ACSA leader Mary Grace is featured in an upcoming video on educational leadership

ACSA is excited to announce a new series of video commercials focusing on educational leadership and advice . Beginning in January , ACSA will begin releasing the commercials on www . acsa . org , tackling topics including restorative justice , success and teamwork . Featured interviews include Executive Director Wes Smith and President Ralph Porras , along with many school leaders across California .

“ The ultimate success for me looks like all students succeeding and thriving ,” Smith said in his interview . “ It looks like the narrowing of achievement gaps as well as access and opportunity gaps .”

These videos will allow some of ACSA ’ s 18,000 members to share stories about their successes and challenges , and

Periodicals

Dated Material will also help educational leaders gather advice for their own schools . Featured speakers shared their own personal stories on how they decided to devote their lives and careers to education .

“ At the end of the day , it was a teacher I had in the sixth grade ,” said Mary Grace , assistant superintendent in Anaheim ESD . “ It was her first year teaching and she loved every one of us . And so when I became a teacher and when I became a principal and now as a district office person , I want to make sure that ’ s what we ’ re doing . We ’ re creating people who are in the classroom and love the children .”

Beginning in January , you can visit www . acsa . org to access the series , or tune in to our social media channels including Facebook , Twitter and YouTube .

There have been recent changes to the state and federal accountability system , including the requirements set forth by the Local Control Funding Formula and Every Student Succeeds Act . Both laws require English Learners to make progress towards English proficiency , which the State Board of Education has determined will be evaluated through the use of two data sources : ( 1 ) the score of proficiency on the state ’ s annual English language proficiency assessment ( currently the California English Language Development Test and starting in 2018-19 , the new English Language Proficiency Assessment of California ), and ( 2 ) reclassification rates . This will result in the creation of an English Learner Indicator , or composite , that will be reported for all local educational agencies that meet the numerically significant subgroup size of 30 or more English Learners .

On Nov . 28 , several school leaders statewide were invited to provide their insight and expertise to Senate education staff members and share the policy changes that may be needed to support English Learners to successfully reclassify before they are identified as a long-term English Learner . Given this work on English Learners accountability by the California Department of Education and SBE , members of the State Senate may be interested in addressing the issue of English Learner reclassification criteria with the goal of moving towards standardized criteria to be used by school districts across the state . Per current state law , the standardized reclassification procedures for English Learners include 1 ) assessment of English language proficiency using the state test of English language development ; 2 )

See RECLASS , page 5

The Legislative Analyst ’ s Office has released their five-year fiscal outlook for California and it ’ s a good news / uncertain news scenario for K-12 education . The good news is that in the short term , no foreseeable budget cuts appear to be coming to schools in 2017-18 . The uncertain news is that the state ’ s education budget is still held hostage to volatile conditions , and predicting those conditions in out years is uncertain at best .

The LAO report commends the state for building its budget reserves . If current conditions continue , the state would end 2017-18 with $ 11.5 billion in reserves . This would greatly assist the state in weathering a mild recession , should that occur . Building a budget reserve was a big priority for Gov . Brown , and thanks to a recovered economy , he has been able to deliver on that .

But because projecting the budgetary situation for out years is a hazy proposition , the LAO report looks at two different scenarios : continued growth and a mild recession . With the growth scenario , the LAO sees the state continuing to grow its budgetary surplus . With a mild recession ,

See LAO , page 2

Make sure to register now for the upcoming 2017 ACSA Negotiators Symposium , coming Jan . 18-20 in San Diego . This three-day event features a mix of interactive and workshop sessions presented by practitioners , consultants and attorneys , all offering information and providing insight into the issues and laws that confront HR departments .

The 2017 symposium theme is “ Charting Your Course for Successful Negotiations .” Two featured keynote presenters will be attorney Greg Dannis of Dannis Woliver and Kelley and Ron Bennett , CEO of School Services of California . An additional keynote speaker will be announced shortly .

Symposium planning committee chair Shawn Tennenbaum , director of Human Resources in San Benito HSD said he is looking forward to a great event that provides all negotiators and negotiating teams with the opportunity to grow and develop as they prepare for successful negotiations now and in the future .

See NEGOTIATORS , page 2

The ACSA PAC will be rolling out a series of videos in January 2017 after the California state budget is released . The series is designed to educate and inspire ACSA members to be active advocates for California ’ s students . Each short video will address the history of ACSA and the ACSA PAC , progress towards goals and plans for the future .

Featured in each video will be the new ACSA PAC spokesperson , Shannon Lujan . Lujan holds a master ’ s degree from USC in public policy and will be the face of PAC engagement moving forward . The goal is to help members feel comfortable with understanding the PAC , its role in advocating for students and how to help it succeed .

“ We want our members to be politically active at both the statewide and

Superintendent talk . ACSA , along with nearly a dozen California superintendents , will lead a roundtable discussion December 6 with legislators on issues pertaining to LCFF and LCAP implementation . Some of the topics members will be discussing include the local initiatives taking place with the LCFF funding , what districts are doing to support disadvantaged students , as well as what challenges are districts still facing despite the benefits of LCFF . We ’ ll have coverage of the event in an upcoming edition of EdCal .

Meetings mastery . This professional development training for principals and central office administrators offers an opportunity to deepen both leading and meeting skills . This valuable training has new upcoming dates in the 2017 calendar year . Locations include : Sacramento , Ontario , Fairfield , and San Jose . Visit ACSA ’ s website under Educational Services and sign up for this training today .

Math placement . A recent study from the Public Policy Institute of California on the California Mathematics Placement Act , addresses concerns about the math placement process . The study recommends several actions for helping districts comply with the law and improve their math placement process , including using evidence-based measures , refining the approach to teacher recommendations , and identifying effective placement protocols . The study can be accessed at www . ppic . org .

Equity 101 . ACSA , in conjunction with its equity partners , is offering a learning experience designed to build your cultural proficiency capacity in order to lead for equity . Equity 101 is a rich one-day program for district teams and individual leaders to assist in the development of deep belief systems and understanding of diversity . The next training will be Jan . 20 in Fairfield . Please go to www . acsa . org for more .

the grassroots level ,” said Adonai Mack , senior director of Political Affairs and Strategy for ACSA . “ The gubernatorial and Superintendent of Public Instruction races are right around the corner and we need every member to be involved . Donating to the ACSA PAC is a great way to support the work that ACSA is doing in these races in order to keep student needs and success at the forefront of the conversation .”

The ACSA PAC works through the leadership team , including the ACSA Board of Directors , vice presidents for legislative action and state and region leadership . This team works together to craft and implement advocacy plans that engage the members of the Legislature strategically . A big part of that process is getting members

See ACSA PAC . page 3