Rethinking School Improvement Rising to the Challenge

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Rethinking School ImprovementRising to the
Challenge

• Mississippi Department of Education
• Office of Innovative Support
• Division of
• School Improvement
• September 24, 2007

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Process

• Adequate Yearly Progress
• Identification
• School Improvement Requirements
• Year 1
• Year 2
• Corrective Action
• Restructuring
• LEA Improvement

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Adequate Yearly Progress

• The minimum level of improvement school districts
  must achieve every year
• Title I schools must meet the annual achievement
  rate in the following areas
• Reading/Language Arts
• Mathematics
• Other Academic Indicator
• Attendance (Elementary/Middle School)
• Graduation Rate (High School)

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Identification

• Each Title I district must identify for school
  improvement any Title I school that fails to make
  AYP for two consecutive years.
• Identification must take place before the
  beginning of the school year following the
  failure to make AYP.
• Non- Title I schools failing to meet AYP will be
  subject to state sanctions as identified by Miss.
  Code Ann. 37-18-1 - 37-18-7 (2000).

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Identification
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Identification

• The School Improvement Status is based upon the
  number of years in which a school does not make
  AYP.

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Identification

• For the 2007-2008 school year, 69 schools
  have been identified for improvement.

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Identification
Year 1 Improvement Year 2 Improvement Corrective
Action Restructuring
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School Improvement Requirements
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Year 1 Improvement RequirementsNotification

• The LEA must promptly notify parents of each
  student enrolled in the school with the following
  information
• An explanation of the identification of the
  school
• Reason for identification
• An explanation of the actions that will be taken
  by the school and LEA to address the problems of
  low achievement
• A comparison of the schools academic achievement
  with other schools in the LEA and state (as a
  whole)

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Year 1 Improvement RequirementsNotification

• An explanation of how parents can become involved
• An explanation of the availability of Public
  School Choice
• The notification must be provided in an
  understandable and uniform format.

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Year 1 Improvement RequirementsSchool
Improvement Plan

• Develop or revise a plan that addresses the
  academic issues that caused the schools
  identification
• The plan should improve the quality of teaching
  and learning in the school in an effort to gain
  proficiency in the core academic subject areas of
  reading/language arts and math

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Year 1 Improvement RequirementsSchool
Improvement Plan

• Begin implementation no later than the beginning
  of the next school year following identification
• Target deficiencies and all NCLB requirements

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Year 1 Improvement RequirementsTechnical
Assistance

• LEA shall ensure the provision of technical
  assistance to the identified school
• Technical Assistance shall include assistance in
  the following areas
• Analyzing data from academic assessments
• Identifying and implementing the following based
  on scientifically based research
• Professional development
• Instructional strategies
• Instructional methodologies
• Revising the budget to allocate funds to
  effective activities to increase academic
  achievement

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Year 1 Improvement RequirementsPublic School
Choice

• The option for parents to transfer students to
  another school served by the LEA
• Available for all students enrolled in the school
• Option offered immediately upon receipt of
  improvement identification

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Year 1 Improvement RequirementsPublic School
Choice

• Included in parent notification letter
• List all schools in which the student may
  transfer
• The receiving schools may not be identified for
  improvement, corrective action, restructuring, or
  persistently dangerous by the MDE
• Identification of the receiving school(s) which
  includes information on the academic achievement
  of the school(s)

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Year 1 Improvement RequirementsPublic School
Choice

• Priority
• Lowest-achieving children from low-income
  families
• LEA must determine family income on the same
  basis used to make allocations to schools under
  subpart A of Title I

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Year 1 Improvement RequirementsPublic School
Choice

• Any public school to which a student transfers
  must
• Ensure students are enrolled in classes and other
  activities in the same manner as all other
  students in the school.
• LEA must permit students to remain in the school
  until the student has completed the highest grade
  in the school

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Year 1 Improvement RequirementsPublic School
Choice No Eligible Schools within LEA

• Offer supplemental educational services to
  eligible students in schools in School
  Improvement- Year One

• Establish a cooperative agreement for a transfer
  with one or more other LEAs in the area

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Year 1 Improvement RequirementsPublic School
Choice Transportation

• Transportation obligation ends at the end of the
  school year in which the school the student
  transferred from is no longer identified for
  school improvement, corrective action, or
  restructuring

• LEA must provide or pay for the students
  transportation to school

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Year 1 Improvement RequirementsPublic School
Choice IDEA and Section 504

• The school must provide a free appropriate
  education as that term is defined in section
  602(B) of the IDEA

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Year 1 Improvement RequirementsPublic School
Choice Desegregation Plans

• LEA is not exempt from public school choice
  requirements.
• Review requirements of desegregation plan to
  determine whether choice is available within
  parameters of the plan.
• Seek court approval for amendments to the plan to
  permit a transfer option for students enrolled in
  schools identified for school improvement.
• If the LEA is unable to secure changes that
  permit a transfer option, the LEA should notify
  MDE of its request to the court and the courts
  decision.
• If the plan has been agreed to with the Office
  for Civil Rights, OCR will work with the LEA to
  identify amendments that will enable compliance
  with Title I public school requirements.

