DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 096 741 EA 006 415

AUTHOR Davis, BuddyTITLE Articles on Educational Accountability in Universal

English. Pevised.INSTITUTION Florida State Dept. of Education, Tallahassee.PUB DATE Feb 73NOTE 20p.

EDRS PRICE MF-$0.75 HC-$1.50 PLUS POSTAGEDESCRIPTORS *Accreditation (Institutions); Comprehensive

Prograps; *Educational Accountability; *EducationalAssessment; *Educational Planning; EvaluationMethods; Inservice Teacher Education; Needs

IDENTIFIERS *Florida

PBSTRACTVirtually every profession has adopted a special

-ocabulary and style of communication which tends to be;Lcomprehensible to persons outside the profession. The specialvocabularies serve the professions well--until it comes tile tocommunicate with "outsiders." Then, the professional jargon must betranslated into "universal English." In this publication, the authorprovides both the general citizenry and professional educators anontechnical explanation of the concept and total program ofaccountability in Florida education. The presentation includes suchtopics as needs assessment, pupil assessment, accreditation, andcomprehensive planning. (Author/JP)

U S DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH.EDUCATION & WELFARENATIONAL INSTITUTE OF

EDUCATIONTHIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCE D ExACTL Y AS RECEIVF(1 FROMTHE PERSON OW OWc,ANi/AtioN ORIGINATINC. IT POINTS VIEW OP OPINIONSSTATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OFEDUC ATION POSITION OR POLICY

odot.00

Revised144 February 1973

table of contents

Translating to "Universal English" iii

I. Introduction - "A Debt to Asclepius"1

IL Articles on Statewide Activities Conducted in Cooperation with Local School Districts 4

These articles describe activities carried out by the Department of Education and localschool districts, with the major administrative responsibility at the State level.

Needs Assessment is Like Checking the Gas Gauge 4Pupil Assessment, the Educational Stethoscope 5

Accreditation with a New Measuring Stick 7

The Vocational-Technical Mode: for Information Gathering 8

III. Articles on District Activities 9

IV,

These articles describe activities supporting accountability which are carried out by localschool districts.

Comprehensive Planning, the New Boy on the Block 9Inservice Teacher Education, a Pipeline from the Pierian Spring 10

Articles on Developmental Support from the Department of Education 12

These articles describe some techniques and products to further accountability. All are beingdeveloped under the Florida Educational Research and Development Program, administeredby the Department of Education.

Research and Development Seeks Better Ways 12

A Resource Analysis System Puts Resources in Plain View 13

CAMIS Tells Where the Dollar Goes 14

Do- It-Yourself Cost Analysis 15

Independent Program Assessment for a Penetrating Look at Experimentation 16

i

translating to"UNIVERSAL

ENGLISH"Virtually every profession has adopted a special vocabulary and style of communication which tendsto be incomprehensible to persons outside the profession. This is true for architecture, for medicine,for law, for physics, for music, for computer technology, and for education. The special vocabularieshave benefitted members of each profession by simplifying communication regarding conceptualnuances and technical distinctions.

The special vocabularies serve the professions welluntil it comes time to communicate with"outsiders." Then, the professionai jargon must be translated into "universal English." The translatorhas an exceptionally difficult job, because many professionals feel that their carefully honed ideas

have been violated when removed from the rigorous protection of their special vocabulary. However,in education and other public service professions, we have no alternative. The concepts and ideaswhich guide professional activities must be released from their shelter and allowed to compete forsurvival in the larger society, the arena where professionals serve.

In this publication we have allowed the sunshine of "universal English" to illuminate some of thenewer ideas and activities in the Florida Department of Education. The "translator" is Buddy Davis,Professor of Journalism, UnivEirsity of Florida and Pulitzer prize-winning editorial writer for theGainesville Sun.

yT. Christian

iii

a debt toASCLEPIUS

Editor's Note: The Florida Department of Edu-cation' defines accountability as "the process ofexplaining the utilization of resources in termsof their contributions to the attainment ofdesired results.:-Ta other words, accountabilitycalls for reports on results achieved and reportson the resources expended in achieving thoseresu

This article describes conditions which led to thecurrent concerns for accountability. It also re-flects on current and pryposed activities tofoster accountability.

"I owe a cock to Asc... will youremember to pay the debt?" Soc. es was on hisdeath bed when he remember& . his debt toAsclepius. With his final words, Socrates still wasa teacher-by-example, unas:.airodly claimingresponsibility for a commitment honestly made.

Florida public school teachers and theireducational colleagues for decades have fulfilledtheir own honest commitment to serve Florida'schildren. Their success is legend--written in theannals of science, art, business and other fieldsof human endeavor.

But today, education is between a rock anda hard place.

This is a dilemma partly of the educators'making, because they did such a good job.Educators are victims of their own success. Theyhad a hand in creating an explosively expandingsocietywhich put in every living room theimage of men walking on the moon. Our pupilsof 20 and 30 years ago have created a world ofmind-boggling complexitycities dying of theirown bulk, like dinosaurs; a bomb with globe-splitting capacity; air pollution dense enough tosweep across continents; radioactive wasteswhich defy destruction.

Equally complex are human relations, thefragile threads which hold society together. Thedeveloping awareness of minorities. The asser-tion of women's rights. The intricacies of inter-national diplomacy. The enlargement of thepolitical processes.

