Achievements Compacts are two-way partnership agreements between the Oregon Education Investment Board and every K-12 school district, education service district, community college, the university system and individual university, and Oregon Health Sciences University.

These compacts are intended to challenge educators across Oregon to set targets on key student outcomes to help students achieve the educational outcomes valued by Oregonians.

Purpose and Function of Achievement Compacts - Excerpts from OEIB
The compacts focus on measures of student progress and target setting around those measures, with several core goals:

To align the education system toward achievement of the 40/40/20 goal and college and career readiness.
To focus and inform state investment and local budget and program decisions to achieve these outcomes.
To showcase best practices and promote collaboration, where successful districts or colleges share their strategies with those that can benefit from additional guidance and support.
To replace provisions of NCLB with a more supportive and flexible K-12 accountability system.
The achievement compacts offer an opportunity to focus a school district’s efforts and community support around successful practices to increase student success and college and career-ready graduation.

Achievement Compacts and State Funding
Each K-12 school district’s achievement compact will include a comparison of the funding it receives from the state versus the funding required for 90 percent of students to reach state standards (as defined by the quality education goals of ORS 327.056).

Including funding numbers in the compacts serves two purposes. First, it will help the OEIB identify the school districts achieving greater outcomes for roughly the same amount of funding (and conversely, where the greater outcomes might be related to higher funding levels). This can encourage sharing of the best, and most cost-effective, practices to help students achieve.

K-12 funding for 2012-13 has already been set by the Legislature, in the 2011-13 budget. The State School Fund will be distributed by the formula, based on ADMw, as in the past. That has not changed.

The Governor has said many times that education is underfunded at all levels, and that it will take additional state investment for Oregon to meet its 40/40/20 goals. As the economy recovers and as the state addresses the costs of health care and its prison system – both priorities for the Governor – more of the budget can be reinvested in education. Also, the Governor is committed to bringing the parties together to plan for revenue reform. The Governor in December will propose a budget for 2013-15 that will take the next step in outcomes based investment.

Temporary Achievement Compact Committee
While it is not mandated for the Board of Directors to appoint an Achievement Compact Committee for this year’s compact, Newberg has recommended a representative group of nine members, including a Board member and educators from each level—including special programs and special populations.

The Newberg School Board expects to discuss resources needed to meet the Achievement Compact targets at its May 15, 2012 meeting, with formal adoption of the Achievement Compact and budget on May 22nd.

Members of this committee are:

Don Staples, Director of Assessment
Polly Peterson, Board of Directors
Jennifer Botenhagen, Elementary Teacher? Teaching & Learning Council
Sarah Goehler, Middle School Mathematics Teacher
Wayne Strong, Principal
Patrick Baker, High School Counselor
Linda Varuska, High School Special Educatino Teacher
Dr. Pam Mears, Lead Teacher/Reading Specialist
Doug Geygan, High School Teacher/SLC GRant Coordinator
Lory Albright, Elementary Teacher/NEA Representative