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Year 2 Improvement RequirementsSupplemental
Educational Services

• Additional academic instruction designed to
  increase academic achievement of students
• High quality, researched-based, specifically
  designed to
• Increase the academic achievement of eligible
  students as measured by the MCT2 or SATP
• Attain proficiency on MCT2 or SATP

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Year 2 Improvement RequirementsSupplemental
Educational Services

• Types of services
• Tutoring
• Remediation
• Other educational interventions
• SES must be provided outside of the regular
  school day (before school, after school,
  weekends, or summer)

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Year 2 Improvement RequirementsSupplemental
Educational Services

• Who are SES Providers?
• Entities who have successfully demonstrated a
  record of effectiveness in increasing student
  academic achievement and approved by the
  Mississippi Department of Education (MDE)
• Providers may be
• Profit organizations
• Non-profit organizations
• Educational Service Agency
• LEA (one that is not identified as in need of
  improvement)
• Public School (one that is not identified as in
  need of improvement)
• Private / Charter School
• Faith Based Organizations
• Institutions of Higher Education
• Community based organizations

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Year 2 Improvement RequirementsSupplemental
Educational Services

• Whos required to offer SES?
• Schools that do not make AYP for three
  consecutive years (Year 2 of School Improvement)
  must offer SES.
• Services must continue until the school has made
  AYP for 2 consecutive years (no longer identified
  for School Improvement).
• Schools that do not make AYP for two consecutive
  years (Year 1 of School Improvement) may choose
  to offer SES.

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Year 2 Improvement RequirementsSupplemental
Educational Services

• Whos eligible?
• All students from low-income families who attend
  Title I schools
• Identification of low-income families based upon
  same measures used to make allocations to schools
  under Title I
• Eligibility is not dependent on whether the
  student is a member of a subgroup that caused the
  school to not make AYP

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Year 2 Improvement RequirementsSupplemental
Educational Services

• LEA Responsibilities
• Notify parents about the availability of
  services, at least annually (Example Vendor
  Fairs)
• Help parents choose a provider, if requested
• Determine which students should receive services
  if all students can not be served
• Enter into agreement with a provider selected by
  parents of an eligible student
• Start services (October 2007)
• Monitor
• Assist the SEA in identifying potential providers
  within the LEA
• Protect the Privacy of students who receive
  supplemental educational services
• Submit a copy of all letters and other
  documentation to MDE

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LEA Responsibilities

• Funding
• The amount of funding that a district must devote
  to SES depends in part on how much it spends on
  choice-related transportation. The district must
  set aside an amount equal to 20 of its Title I
  allocation, and spend it as follows, unless a
  lesser amount than 20 will cover all choice and
  SES needs.
• 5 of the allocation for choice transportation
• 5 of the allocation for supplemental educational
  services
• The remaining 10 of the allocation for either or
  both of (i) and (ii) above, as the district
  determine

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Corrective Action RequirementsCorrective Action

• Identified schools must take at least one of the
  following corrective actions
• Replace school staff who are relevant to schools
  failure to make AYP
• Institute and fully implement a new curriculum
• Significantly decrease the management authority
  at the school level
• Appoint an outside expert to advise the school on
  revising and implementing the school improvement
  plan
• Extend the length of the school year or day for
  that school
• Restructure the internal organization of the
  school

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Corrective Action RequirementsSchool Support
Teams

• Experts in the field of education
• Provide technical assistance to schools in order
  to build capacity in the areas of
• Curriculum
• Instruction
• School Management
• Leadership

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Restructuring Planning RequirementsAlternative
Governance Arrangements

• Prepare a plan and make arrangements to carry out
  one of the following
• Reopen the school as a public charter school
• Replace all or most of the school staff who are
  relevant to the schools failure to make AYP
• Enter into a contract with an entity with a
  demonstrated record of effectiveness to operate
  the school
• Turn the operation of the school over to the
  State (if agreed to by the State)
• Any other major restructuring of the schools
  governance arrangement

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LEA Improvement Requirements

• The LEA must develop or revise an improvement
  plan
• The plan must
• Address the fundamental teaching and learning
  needs in the LEA
• Define specific measurable achievement goals
• Incorporate scientifically based research
  strategies
• Include student learning activities
• Ensure the provision of high quality professional
  development
• Include strategies to promote effective parental
  involvement
• Include an explanation of why the LEAs previous
  plan did not bring about achievement

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QUESTIONS