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These are challenges, different only inimmensity from the challenges of the past.Educators in Florida and elsewhere mustrespond with the same spirit and sensitivity ofthe past. But the effort will be more demandingbecause the challenges tower over us like KingKong in Disneyworld.

In the past, the oft-applied solution wasmoney.

New money, as an educational resonrue, israpidly getting scarceboth in Florida andnationwide. In 1943, about two percent of theGross National Product went into education onall levels. In 1971, it was eight percent. At thecurrent rate, authorities predict it would reachthirty percent in the year 2000 and 100 percentin 2080.

This is an impossibility.

The dollar demands of education must beweighed beside the dollar demands of criminaljustice, environment, welfare and health. Tax-payers grow impatient, lawmakers grow im-patient, and educators should grow impatientwith the reflex philosophy that money will solveevery problem.

Education is faced with a wringing out. Notonly must education meet its challenges withinthe current percentage of the tax dollar, but itmust convince others that it is selling the steakand not the sizzle.

Educators of the future must teach betterand manage better to meet modern challengeswith a decreasing share of money. This is hardreality.

So education is between a' ick and a hardplace.

Florida is preparing to split the rock.The Department of Education is developing afresh approach, an approach based on a philoso-phy of constructive change. The Legislature inthe past few years has enacted the freshapproach into law.

It is called accountability.

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As a basic idea, accountability is nrt .iew.Educators over the years have been accountablefor warm bodies in computing average dailyattendance, for typewriters and slide projectors,bicycle racks and water fountains and hotlunches. This far from exhausts the list ofaccountable items which, when strayed orstolen, nibble at the educator's day like mice atripe cheese.

This accountability has much to do withmaterials and budgets. We have reliable methodsof measuring it. It feels comfortable, like afavored pair of bedroom shoes. Our tendency isnot to question it, because it is warm andfamiliar.

But the old accountability deservesquestioning, because it concerns only what goesinto education.

The new accountability is concerned withwhat comes out of education.

The new accountability is not thing-centered, but student-centered. It deals withskills, grasp, adjustment, accomplishment. Andit is not established by an edict from the StateCapitol, but by the teacher in the classroom.

In the past, the school system was merelyadministered by bringing together the peopleand the tools. With accountability, the schoolsystem must be managed by:

(1) setting goals,(2) pinpointing needs,(3) laying out a course of action,(4) organizing the materials,(5) doing the job,(6) evaluating the results, and(7) revising when necessary.

The most meaningful management isdown-shifted to the classroom, to the stu dent-teacher level, where it ought to be. The teacheris freed to innovate and individualize, and tryagain if things don't go right. But the planningand self-evaluation philosophy does not stopthere. It prevails throughout the system, so itaffects everybody in Florida public education.

Accountability is possible only undercertain conditions.

The "no-no" restraints imposed by thestate must be relaxed with meaningful controlrestored to the local school system. The FloridaLegislature has done that.

The true measure of education must berecognized as student performance, not innumber of dollars or water fountains Tools andtechniques to evaluate performance are availableand are being further refined.

Same educators view accountability withsuspicion and distrust. They see it as Big Brothersnooping into the classroom. They consider it adehumanizing check on job performance. lin-f Jrtun,tely, legislatures in some other states'lave adopted punitive laws which would do justthat.

But this is not Florida's way.

In Florida, district educators will set theirown objectives consistent with state goals,decide how best to reach them, marshal theresources to do the job, evaluate the results andmake improvements based on experience. Eachat different tasks, the school board will do it,the district staff will do it, the principals will doit and the teachers will do it. The processenhances the independence and dignity of theteaching profession. It improves the learningenvironment. It focuses on the student.

The state is not Big Brother. It is limited to(1) sketching educational goals in broad outlinein terms of minimums which society expects and(2) helping provide the tools and the techniques.The day of drinking fountain accountability isover.

But there is no evading the additionalresponsibility placed upon teachers and staff.They must know the state of the art and use it.They have an obligation to innovate and showresults. Like medical doctors, educators mustkeep abreast of latest research and methodsanduse them. Also like doctors, their creativity mustbe soundly basedfor no doctor will tell a

patient that he feels creative today and willremove the appendix through the esophagus.

And, like doctors who commit their talentto every patient regardless I status or wealth,educators must commit their talent to all whopresent themselves for learning.

Accountability in Florida education is notworking harder, but working smarter.

This is Florida's formula for meeting whatsome call the crisis in education. It is a nation-wide crisis, and some states are meeting it withrigid controls of punitive impact. Others may begroping for a solution. But Florida is adroitlyinserting accountable management, a systematicand system-wide way of honoring a commitmentto children as Socrates honored his commit-ment to Asclepius.

It is Florida's way to teach better andmanage better to meet modern challenges withineducation's share of money.

The tools and techniques will be inconstant refinement.

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-600- articleson statewide activities

conducted in cooperationwith local districts

. ' NEEDS ASSESSMENT IS LIKE CHECKINGe THE GAS GAUGE

A need is a discrepancy between what isand what ought to belike the fellow who iswalking down the highway with a gasoline canwhen he ought to be 50 miles up the road.

. That's a very clear-cut example of a need., e v But in the delicate numan relationship involved

in education, the assessment of a need is con-. . siderably fuzzier. And the main problem is that

we all jump to conclusions.

.

Consider the headache. Most of us open themedicine cabinet in s' rch of aspirin. That's asolution which works most of the time, but it isjumping to a conclusion. If the real problem is abrain tumor, aspirin is the wrong solution al-together.

Jumping too quickly from need-to-solutionis a regular happening on the American scene.And it sometimes has far-reaching reprecussions,like when the nation believed Prohibition wouldsolve alcoholismbut it didn't.

We jump to other quick solutions to fillneedslike more police will reduce crime, likesmaller classes will improve teaching. These may

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be true in certain places at certain times, butthey certainly are not universal remedies.

So Needs Assessment is much more thankeeping the gasoline tank full.

Needs Assessment is putting a specificproblem under a microscope until the problem isplainly identified. Needs Assessment is thediagnosis, not an aspirin.

Comprehensive Planning will put NeedsAssessment in the spotlight. Planning requiresestablishing of goals and objectives. And thiscannot be done without diagnosing needs.

Garden variety research methods are usedin assessing needs. This includes surveys, evalua-tion by experts, questionnaires, testing, the useof existing statistics. And while it has littlemystique, measuring needs takes expertiselikegardening.

The Department of Education will be un-able to refine needs enough to suit the require-ments of the 67 districts. Only the districts cando that refinement, so they will be assessingtheir own needs.

Some school districts already have con-trived their own satisfactory method of assessingneeds. Others will want help, or the choice ofalternative methods, and the Department ofEducation will offer its resources. A model forassessing district-level needs may be developedfrom the Department of Education's currentstatewide program.

Someday needs assessment will be routinein all school districts. But, at the outset, there'splenty of ground to be broken. The districts willneed a body of information to establish a normand to find out how they measure up to thenorm. They will need new tools, fresh expertise,and assistance in putting the package together.

With such tools, the districts can measuretheir needs by comparing present status withlong-range goals and thus establish objectivepriorities. The Needs Assessment is a vital partof the process because it represents reality.

C.W1 NiN1U4ILLSO

Assessing needs is like a periodic check ofthe gasoline gauge. It pays off.

Ar automobile manufacturer who wants toevaluate his product sends it out on a gruelingroad test. Educators are more fortunate. Theirend product can talk oack. So the educator doesnot have to wait for the product to break downto determine its usefulness. The educator canask questions.

But a road map helps.The educational road maps tells us where

we are and helps us decide where we want to go.

And that describes pupil assessment.

As a direct aid to classroom teachers,principals and districts, the Department of Edu-cation is developing catalogs for pupil assess-ment. These catalogs offer a variety of learningobjectives, any of which can be selected ormodified, and testing methods to determine ifthe students get the message.

Editor:s Note,=. The assessment of .pupil learningis a* majo'r element in the strategy for educa-tional. change being supported, by 'the Department of Education. This article describes therationale for pupil assessment. It also discussesthe statewide ,assessment program administeredby the Department of, EdLication as required bylaw.

PUPIL ASSESSMENT,THE EDUCATIONAL STETHOSCOPE

Developing catalogs is a very tough taskwhich takes time and expertise. The Departmentof Education has contracted for the develop-ment of catalogs in the following areas: com-munication skills, science, math, art, and certainvocatiGnal areaspsychomotor skills, socialstudies, health education, music and humanrelations.

5

Why bother?

Well, Pupil Assessment is an educationalstethoscope of most use to the teacher. It helpsdiagnose the rate of learning of the individualstudent. It suggests alternate means of reachingthe students. It enables the teacher to do abetter job.

Pupil Assessment helps the district also, butnot in such a personal sense. By indicating weakareas, it may call for a shift in funding. Some ofthe data will be helpful in reporting account-ability to the state, as required by law. But thatis not the real purpose of Pupil Assessment. Itspurpose is to help the district, the principal, andespecially the teacher to plot a path, head in theright direction, and find out how far they got.

Meanwhile, the state will be doing a bit ofstethoscoping itself.

The Department of Education, under legis-lative mandate, will be conducting statewidepupil assessments. The aim is not to determinehow Sue and Sam are doing individually, or howEast Loincloth High is performing, but how thedistrict is fulfilling its objectives. So state levelreporting is not in terms of individual studentscores, but rather in percentage of students inthe district who attained objectives.

The feedback is important. It will preventpouring resources into problems which alreadyare licked. Statewide Pupil Assessment will pin-point needs, on which energy, time and moneycan be expended profitably.

And it will serve much the same functionfor the Legislature. The Commissioner of Educa-tion is required by law to report student achieve-ment in each school district. This should be ofimmense help to legislators and the public whoset the ultimate priorities.

The adoption of new Pupil Assessmentdoes not mean the discard of other types ofimportant testing, such as Florida Twelfth Gradeor national standardized tests. These still areneeded, not only because they meet collegeentrance requirements, hut because some ofthem reveal how Florida students stand against

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national norms.

How far along is the state administeredpupil assessment?

The Department of Education is designingand producing the tests and establishing pro-cedures for administrating them, scoring, makingthe statistical analysis and reliability studies, andinterpreting the results. The priorities and ob-jectives in each assessment area are recom-mended by:

(1) state advisory councils with lay participation,(2) curriculum specialists, and(3) the advice of no nerous teachers.

