State, education leaders gear up for summer deliberation as school year ends

State, education leaders gear up for summer deliberation as school year ends

(Laura Seitz, Deseret News)


6 photos
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — School's out for several school districts across the Wasatch Front, but much is happening for education in Utah during the summer months.

Education leaders and state lawmakers are planning to revisit issues and update education policies from the 2016 legislative session, such as testing and accountability.

Gov. Gary Herbert has also raised the possibility of another special legislative session to make changes to the student assessment of growth and excellence, Utah's student testing system known as SAGE.

Some teachers will use the time out of class to prepare for next year and pursue educator coaching through their school or outside organizations.

"There's a lot going on," said Sharon Gallagher-Fishbaugh, outgoing president of the Utah Education Association, which offers a summer academy for teacher professional development. "Summer is our busiest time."

Several school districts ended classes Thursday and Friday, including the Weber, Ogden, Provo, Granite, Alpine and Nebo school districts. Classes will be in session until June 3 for others, such as the Davis, Salt Lake City, Murray, Jordan and Canyons school districts.

Some school districts have tallied early estimates of the number of high school graduates this year, though numbers may change as teachers work to get more students across the finish line:

• The Canyons School District is expected to graduate 2,540 students.

• The Salt Lake City School District is producing 1,912 graduates.

• At the Alpine School District, some 4,484 students are expected to graduate.

• Roughly 4,500 students are graduating from the Davis School District.

In the 2015-16 school year, Utah's student population grew by more than 11,700 students from the year before, bringing the total number of students to 633,896 on Oct. 1, according to the Utah State Office of Education. That growth is projected to continue, with the state's student population hitting the 1 million mark by 2050.

With that growth in mind, state leaders hope to address a number of issues during the interim that will impact students and teachers. The SAGE test is key among them.

"We felt that now that we've been doing SAGE a couple of years, it was appropriate to step back, do a review of what we're doing and consider whether or not we need to be making any changes," said Ogden Republican Ann Millner, Senate chairwoman of the Education Interim Committee. "We need to really look at the whole assessment and accountability issue."

SAGE has come under recent fire from Herbert and his Republican challenger, Jonathan Johnson, for its connection to the Common Core State Standards. Herbert has asked that the test's mandatory status be removed for high schools and that the Utah State Board of Education "move beyond" the Common Core. Johnson is asking that the test be removed altogether.

Education leaders have long been considering the possibility of removing the test from high schools, and recent federal legislation allows Utah and other states more flexibility for testing in high school.

But changes to SAGE require action by the Utah Legislature. Earlier this month, Herbert told members of the State School Board that he would consider the possibility of a special legislative session to make the change.

"I'm happy to work with you and work with legislative leadership if, in fact, that's your desire," he told the board.

The Legislature is scheduled to address numerous other issues this summer, including finding ways to address Utah's teacher shortage, aligning the education system with workforce needs and improving funding equity between schools. Those discussions will involve parents, teachers and school administrators, Millner said.

"We'll try to have these conversations during the summer," she said.

The months between school years is also a key time for teachers to work on improving their craft and preparing for new students, according to Gallagher-Fishbaugh.

Teachers may use professional development to better understand the Utah Core academic standards, study student data to identify teaching needs and train with other educators to improve classroom instruction.

It's a focus that sometimes gets lost during the school year because of time spent on testing and accountability measures, she said.

"You would be surprised how much more work is going on during the school year to prove that they're a good teacher, as opposed to really engaging in professional development designed to improve their skills as a teacher," Gallagher-Fishbaugh said. "They simply do not have the time during the year to hone their skills."

Photos

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

UtahEducation
Morgan Jacobsen

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast