LR advisory board has vacancy to fill
The Little Rock School District's seven-member Community Advisory Board has a vacancy for a member from Zone 5.
The zone encompasses a part of west Little Rock that is roughly south of Rodney Parham Road and west of Shackleford and Stagecoach roads.
Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key is seeking applications or nominations for the seat on the board.
The purpose of the board is primarily to make recommendations to the commissioner about the operation of the state-controlled district, as well as to build support for the school district among the public.
Key acts in place of a school board in the system that was taken over by the state in January 2015 because of chronically low achievement on state tests at six schools.
Advisory board members are to serve under the supervision and direction of the commissioner until the district is returned to local control, or until the state Board of Education decides whether to annex, consolidate, or reconstitute the school district as permitted in state law.
The advisory board usually meets with district Superintendent Mike Poore on the fourth Thursday of the month to review operations and policy changes. The advisory board also meets periodically to hear employee grievances or consider administrative recommendations for the termination of employees.
The position is unpaid. The current vacancy on the board was created by the recent resignation of Larry Clark.
Applications can be made at https://bit.ly/2GTvAy0.
2 groups release achievement guide
Two organizations -- Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families and the Arkansas Campaign for Grade-Level Reading -- have produced an eight-page guide to help parents understand the state's new system of tracking student and school achievement.
The state accountability plan is required by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, of 2015.
"Arkansas's ESSA plan is a welcome shift from the one-size-fits-all accountability model of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. But the methodology behind school report cards is still a mystery to most parents. We hope this guide will help parents understand the big picture and know how to find more information," said Ginny Blankenship, Arkansas Advocates education policy director.
Topics in the new guide include a list of state-required tests for students, the formula for calculating school letter grades and the importance of growth scores, as well as information on how to find the school and district scores online.
Arkansas Advocates used the release of the guide last week to call for the state to amend its Every Student Succeeds Act plan to give even greater weight to growth or achievement gains as reflected in year-to-year reporting of test results.
The guide is available on the Arkansas Advocates' website: aradvocates.org.
Board to examine PB charter school
The Arkansas Board of Education will take up the fate of the Pine Bluff Lighthouse Charter School when the board meets at 10 a.m. Thursday for its regular monthly business meeting.
The state's Charter Authorizing Panel voted 3-2 last month against renewing the state charter for the school beyond this school year because of low achievement and insignificant or erratic gains in the school's seven-year history.
The Education Board can either accept the panel's decision to close the school or conduct its own hearing -- which would take place at a later date -- before making a final decision on the 270-pupil kindergarten-through-eighth-grade campus.
School operators are appealing the panel's decision, saying that the panel had an incomplete understanding of the academic performance of the school, that the students had shown growing proficiency in English/language arts over time.
School operators will also argue to the Education Board that closing the school will negatively affect students and families in the Pine Bluff area.
Metro on 01/06/2019