Technical refinements are by the staff of theDepartment of Education. The final selection ofobjectives for state assessment is the responsi-bility of the State Board of Education.

In 1972, a statewide sample of pupils ingrades two and four were tested on skills relatedto reading. In 1973, tests will be given to astatewide sample in grades three, six and nine,on reading, mathematics, and writing.

This does not mean statewide pupil assess-ment is perfected. The short time available hasnot permitted that.

However, pupil assessment at all levels ishere to stay in Florida.

It is a refining toolwhether in the class-room only, school-wide, district-wide or state-wide. It will permit the teacher, the principal,the district and the Department of Education tozero in on problems which, sometimes, are verydifferent.

The promise of Pupil Assessment is that itwill tell us if we are hitting the target weselected. It will give us the incentive to improve.It will pinpoint our needs and justify a cal; forhelp.

Pupil Assessment is like a shipboard radio.It can broadcast the progress of the educationaljourney. And it can send an SOS.

BEST Min kikitABLE

Editol s 'Note. AccrOitat\on - the prece!S'whereby schools are evaluated to determinewhether they meet prescribed standards Thisarticle describes a basic change in standards forState accreditation.

ACCREDITATION WITH A NEWMEASURING STICK

A square foot never taught anybody any-thing.

But, for years, we have giver, the squarefoot very respectful attention. The same withlibraries. Teaching aids. The ratio of students tofaculty. Administrative support. Hours ofinstruction available. Teacher preparation.

These have been historic factors in schoolaccreditation. They are tangible, easily tallied,and objective. They were the best measuringstick available.

But facilities are not the same as studentachievement.

Call it quality control, if you like, butevery good enterprise has it, even if the buildingis spacious, clean and well-staffed. Square foot-age does not produce the automobile or thestudent. So in schools, the staff and physicalfacilities may deliver the groceries, but we haveto look inside the bag to discover if it's cabbageor caviar.

And we are getting the educational toolsfor that peek inside the bag.

When these tools are perfected, studentachievement will be the measuring stick foraccreditation. It will take a while, but it'scoming.

The new method of accreditation wil! bephased in gradually over the next several years.Florida already has made a start. Today, schooldistricts are offered three methods of accredita-tion, and they must choose at least two. Theseare:

The Status Standard which isthe traditional method of evaluat-ing the physical plant and theteacher-student ratios and the like.

The Process Standard which isan assessment of the teaching en-vironment and the methods ofinstructionranging fromscheduling of classes to grouping ofstudents to use of such aids astelevision.

The Product Standard, whichis the measurement of studentachievement. And certainly this isthe most definitive means ofestablishing accreditation.

Why is student achievement so much betteras a measurement?

It's the philosophy of the thing which is soimportant. Old-fashioned accreditation dependson a regulatory manager to lay down the do'sand to exert negative pressure to issue theno-no's. And there is stress on material goodswhich, if improperly used, may have little to dowith student achievement.

But if accreditation is based on studentachievement, then it is getting down to wherethe action ison the student learning level.Student learning is the regulatory manager. Andthe philosophical stress shifts from the squarefoot to teaching.

The evolution of accreditation standards isimportant to education. It leans away fromregulation and inspection. It moves towardintellectual development, toward the student.After all, if a student performs well, who caresabout the nurnber of classrooms or volumes inthe library?

Why will it take more time to perfect ameaningful accreditation system based on stu-dent achievement? A realistic handicap- is theneed for financing and staffing in this verysepcialized area. But another reason is the needto establish minimal standards, which is reallythe determination of expected student compe-

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*SI tOri g0404105.

tence at various levels. That will take time, andthe nelp of educators and parents and studentsout in the districts.

The hazard of a minimal standard, ofcourse, is that it tends to become the maxi-mumthat districts will rest on their oars,having attained the minimum. That, we all mustguard against by providing incentives for ex-cellence and by offering options appropriate forthe districts and consistent with society's goals.

Disaccreditation is a cry for help. And theDepartment of Education, responds with techni-cal advice and support to help the district definethe problem.

Accreditation on the basis of studentachievement will not change that, but itcertainly humanizes the problem. The emphasisshifts from fallen plaster to student achieve-ment.

And that is an important shift indeed.

Editor's Note: It was said earlier that "Account-ability in Florida, education is not workingharder, but working smarter "Workingsmarter" requires a sound ba.se of informationfor making decisions. This article discusses theinformation gathering system developed by theDepartment for vocational, technical and adulteducation.

THE VOCATIONAL-TECHNICAL MODELFOR INFORMATION GATHERING

The early astronauts were electronicallywired for a running account of their physicalhealthtemperature, respiration, water loss,pulse, and bodily chemical balance.

If education could be wired that way,measuring performance and results would be noproblem at all.

Measurement isn't that easy in education,but it must be done. It is especially important inthe vocational-technical areas, because these arecareer-oriented. If students cannot perform sk;Ilsacceptably, the repercussions are immediate.

8

The idea is to fine-tune the job capabilityof students.

