ACSA President Bob Lee’s Learning and Teaching Task Force, guided by Jeanie Cash, president of the Curriculum, Instruction and Accountability Council, has completed its mission to define five goals for the association to work toward.

Those goals were presented for action to the ACSA Board of Directors May 16, after EdCal went to press. The goals include redefining roles and providing additional operational help; establishing an informational hub for research; providing coaching and mentoring networks; impacting learning and teaching through increased capacity; and remaining vigilant on state policies.

The L&T Task Force work has been broad-based, representing all ACSA regions, councils and committees; county offices of education; the University of California system; the business community; representatives from the areas of career technical education, English learners, special education, human resources; and, of course, curriculum and instruction leaders.

“Our charge on this task force (has been) to create a road map to get the level of learning and teaching in California to high levels,” Cash said.

The task force represents action on ACSA’s part to fulfill the statewide association goal of focusing on learning and teaching as the foundation of education through strong curriculum and instruction, assessment and accountability, and improving state and local efforts to close the achievement gap. The idea is to take a proactive as opposed to a reactive stance in this key area of education.

“The result of this work will be an action plan that will guide our work on learning and teaching for years to come,” said ACSA Executive Director Bob Wells.

The task force also held discussions and sought input on such larger issues as the state budget. California ranks near last out of 50 states in almost every category, including class size, administrative ratios and counseling services. State education standards are the highest in the nation, yet California is 60 percent leaner in the average administrative ratios.

“ACSA’s vision is to ensure that California’s schools once again become the best in the nation and the envy of schools worldwide,” Wells said. “We know that can’t happen while we remain funded 46th out of the 50 states, but there is a great deal of work to be done besides the focus on adequate resources.”