Upcoming Legislative Briefing: New Options for Assessment & Accountability

Posted on May 12, 2016 by Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig Leave a comment

Looking forward to being back in Austin in two weeks to speak at a Legislative Briefing and discuss community-based accountability.

The Texas AFT, Austin Voices for Education and Youth, and Texans Advocating for Meaningful Student Assessment (TAMSA) invite you to an Education Briefing entitled New Options for Assessment and Accountability.

Now that Congress has (theoretically) left NCLB test-and-punish mandates behind and the Legislature has made several moves to rein in high-stakes, standardized testing, the time is right for fresh thinking on alternative assessments and accountability.

While the state’s Commission on Next Generation Assessments and Accountability continues its important deliberations, Texas AFT, Austin Voices, and TAMSA want to contribute to the dialogue by sponsoring this complementary briefing on alternative assessments and accountability.

The briefing will include panels with national and state experts on testing and accountability options and will feature plenty of opportunity for questions and discussion.

Lawmakers, legislative staff, executive-branch policymakers, and education community leaders are encouraged to attend alongside classroom practitioners and consider together what makes sense for Texas as we think ahead to the work of the 2017 legislative session.

The tentative agenda:

May 24, 2016
Robert E. Johnson Conference Center, 15th and
Congress Ave., Austin, TX (in State Capitol Complex)
Noon to 4 p.m.

Introduction/Lunch:
Louis Malfaro, President, Texas AFT

New Options in Federal Law:
Beth Antunez, Deputy Director, Government Relations, American Federation of Teachers

Benefits of Performance-Based Assessment:
Ann Cook, Executive Director, New York Performance Standards Consortium (confirmation pending)

Texas Experiments–the High Performance Schools Consortium:
Kim Alexander, Superintendent, Roscoe Collegiate ISD, and Member, Texas Commission on Next Generation Assessments and Accountability

Community-Based Accountability:
Julian Vasquez Heilig, Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, California State University Sacramento

The Case for Community Schools:
Allen Weeks, Executive Director, Austin Voices for Education and Youth

Response Panel–Options Scalable and Suitable for Texas:
Theresa Trevino, President, Texans Advocating for Meaningful Student Assessment and Member, Texas Commission on Next Generation Assessments and Accountability

Yannis Banks, Legislative Liaison, Texas NAACP

Angela Valenzuela, Professor and Director of University of Texas Center for Education Policy

Pat Hardy, Member of State Board of Education (confirmation pending)

Audience Q and A

Closing Comments, Next Steps:
Louis Malfaro, President, Texas AFT

Capacity is limited, so reserve your slot and put yourself on the list for a box lunch by registering here.

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