That is why the Department of Educationhas a structured system of evaluation. It reachesall levelsthe fellow who does the hiring, theteacher, the student. And since accountability ofthe districts will be firmly based on evaluation,the three-part Vac -Tech structure deserves alook.

A State Advisory Council makes arunning assessment and recom-mends changes. The council hascontracted with an independentthird party for an annual evaluationof vocational programs, services andactivities.

A Management Information Systemkeeps tabs on courses, facility use,fiscal management, and even theenrollment of individual studentsand job placement. This system wasinstalled in all 67 districts in 1972and should provide teachers andadministrators an easier and moresystematic procedure for reportingdata.

By finding out what employerswant compared to what studentsoffer, drawing up objectives andmeasuring results and field testing,the Department will help districtsevaluate the efficiency of theirV oc -Tech programs. In 1973,catalogs of objectives for assess-

ment wiil be available in such areasas ornamental horticulture, typewriting, and automotive mechanics.

Voc-Tech is not the only model for infor-mation gathering in the districts, but it hints atthe scope of the job ahead. By servicing a singlespecified area, it becomes a think model for theingredients which go into a full measurementsystem.

For educators, Voc-Tech can teach morethan Voc-Tech.

articleson district activities

Editor's Note: The Siate of Florrda is graduallyadopting a new strategy for_ improving education, namely, to provide greater flexibility tothose who o0erate educational programs and, atthe same time, make .them accountable for the

'results. The revisjon of the school code andState Board of Education Regulations to removeconstraints end the District ComprehensivePlanning requirement, enacvd by the 1972Florida. Legislature is a. cleiw example of thisstrategy.

COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING,THE NEW BOY IN THE BLOCK

It takes a while to get acquainted with thenew boy on the block. And when that boy is awhopper like Comprehensive Planning, theneighborhood pecking order is bound to change.That is precisely what Comprehensive Planningdid to the Department of Education and the 67school districts.

Over the years, the Legislature and therepartment of Education have relaxed theirregulatory role over the districts. Now, the Stateand the district are partners.

The device used is simple. To receive statefunds, the districts must submit each year a..overall comprehensive plan covering at least fiveyears and which includes a detailed annual planfor the upcoming year. These are to be con-sistent with goals established by the State Boardof Education.

And the districts must maintain an ongoingsystematic evaluation of needs.

The role of the Department of Education isto review these district plans and make recom-mendations to superintendents and schoolboards.

No use minimizing the result of this far-reaching legislation. The impact on districtschool systems is radical in the best sense of theword, because it establishes a freedom of choice,opens alternatives, and encourages change. Theramifications are two:

Let's consider flexibility first. The districtsare to undertake strategic planning. This is not asheaf of paper to be fastened together andshelved. Instead, it is a continuing processaneffort to point up the gap between the district's(1) hopes or goals and (2) its achievements.

Upon strategic planning is based policydecisions which establish the priority for time,space, materials, personnel and money.

A motorist planning a long trip does muchthe same thing. He packs clothes and money forthe journey, secures maps and details of roadconditions and ev,,m weather in mountainousareas. He plots a route and keeps his materials athand. Along the way, he makes the pi ioritydecisions as to where to spend his time andmoney. He has a goal, and everyday he checksoff his mileage achievement.

But the motorist has flexibility because hedid the planning, he makes the policy decisions,he picks the alternative routes.

Scf..00l districts now enjoy that sameflexibility of planning. But planning is a flabbycharacter. Planning never laid a brick, hired aspecialist, bought a teaching aid, or taught aclass.

Planning can be a lazy egg.

The planning must be put to work. Thismeans the marshaling of the district's resourcesto transfer the plan from paper to reality. Afterall, that motorist did not get very far unless hepacked up, cranked up, gassed up, and movedout.

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How do the districts know they're chuggingup the correct highway?

That is where accountability comes in. Likethe Florida highway safety campaign, account-ability is to "Arrive Alive." Accountability wasaccomplished by the motorist as he kept trackof route signs and checked off the mileage andarrived safely on time. School districts do muchthe same thing.

They prove accountability by establishingclear goals and objectives, then periodicallydocumenting the progress they've made.Actually, the districts are identifying needs andmeasuring resultshoping each time to be anotch closer to the pre-set goal.

District Comprehensive Planning dealswith:

(1) setting goals which are good(2) finding out how things now

stand and thus establishing theneed or distance to the goal,

(3) putting together the resourcesand people to close the gap,

(4) doing the job,(5) evaluating the results, and(6) trying something new if it

didn't work as well as wewanted it to the first time.

What is likely to be the real benefit ofComprehensive Planning? Well, the motorist en-joys his journey more if he makes his ownchoices, like picking a vacation route. Schooldistricts, by setting their own targets, should beencouraged to make their programs more effec-tive and productive.

And what is the role of the Department ofEducation?

It will articulate objectives, establishhighest priority for given time periods, establishminimum standards and quality control, provideconsultants, spread information, and provideincentive for districts to exceed minimiimperformance.

Comprehensive Planning, the law and theconcept, are new to Florida. It will take a while

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BEST COPY AVAILABLE

to adjust to this new boy on the block. So theschool districts and the Department of Educa-tion are in transition. The journey ahead is not aquick day trip, and we will miss some signposts.

We have to develop new tools, includingmethods to measure student and teacher per-formance. We have to develop expertise atthinking big, so the goals will be worthwhile. Weshall have to learn to assess progress towardobjectives, so we will know when they areattained.

The Department of Education will help allit can. District and state personnel have formeda partnership and are busily engaged in carryingout the intent of the law with the tools at hand.

There is little cause for apprehension in theevent of a few early blunders. The new boy onthe block is a whopper. But he is a partner, notan adversary.

Editor's Note: The success of virtually anyeducattonal change is dependent upon theability of local personnel to carry it out.Changes associated with accountability are noexception.. Thii article discusses the Stateolicies which support local inservice 'teacher

education programs, the keystone of successfuleducational -change.

INSERVICE TEACHER EDUCATION,A PIPELINE FROM THE PIERIAN SPRING

Alexander Pope said to drink deep fromthe Pierian spring, because a little learning is adangerous thing.

Florida school teachers do not wander farfrom the waters of learning, because state certifi-cation requirements keep them on the track ofknnwledge. Few professions are moredemanding, because teachers must pursue learn-ing to keep their credentials current.

One way is to return periodically to theuniversity campus, and many teachers do that.

In virtually all states, obtaining I nserviceEducation is deemed an obligation of theindividual teacher. Florida has a different andinnovative philosophy, that the district schoolboard is obligated to meet the needs of thatdistrict by providing Inservice Education for itsteachers.

The State of Florida views Teacherservice Education as a justifiable use"company" time and expensejust as

industries do.

In-of

big

The reason is simple. The teacher is indirect contact with the student and has thegreatest impact of an./ element of the schoolsystem. To discuss bettering education, withoutgreat stress on upgrading teaching skills bysophisticated on-job learning, is like a soundingbrass or a tinkling cymbal.

But let us go one step further. Skills whichare most valuable for classroom use are beingidentified. These are called competencies, havingto do with classroom performance, and theymay range from diagnosing pupil learning, totechniques for motivating individual learners, tomethods for reporting to parents. A per-formance-based approach to teacher educationassures the teacher that the time spent in in-service programs is well spent.

The Florida system of Inservice TeacherEducation does these important things:

Puts teachers on the centerstage as the most important in-gredients of the educational system.

Stresses local problems andneeds and provides the know-howto solve them.

Yields more in the way ofuseful techniques than the theoreti-cal learning in universities andcolleges.

As a pipeline directly to thedistrict door, it is a convenientdelivery system for new teachingtechniques and concepts.

Encourages the concept ofperformance-based teacher educa-tion, which assures the introductionof new skills in the classroom.

Florida law places high priority onI nservice Teacher Education. But that is merelytechnical, compared to the obvious fact thatlnservice Education improves the quality ofteaching and is a key element in educationalaccountability.

Naturally, the Department of Educationdoes all it can to encourage lnservice Education.The most direct assistance is to the individualteacher, since on-job learning is credited toextension of the teacher's certificate. This ismerely a practical incentive which is nosubstitute for a teacher's instinctive thirst forimprovement.

But the state also provides help to theschool districts. It offers technical help inplanning an inservice program, on-site visitingteams, and evaluation of master plans. Sixty-fiveof the 67 counties have officially approvedI nservice Education programs, which reveals thesurge of on-job learning in Florida.

What is Inservice Teacher Education? It is apipeline from the Pierian spring.

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articles -304-'on

developmental supportfrom the

department of education

Editor's Note: The State's leadership role rn

education requires new techmqwes .ind products.For this reason, the Florida Statute-s provide fora State tEduoational Research and DevelopmentProgram to support the development of new.

capabilities. This article discusses that program.The subsequent articles comment On some ofthe products techniques under development.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENTSEEKS BETTER WAYS

Airlines don't ticket passengers for jetliners which have never flown. If they did, theride could be pretty rough.

Florida students are in for a rough ride,also, unless the educational system acceptsimproved spare parts, adapts its flight plans,keeps track of costs, updates the repair manuals,field tests its theories, and seeks better ways ofkeeping things moving.

And that is the job of Research andDevelopment.

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Research and Development is simply asupport activity. It helps the Department ofEducation develop its theories and managerialmethods, but the major thrust is to devise bettertools for the 67 school districts. Its aims are:

To discover better methods of doing thejob of teaching.

To figure out ways to measure learning andthus discern the results of teaching.

That is radical simplification of Researchand Development's mission. Some of its work israther obviouslike producing a film to explainrecent education developments. But it alsoincludes instruments for pupil assessment andcost analysis, as well as the development of newkinds of teacher training materials.

But ideas, sheer ideas, are Research andDevelopment's biggest bag. Its greatest thrusthas been to produce catalogs to:

(1 J set forth teaching objectiveswhich educators can opt tofollow, and

(2) provide methods to determineif the students got the message.

The catalog is an entirely new product ofthe Department of Education, and the first onewas delivered in the 1972 73 school year. !tdeals with middle school science. Others arecoming, on communication skills like readingand writing, art education, drug education, andemployability skills.

The catalogs, of course, are a key part ofaccountability in education and will be availableto the districts as each one rolls off the press.Other innovations may be less tangible andharder to deliver to the classroom.

Delve deeper into Research and Develop-ment and the complexity of its task becomesmore obvious. Examples:

How can parents and students best bedrawn into helping make decisions regardingeducation?

