November 7, 2013 Dr. Kathleen Smith Office of School Improvement Virginia Department of Education Academic Review and School Improvement Plans

Purpose To detail school improvement planning requirements for schools rated Accredited with Warning or Provisionally Accredited - Graduation Rate (including those warned in a content area)

School Improvement Plans School improvement plans must address essential actions resulting from the academic review. School improvement plans are public documents. School improvement plans need to address the 9 required components found in the Standards of Accreditation: (next slide)

Regulations Establishing Standards for Accrediting Public Schools in Virginia-8 VAC G. The improvement plan shall include the following: 1. A description of how the school will meet the requirements to be Fully Accredited for each of three years covered by the plan; 2. Specific measures for achieving and documenting student academic improvement; 3. A description of the amount of instructional time in the school day devoted to instruction in the core academic areas; 4. Instructional practices to remediate students who have not been successful on SOL tests; 5. Intervention strategies to prevent further declines in student performance and graduation rates; 6. Staff development needed; 7. Strategies to involve and assist parents in raising their child’s academic performance; 8. *The need for flexibility or waivers to state or local regulations to meet objectives of the plan; and 9. A description of the manner in which local, state, and federal funds are used to support the implementation of the components of the plan. * must be submitted by June 1

Indistar A web-based tool for assessing, planning, implementing, and monitoring progress toward the rapid improvement indicators. Its six-step process is based on the continuous improvement model. Step 1 – Register school Step 2 – Provide school information Step 3 – Form school team Step 4 – Assess school indicators Step 5 – Create school plan Step 6 – Monitor school plan Indistar is only required for Warned or provisionally accredited schools that are also Title I schools required to create an improvement plan due to missing annual measurable objectives. These schools use the Rapid Improvement Indicators. High schools that are rated Accredited with Warning or Provisionally Accredited – Graduation Rate (including those that are also warned in a content area). These schools use indicators designed specifically for high schools found on Indistar. Any school may choose to use Indistar.

Essential Actions and Indistar Essential actions are determined by the division-led academic review team in collaboration with the OSI contractor. Select an indicator that is aligned with the essential action. The essential action becomes a task beneath that indicator. Additional tasks may be added to the indicator. Must include indicators TA01, TA02, and TA03. Recorded videos on the use of Indistar for school improvement planning are found at: star/index.shtml star/index.shtml

Schools using Indistar – Title I Improvement Plan Required due to missing AMOs School improvement plan must address the essential actions resulting from the Academic Review. assess indicators ID08, IF08, ID10, IID11, VA10, VC01, VC02, TA01, TA02, and TA03. include indicators TA01, TA02, and TA03 in the plan. include agendas and minutes of school leadership team meetings. Division staff person assigned to school leadership team must enter monthly Coaching Comments on the Indistar dashboard.

High Schools Modified Academic Review Process for High Schools agenda_items/item_h.pdf

High Schools – Provisionally Accredited – Graduation Rate, Accredited with Warning, or both 1. Staff will form a division and a school team. Principal and one division team member must be on both the division and school team. 2. The division and school team will review technical assistance materials provided by VDOE on the implementation of the Virginia Early Warning System* and on the development of the comprehensive improvement plan. 3. The division and school team will load and review VEWS data. The school team will initiate the 7-step VEWS implementation process. *DataCation may be used in place of VEWS.

High Schools – Provisionally Accredited – Graduation Rate, Accredited with Warning, or both - continued 4. The division and school team will meet with the OSI contractor to determine specific assistance needed from OSI including webinars required and the division and school indicators that will be used to develop the comprehensive plan. The division and school team will agree to develop, implement, and monitor this plan for three years. The principal and certain division and school team members will attend all technical assistance activities agreed upon. This must include The 8 Elements of HS Improvement Webinar Series (which must be viewed by April 15, 2014) ment/training/index.shtml ment/training/index.shtml

High Schools – Provisionally Accredited – Graduation Rate, Accredited with Warning, or both - continued 5. Develop, implement, and monitor a school- and division- level electronic comprehensive improvement plan using research-based indicators identified by the Office of School Improvement for three years. Includes indicatorsTA01, TA02, and TA If the school is Denied Accreditation, the division will enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Virginia Board of Education.

High Schools – Provisionally Accredited – Graduation Rate, Accredited with Warning, or both - continued Must complete division-led academic review. Indistar plan must include essential actions arising from this review. (Only for high schools warned in one or more academic content area. If a high school is Accredited with Warning - Graduation only or Provisionally Accredited - Graduation only, this bulleted item does not apply.)

Electronic Data System Requirements High schools must implement an electronic data query system that will do the following: House information on student Attendance, Behavior, and Course performance (ABC’s) Identify which students are at risk for failure or dropping out according to established thresholds Assign interventions to identified students Monitor the success of the interventions assigned and provided based on periodic data uploads (at least quarterly)

Electronic Data System Options  Option 1a: VEWS ◦ High schools only (research-validated by National High School Center and VDOE for grade 9) ◦ Free ◦ Can upload data quarterly  For more information, go to t/early_warning_system/index.shtml t/early_warning_system/index.shtml

Electronic Data System Options  Option 1b: DataCation ◦ $500 per school (annual fee) ◦ Can be used K-12 ◦ Can upload data quarterly, every six weeks, or monthly  For more information, go to rovement/dashboard/index.shtml rovement/dashboard/index.shtml or contact Peter Bencivenga at X103 or