State schools given new set of standards

Education Board approves revised list for accreditation

The Arkansas Board of Education on Wednesday unanimously approved a revised set of state standards for accrediting schools and school districts, despite most members expressing concerns about the strippeddown requirements.

The new standards list 38 courses that schools must provide, which are given only as broad subject areas such as English, math and social studies. They do not list graduation requirements but say that students must acquire “a minimum of 22 units of credit for graduation as determined by the state Board of Education.”

Education Board Chairman Jay Barth of Little Rock said he was worried that heightened flexibility at the school district level would create inequities across the state and make the requirements for schools unclear.

“My concern is that school districts don’t really know where the line is,” he said.

An earlier draft of the standards made available for public comment received responses expressing similar concerns. Members of the state Department of Education staff revised the document earlier this month, but they made no substantive changes.

Stacy Smith, the agency’s assistant commissioner of learning services, said the changes make the process of accreditation simpler and lift the burden of districts having to offer courses that they don’t have teachers for, which puts school systems in danger of being put on probation.

Smith said making sure the state has a viable system for online teaching and learning will ensure all students have access to courses not enumerated in the standards, such as journalism, which she said schools have been required to provide despite the fact that only about 4 percent of students are actually taking it.

Deborah Coffman, assistant commissioner for accountability, added that the monitoring process to ensure schools meet accreditation standards includes interviews with students during site visits.

“They usually tell all,” she said.

The board also previewed a separate document of mon-

itoring guidelines, which lists the standards and exactly what districts must do to meet them, at Wednesday’s special meeting. The spreadsheet will be released publicly once it is finalized.

The original accreditation standards, which date back to the mid-1980s, contained most of the minimum requirements for operating schools. District officials will now have to rely on requirements routinely updated on the state Education Department’s website. In some areas, the districts and schools will have the flexibility to decide how to operate without specific state requirements.

The standards will go in front of a legislative subcommittee on June 12, then a full legislative council on June 15, where members of the public will be able to give feedback in person.