How can the old measurement ofqualitylike square feet of space and hours ofclassworkbe augmented with more meaningfulmeasurement like student achievement?

Questions like these are not answered over-night, and Research and Development doesn'texpect to. Besides, it has a very modest budgetand has to use the rifle instead of shotgunapproach to educational problems and innova-tions. It zeroes in on the important things.

These matters ultimately will have impacton Florida education, although the work-in-progress is largely unseen. But education willnot go far without Research and Development,anymore then the jet liner could fly safelywithout the massive backup research on enginesand airframe, on the metals of its skin and itspneumatic gear, on pilot training and theweather ahead.

The airline passenger does not see suchthings, but he would be in a pickle withoutthem. And so it goes with Research andDevelopment. Florida education would be in apickle, too, if Research and Development wasnot out in frontlike early-warning radar.

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A.RESOURCE ANALYSIS SYSTEMPUTS IN PLAIN VIEW

Department stores sell a divided tray whichis called a c'.esk organizer. It keeps the rubberbands separate from the paper clips and thepencils separate from the postage stamps.

The desk organizer puts resources out inplain view.

Resource Analysis does pretty much thesame thing for educators. With close up research,it puts a magnifying glass to the five importanteducational ingredientstime, space, personnel,material and instructional methodsand relatesthese to costs.

Take time, for example. It is education'smost expensive ingredient, because salaries andrelated expenses take 87 percent of the educa-tion dollar nationally. The money buys time.Most cif it is used fruitfully in beneficial ways.But some of it is used unfruitfully, like waitingfor the mimeograph, carrying messages, search-ing for misplaced material, and filling outunnecessary forms.

Students have vested interest, too. Whiletheir rime comes free, time-slippage is a missedchance? for learning.

Another example. Driver training is an ex-pensie one-on-one teaching. But with a drivingrange costing $30,000, one instructor cdn teacheight students at onceand do it better.

The purpose of Resource Analysis is tocome up with better ways of doing things. Itaims to conserve money, save time, place skilled

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personnel in the right spot, and utilize space sothat every desk stays warm.

Resource Utilization can be applied toclassrooms, courses, disciplines or schools. Thebudget can remain the same--while the resourcesare more effectively used.

A classroom teacher, for example, canchoose among a variety of teaching methods.Resource Analysis helps weigh the alternativesand pick the best available for the purpose athand.

This is precisely the nature of an analysissystem which the Department of Education willmake available in the 1973-74 school year. It is awstem which will encourage teachers to analyzecourse objectives, weigh the alternatives, pickthe devices, and use the techniques which arebest. The system is adaptable for individualteachers or teams, for traditional or innovativeschools. And a teacher can use the systemwithout calling on consultants.

Resource Analysis is not to be taken light-ly, although it calls for no district paperwork orreports to the state. Resource Analysis is one ofthe three legs to the stool called accountability.Along with Pupil Assessment and Cost Analysis,it comprisrs the accountability package. It is

part of the continuous flow of decisionmakingf -om picking the objective, to decidingon method, to choosing the best tools, to com-puting the cost, and then to venturing out,followed by assessment and revision.

For the Department of Education,Resource Analysis is a new functionmore like abud than a flower. But it wi!I bloom in time andprovide the school districts with manuals andself-instruction.

When vests are in style, men discover thejoy of multiple pockets valuable for organizingtheir resources. That is what Resource Analysiswill do for education.

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Editor's Note: Concern over costs is a driving-force in the accountability movement. There-fore, a Cost Analysis Management InformationSystem is esservial.' CAMIS is such a system,designed for use by local school districts as theyaccount for their expendtiures.

CAMIS TELLS WHERE THE DOLLAR GOES

This is about the dollar, and where it goes.

Each state has its own particular way offinancing schools, so no cookbook fromWashington can be adapted for all systems. ButFlorida school districts are enough alike tofigure costs on the same system. The Depart-ment of Education has contrived a system to dothe jab.

And CAMIS is open ended.

The Cost Analysis Management I nforma-tion System enables the school district to collectthe dollar information needed for federal andstate reports. That is the floor of CAMIS. Uponit, the school district can build a framework tosuit its purposes. All the district has to do is toadd more data.

It is an individualized approach to schoolfinancing. It encourages school districts to con-trast costs, to project costs of new proposals, toadvise individual teachers on costs. In short,CAMIS is expandable for local purposes.

Of course, CAMIS unveils the summarydollar figures necessary for reports to the state.But the bulk of the data is left at home. Thismeans the Capitol dome is not festooned withred tape, and the districts save time and money.

An accountant will feel at home withCAMIS because it embraces the accountingsystem used almost universally. It is compatiblewith national and state systems, but can providefar more information for the district. With thisinformation, the districts can choose to:

Predict the cost of a new offering.Figure cost of any subject area orgrade level.Contrast the cost of one teachingmethod with another.Couple CAMIS with other mea-surements, such as Pupil Assess-ment and Resource Analysis, andevaluate the efficiency of instruc-tion.

CAMIS has been 18 months in the making.It has ueen reviewed by a committee of districtbusiness managers, discussed at professionalmeetings, and circulated to the districts in draftform. It is operative in Alachua, Broward andMonroe counties on a trial basis, with somerevision anticipated.

