Comment on Proposed Regulations Re: College and Career Readiness Assessments
The State Board of Education & Early Development is seeking comment on proposed regulations to allow persons with certificates of achievement to take a college and career readiness assessment and receive a high school diploma. The department also proposes to clarify the circumstances in which students may waive college and career readiness assessments.
The legislature has repealed the requirement that high school students take a college and career readiness assessment, but the new law does not go into effect until the 2016-2017 school year. There will be two graduating classes (Class of 2015 and Class of 2016) that could contain students who were denied a diploma only because they did not take a college and career readiness assessment. The proposed regulations give those students a path to a diploma.
To see a summary and the complete proposed regulations, and to learn how to submit written and oral comments, go to https://education..alaska.gov/regs/comment.cfm. Written comments must be received no later than 4:30 p.m. on August 7.
Also, you may submit written questions relevant to the proposed action to Eric Fry at eric.fry@alaska.gov or Department of Education & Early Development, Attn: Eric Fry, 801 West Tenth Street, Suite 200, PO Box 110500, Juneau, Alaska 99811-0500. The questions must be received by 4:30 p.m. July 28, which is 10 days before the end of the public comment period. The department will aggregate its response to substantially similar questions and make the questions and responses available on https://education..alaska.gov/regs/comment.cfm.
Opportunity for Oral Comment on Proposed Accountability Regulations
The State Board of Education & Early Development will provide an additional opportunity for oral comment on proposed regulations related to school and educator accountability. The department proposes regulations to implement statewide student assessments, give school districts more time to implement educator evaluation regulations, and remove requirements that student learning data compose a certain percentage of educators’ evaluations.
The proposed regulations were sent out for written comments in April and May. The board took oral comments at a hearing on June 4. However, the board did not act on the proposed regulations at that time. The proposed regulations are now on the agenda for an audio-conferenced board meeting on August 24. Consequently, the public is invited to submit oral comments at noon August 24.
A summary of the proposed regulations, the complete text, and information on how to submit oral comments will be posted next week at https://education..alaska.gov/regs/comment.cfm.