Utah Selects New Statewide School Testing Provider Questar Assessment named through bid process to administer grades 3-8 assessment
The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) will begin negotiations with Questar Assessment Inc. for a five-year, computer-adaptive testing contract that will begin being used in schools in the 2018-19 school year.
Questar was one of four companies to participate in a required request for proposal (RFP) process over the past year. USBE notified the Minneapolis-based company Friday of its award, which will be executed in the coming months after the Board approves contract terms.
“As a selection committee, we vetted the companies through a fair and unbiased process. Much thought and discussion went into this decision, and I believe this is in the best interests of both students and taxpayers in Utah,” said Board Member Terryl Warner, who represents District 1 and served on the RFP selection committee.
Based on the RFP, the $29,920,624 contract will include testing for grades 3-8 in English language arts and mathematics, grades 4-8 in science, and writing tests for grades 5 and 8 through the 2023-24 school year. An optional five-year renewal option will also be included in the contract. Funding for the assessment comes annually via a legislative line item.
Also included in the RFP and future contract is a provision that all test questions used in the current statewide assessment, Student Assessment of Growth and Excellence (SAGE), stay in Utah and be used
in the new assessment under Questar. USBE also has the opportunity to work with Questar to develop additional test questions.
The original five-year contract for SAGE, administered by the American Institutes for Research (AIR), was awarded in 2013 following legislative direction to adopt a computer-adaptive system.
In fall 2016, the Board began the RFP process to select a new assessment provider as the current contract with AIR is set to expire at the end of the 2017-18 school year. Under state guidelines, that process has included multiple phases, including technical proposals, live presentations, and cost submissions.
Questar Assessment Inc. is a K-12 assessment provider that acts as a wholly-owned, independentlyoperated subsidiary of Educational Testing Service. It has been involved in the development and administration of K-8 large-scale summative assessment programs since 2000. Questar’s services are offered in some capacity in 34 states.
###
===================
USDA Offers Targeted Farm Loan Funding for Underserved Groups and Beginning Farmers
(SALT LAKE CITY, Utah), October 12, 2017 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Utah Farm Service Agency (FSA) Acting Executive Director, Jeanine Cook, reminds producers that FSA offers specially targeted farm ownership and farm operating loans to underserved applicants as well as beginning farmers and ranchers.
“Each year, a portion of FSA’s loan funds are set aside to lend to targeted underserved and beginning farmers and ranchers,” said Cook. “Farming and ranching is a capital intensive business and FSA is committed to helping producers start and maintain their agricultural operations.”
During fiscal year 2017 (Oct. 1, 2016, through Sept. 30, 2017), Utah FSA obligated $35,422,155 million in loans to underserved borrowers and beginning farmers and ranchers.
USDA defines underserved applicants as a group whose members have been subjected to racial, ethnic or gender prejudice because of their identity as members of the group without regard to their individual qualities. For farm loan program purposes, underserved groups are women, African Americans, American Indians and Alaskan Natives, Hispanics and Asians and Pacific Islanders.
In order to qualify as a beginning farmer, the individual or entity must meet the eligibility requirements outlined for direct or guaranteed loans. Additionally, individuals and all entity members must have operated a farm for less than 10 years. Applicants must materially or substantially participate in the operation. For farm ownership purposes, the applicant must not own a farm greater than 30 percent of the average size farm in the county at the time of application. All direct farm ownership applicants must have participated in the business operations of a farm for at least three years out of the last 10 years prior to the date the application is submitted. If the applicant is an entity, all members must be related by blood or marriage and all entity members must be eligible beginning farmers.
Underserved or beginning farmers and ranchers who cannot obtain commercial credit from a bank can apply for either FSA direct loans or guaranteed loans. Direct loans are made to applicants by FSA. Guaranteed loans are made by lending institutions who arrange for FSA to guarantee the loan. FSA can guarantee up to 95 percent of the loss of principal and interest on a loan. The FSA guarantee allows lenders to make agricultural credit available to producers who do not meet the lender’s normal underwriting criteria.
The direct and guaranteed loan program offers two types of loans: farm ownership loans and farm operating loans.
Farm ownership loan funds may be used to purchase or enlarge a farm or ranch, purchase easements or rights of way needed in the farm’s operation, build or improve buildings such as a dwelling or barn, promote soil and water conservation and development and pay closing costs.
Farm operating loan funds may be used to purchase livestock, poultry, farm equipment, fertilizer and other materials necessary to operate a successful farm. Operating loan funds can also be used for family living expenses, refinancing debts under certain conditions, paying salaries for hired farm laborers, installing or improving water systems for home, livestock or irrigation use and other similar improvements.
Repayment terms for direct operating loans depend on the collateral securing the loan and usually run from one to seven years. Financing for direct farm ownership loans cannot exceed 40 years. Interest rates for direct loans are set periodically according to the Government’s cost of borrowing. Guaranteed loan terms and interest rates are set by the lender.
For more information on FSA’s farm loan programs and underserved and beginning farmer guidelines, please contact your local FSA office. To find your local FSA office, visit http://offices.usda.gov.
==============================
CROP PRODUCTION – OCTOBER 2017
UTAH HIGHLIGHTS
Based on October 1 conditions, alfalfa hay production in Utah is forecast to total 2.18 million tons this year, down from 2.23 million tons produced in 2016, according to the October 1 Agricultural Survey conducted by the Mountain Regional Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA. Utah farmers and ranchers expect to harvest 520,000 acres of alfalfa hay this year, down 10,000 acres from 2016. Alfalfa hay yield is expected to average 4.20 tons per acre, compared with last year’s yield of 4.20 tons per acre and the August forecast of 4.30 tons per acre.
UNITED STATES HIGHLIGHTS
Production of alfalfa and alfalfa mixture dry hay for 2017 is forecast at 56.0 million tons, down less than 1 percent from the August forecast and down 4 percent from 2016. Based on October 1 conditions, yields are expected to average 3.27 tons per acre, down 0.18 ton from last year. Harvested area is forecast at 17.1 million acres, unchanged from the August forecast but up 1 percent from 2016.
For a full copy of the Crop Production report please visit www.nass.usda.gov.
