Anyone wishing to view past monthly SBOE business meetings may do so at https://www.education. ne.gov/stateboard/. On the left side of the page click on Video Archives.
“Nebraska! Every Day Counts!”
Campaign
September is attendance awareness month. As part of the State Board Legislative Priorities for the 202527 Biennium, the NDE is raising awareness about chronic absenteeism, its root causes, and potential solutions. Chronic absence is defined as a student
missing 10% or more of their time in school.
During the 202324 school year, 68,000 students, or 22% of Nebraska students were chronically absent. It is imperative that parents, students, and school staff work together to make school attendance a priority. Showing up for school regularly, and on time, is critical to improving student academic outcomes and success in life. To view the Resolution for Attendance Awareness Month: Nebraska! Every Day Counts! go to NDE’s website and click on State Board Report September 2024.
Nebraska Literacy Project
During the August Board meeting, NDE staff presented details on the Nebraska Literacy Project aimed to improve literacy across the state. The goals of the project are to increase third grade proficiency on the state assessment from 62% to 75% by 2030, to reduce the percentage of students who require an Individual Reading Improvement Plan, and to ensure all Nebraska educator preparation programs are implementing evidencebased reading instruction for teachers (AKA Science of Reading). To achieve this, the NDE will develop and implement a professional learning system for teachers who teach children from four years of age through third grade. Additionally, regional literacy coaches will be provided, and evidence-based reading instruction implemented. To view the powerpoint presentation, go to the NDE website and click on State Board Report - Revision of August 2024.
$55 Million Federal Literacy Grant
The Nebraska Department of Education will receive a $55 million dollar grant, over the next five years, to improve literacy in our state. Nebraska is one of 23 recipients nationwide.
To note, this is the largest grant the NDE has ever received. For what will this large sum of money be used?
Some of the possibilities include establishing an Office of Literacy, professional development and literacy coaches for teachers, purchasing high quality learning materials, and after school and summer school literacy opportunities for students. Although providing more money does not guarantee results, I am hopeful it will help to significantly improve the reading proficiency of our students.
The NDE, SBOE, and school district personnel are entrusted with making sure this taxpayer money is used wisely and strategically. As your representative, I’ll do what I can.
(I’ll save my thoughts about outof- control government spending for another time.)
2017 Science Standards Revision
In my Spring Highlights, I shared information regarding the revision of the 2017 Science Standards. The final draft was voted on by the full board during the September board meeting.
The standards were approved by a vote of 4-3. I cast one of the no votes. Following the vote, I shared my rationale with the 33 members of the committee, and want to offer it to my constituents as well. First and foremost, I expressed my gratitude for the time and effort the committee members graciously gave to the revision process for nearly a year.
Although I found only two topics of concern, they were significant ones, namely the standards related to the origin of life, and age of the earth. For as long as I can remember, one theory has been taught when it comes to the origin of life, that being macroevolution (namely, Darwin’s Theory of Evolution). When something is taught as a theory, I believe we are obligated to teach other competing theories to keep students from believing the theory, exclusively being taught, is fact. Offering another theory or theories gives students the opportunity to think critically, and is inline with scientific principles. I believe the same for the age of earth theories - the old earth (millions of years) vs. young earth (thousands of years). There are scientists and scientific organizations on each side with supporting evidence. I believe students ought to be offered both for consideration. To those of you who shared your thoughts on the proposed standards through the public input surveys, thank you!
Upcoming SBOE Meeting
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the State Board of Education will be held on Friday, Oct. 4, in Grand Island. The site of the meeting is the Raising Nebraska Building at Fonner Park. The meeting begins at 9:00 with public comment towards the beginning. It would be great to have some Central Nebraskans in attendance.
