ECSheading
From the ECS State Policy Database
Instructional Approaches--Constructivism


Education Commission of the States • 700 Broadway, Suite 810 • Denver, CO 80203-3442 • 303.299.3600 • fax 303.296.8332 • www.ecs.org

This database is made possible by your state's fiscal support of the Education Commission of the States (ECS). Most entries are legislative, although rules/regulations and executive orders that make substantive changes are included. Every effort is made to collect the latest available version of policies; in some instances, recent changes might not be reflected. For expediency purposes minimal attention has been paid to style (capitalization, punctuation) and format.

Please cite use of the database as: Education Commission of the States (ECS) State Policy Database, retrieved [date].

State Status/Date Level Summary
NHSigned into law 06/2007P-12Adds criminal threatening to the definition of an act of theft, destruction, or violence within the safe school zones statute.
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2007/HB0446.html
Title: H.B. 446
Source: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us

FLSigned into law 05/2006P-12Defines secondary schools as those serving grades 6-12. Specifies that the following guiding principles must be used in the annual preparation of each secondary school's improvement plan:

(a) Struggling students, especially those in failing schools, need the highest quality teachers and dramatically different, innovative approaches to teaching and learning.
(b) Every teacher must contribute to every student's reading improvement.
(c) Quality professional development provides teachers and principals with the tools they need to better serve students.
(d) Small learning communities allow teachers to personalize instruction to better address student learning styles, strengths, and weaknesses.
(e) Intensive intervention in reading and math must occur early and through innovative delivery systems.
(f) Parents need access to tools they can use to monitor their child's progress in school, communicate with teachers, and act early on behalf of their child.
(g) Applied and integrated courses help students see the relationships between subjects and relevance to their futures.
(h) School is more relevant when students choose courses based on their goals, interests, and talents.
(i) Master schedules should not determine instruction and must be designed based on student needs, not adult or institutional needs.
(j) Academic and career planning engages students in developing a personally meaningful course of study so they can achieve goals they have set for themselves.

Requires local boards to adopt policies to address:

(a) Procedures for placing and promoting grade 6-12 students entering from out of state or from a foreign country, including a review of the student's prior academic performance.
(b) Alternative methods for students to demonstrate competency in required courses and credits, with special support for students who have been retained.
(c) Applied, integrated, and combined courses that provide flexibility for students to enroll in courses that are creative and meet individual learning styles and student needs.
(d) Credit recovery courses and intensive reading and math intervention courses based on student performance on the FCAT. These courses should be competency based and offered through innovative delivery systems, including computer-assisted instruction. Districts should use learning gains as well as other appropriate data and provide incentives to identify and reward high-performing teachers who teach credit recovery and intensive intervention courses.
(e) Grade forgiveness policies that replace a grade of "D" or "F" with a grade of "C" or higher earned subsequently in the same or a comparable course.
(f) Summer academies for students to receive intensive reading and mathematics intervention courses or competency-based credit recovery courses. A student's participation in an instructional or remediation program prior to or immediately following entering grade 9 for the first time shall not affect that student's classification as a first-time 9th grader for reporting purposes.
(g) Strategies to support teachers' pursuit of the reading endorsement and emphasize reading instruction professional development for content area teachers.
(h) Creative and flexible scheduling designed to meet student needs.
(i) Procedures for high school students who have not prepared an electronic personal education plan to prepare such plan.
(j) Tools for parents to regularly monitor student progress and communicate with teachers.
(k) Additional course requirements for promotion and graduation which may be determined by each school district in the student progression plan and may include additional academic, fine and performing arts, physical education, or career and technical education courses in order to provide a complete education program.

Requires the department to:
(a) By February 1, 2007, increase the number of approved applied, integrated, and combined courses available to districts.
(b) By the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year, make available a professional development package designed to provide the information that content area teachers need to become proficient in applying scientifically based reading strategies through their content areas.
(c) Share best practices for providing a complete education program to students enrolled in course recovery, credit recovery, intensive reading intervention, or intensive math intervention.
(d) Expedite assistance and decisions and coordinate policies throughout all divisions within the department to provide districts with support to implement the Florida Secondary School Redesign Act.
(e) Use data to provide the Legislature with an annual longitudinal analysis of the success of this reform effort, including the progress of 6th grade students and 9th grade students scoring at Level 1 on FCAT Reading or FCAT Math.

Directs the commissioner of education to create and implement the Secondary School Improvement Award Program to reward public secondary schools that demonstrate continuous student academic improvement and show the greatest gains in student academic achievement in reading and math.

Pages 35-39 of 160: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=_h7087er.doc&DocumentType=Bill&BillNumber=7087&Session=2006
Title: H.B. 7087 - Section 19
Source: www.myfloridahouse.gov