Within five years, the Florida Departmentof Education hopes all public school systemswill be using the Cost Analysis ManagementInformation System to take meaningful looks atinstructional e'ideavors and project proposals. Itmakes for good planning.

Before this is accomplished, the districtsmust first isolate the areas of analysiswhetherunits, courses, projects, programs, or entireschools. Once this is done, the manual sketchesthe method of providing the cost figures.

The CAMIS concept is the future. But themanual is waiting on the district shelf.

Editor's Note: The supplementary Cost Analy-0&is system described in this article is designed tosupplement- CAM4S (discussed in previousarticle) or any other accounting system. It is

being designed for obtaining detailed cost in-

formation on a limited program, when it is notfeasible to obtain such information through theregular accounting 'system of the school districtor institution. The system is currently beingrefined in pilot schools cooperating with theFlorida Educational Research and DevelopmentProgram

DO-IT-YOURSELF COST ANALYSIS

Supplementary Cost Analysis comes with ado-it-yourself kit.

Suppose a school district wants to contrastthe costs of conventional and computer-assistedinstruction. Or establish the cost of a laboratorycourse, like chemistry. Or put a dollarpiggy-back on an experimental course.

All it needs is the do-it-yot.-self kit.

Supplementary Cost Analysis is designed toisolate a single block of a school program,determine the allocation of people and material,and translate all the variables into dollar cost.The process is very simple and easily understoodand can be accomplished with the aid of districtfiscal officers. It can span one unit, one term, orone objective.

Supplementary Cost Analysis is especiallyvaluable, of course, when coupled with an In-dependent Program Assessment undertakenexperimentally by a teacher. But it can help thedistrict staff also, by flagging unusually high orlow costs on one specific area. And it suggestsmoney-wise alternatives.

The Department of E Jucation favors Sup-plementary Cost Analysis because it gathersfiscal facts on a spot basis, without a bunch ofcluttering material. It collects information with-out bothering everybody in the state system. It

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reduces red tape. And like loaves on the sea, thedata from a single function a single districtcan be funneled through the Department ofEducation for the benefit of all districts.

The idea is to reach into the system andisolate costs, those which are apparent and thosenot normally observed. With comparisons andexperimentation on the district level, the resultcan be economies or better teachingor both.

Supplementary Cost Analysis is anotherway of testing effectiveness and efficiency on aspot basis. It is quick, easy and useful.

Which is saying a lot for a do-it-yourselfkit.

Editor's Note: The Independent ProgramAssessment System is an attempt' to combine anumber of techniques and products developedunder the Educational Research and Develop-ment Programprincipally pupil assessment,catalogs, cost analysis, and resources 'analysis. Itis intended to provide comparable information'of the effectiveness of a variety of educationalprogi-ams. It was first field tested in 1972 and isundergoing further refinement.

INDEPENDENT PROGRAM ASSESSMENTFOR A PENETRATING

LOOK AT EXPERIMENTATION

A little experimentation can be a very goodthing.

Experimentation precedes change. Andwhile change certainly is not all good, progress isimpossible without it. So it was with the switchfrom kerosene to electric lighting, so it is witheducation.

The thrust of the Independent ProgramAssessment is to encourage experimentation andself-evaluation by teachers in the classroom. Ifthe new procedures work, so much the better. Ifthey fail, we have learned something ourselves.

At the moment, this is a very modestprogram to encourage experimentation. It is

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voluntary, and 300 schools offered to partici-pate on a non-cost basis. Twelve schools and 40teachers were chosen for the initial effort.

These 40 teachers picked the courses theywanted to assess, the time span, the depth, andthe objectives. They kept a diary of time ex-pended in and out of school, the resources used,of classroom activities. The costs were crankedin. And the results were checked with testingbefore and after.

It is, in short, an on-going self-analysisinstructional assessment by the teacher. It oc-curs in the most basic laboratories, the class-room. It is a non-threatening sort of assessment,the most valuable assessment of all.

There are, of course, variations which canbe applied to the basic approach. These caninclude third party audits to check procedures,third party assessments to make evaluations.They can be controlled by departments, schools,districts, and the state or federal government.The activities to be evaluated can range vi'dely.The data can be accumulated from a variety ofsources.

But these can be very costly in time,money and effort. Without such expenditure,the Independent Program Assessment permitted40 teachers to take a penetrating look at whattranspired in their own classrooms. But it doesnot end in those classrooms, because a successfulexperiment works within a system like yeast indough.

Independent Program Assessment is not yetpackaged aid available for either teachers ordistricts. That will take time, research andmoney. But some day, it will be a voluntarycomponent of accountability statewide to assessclasses, programs and curricula. It also can beused by the Department of Education forselected analysis.

It is only the whisper of a promise now,but it's coming. The encouragement of experi-mentation is a valid exercise, because it honesthe cutting edge of change.

so

DEPARTMENTOF EDUCATION

TALLAHASSEE. FLORIDA

FLOYD T. CHRISTIANCOMMISSiONE-R

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This public document waspromulgated at an annualcost of $1,481.70 or 14 centsper copy to provide both thegeneral citizenry and pro-fessional educators a non-technical explanation of theconcept and total program ofaccountability in Floridaeducation.

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