided at some of the sessions.
Some highlights of this year’s conference included:
• A presentation by Texas Senator Florence Shapiro and Representative Rob Eissler on their state’s new school accountability law, that focuses more attention on preparing students for college and career training after high school and on improving high school graduation rates. Shapiro described how the law also will add more rigorous academics to many career/technical high school courses, and should help more students begin career certification programs while still in high school. "Texas probably suffers as much as any other state in dropouts, so we needed to do something about the dropout problem," added Representative Eissler. The law also aims to help more students who start college and career training actually finish degrees and certificates, rather than find themselves stuck in remedial courses that cost extra and provide no credit. Most students who have to take remedial courses in college do not graduate, Eissler noted. "Remediation was like the Roach Motel. They (students) go in, but they don’t come out."
• A discussion led by SREB Senior Vice President Gene Bottoms and Vice President of Education Policies Joan Lord on the future of school accountability in SREB states to focus on improving high school graduation rates and students’ college and career readiness, and how states can take the lead on educational improvement and accountability -- just as they did in the 1980s and 1990s. Current state accountability laws focus primarily on requiring students to meet only minimum achievement levels, and that needs to change, Bottoms said. "Too many of our (high school) graduates are ready for neither college nor work," he added. The speakers shared some of the state policy recommendations that are the focus of two major SREB reports tentatively set for public release on October 14.
• An important review of Louisiana’s ambitious new law that will improve college transfer for students across the state. Louisiana Senator Ben Nevers and senior Senate aide Jeannie Johnson described how the law will allow most college students in the state to transfer credits for freshman and sophomore courses seamlessly between technical, community and four-year colleges and universities. The effort is focused on vastly improving college access in Louisiana and improving the state’s presently low college degree and career certificate completion rates. "We should tell every student in every course that if you meet the standards … it should transfer to any community college or regional university in the state," Senator Nevers said, explaining why he successfully pushed for the new law. He added that colleges and other state leaders were supportive once they understood that serving students well was the legislation’s central purpose. "If we can give our students credit … then why shouldn’t we?" he said.
• Higher education experts spoke on a variety of topics. SREB Vice President Cheryl Blanco discussed her research on four-year public colleges that are "beating the odds" on graduation rates compared with peer institutions. SREB Director of Data Services Joe Marks showed details of the region’s changing demographics and on the need to help more students complete college degrees. SREB Director of Student Access Programs and Services Bruce Chaloux discussed the need to help more adults with partial college credit return to finish degrees, and models in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Kentucky that are working. And, Pat Callan of the National Center on Higher Education and Public Policy implored policy-makers to keep college more affordable and accessible.
• SREB’s Bottoms and Lord outlined for state leaders key strategies for improving middle grades learning in SREB states, including the need for state-developed ninth-grade readiness standards. The effort would help schools prepare students better for the rigors of high school, reduce ninth-grade failure rates and ultimately improve high school achievement and graduation rates. SREB released a major report on improving the middle grades in June, Keeping Middle Grades Students on the Path to Success in High School (available at www.sreb.org).
• Three state lawmakers – Alabama Senator Vivian Figures, Oklahoma Representative Jabar Shumate, Ketucky Senator Jack Westwood and Arkansas Representative David Rainey – described their plans for legislation or policies to improve reading instruction in the middle grades and high schools. The legislators served on a distinguished committee chaired by Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia that produced a nationally recognized report on adolescent literacy earlier this year, calling on states to make reading in those grades their top priority in public agency. "All the practitioners I’ve referred to this document think it’s the right thing to do," Rainey said of A Critical Mission: Improving Adolescent Reading in SREB States (online at www.sreb.org). "It just makes good sense."
• Legislators highlighted many issues they will face in their 2010 sessions. SREB Vice President for State Services Gale Gaines led a discussion on issues, including: including budgets for education, college tuition and fees, financial aid for college students, flexibility in funding for school districts, services for students with autism and related conditions, school finance formulas, accountability for charter schools, school choice, teacher benefits, the school calendar, and more. SREB will use this information to develop publications and sessions at future conferences on improving education.
For more details on any of the issues discussed, contact SREB Communications.
The Southern Regional Education Board, or SREB, based in Atlanta, was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislatures to help leaders in education and government work cooperatively to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region. SREB has 16 member states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. More information is available online at www.sreb.org.
