1. Starting Community Conversations
Identification as a School in Need of [Comprehensive or Targeted] Support and Improvement:
Starting Community Conversations
[INSERT DATE, SCHOOL DISTRICT]
[INSERT SUPERINTENDENT & ALL PRESENTERS NAMES]

2. Presentation Overview
This presentation will cover the following topics:
Background information about the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
How schools are identified for support and improvement
Next steps for our school and collaboration

3. Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
On August 9, 2017, the U.S. Department of Education approved New Jersey's ESSA State Plan, which was developed in collaboration with stakeholders from across New Jersey.
The plan emphasizes New Jersey’s collective expectation that all students have equal access to high-quality educational experiences so they may all reach their greatest potential.
To fulfill this promise to our students, the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) is obligated by federal law, and New Jersey’s ESSA State Plan, to identify schools in need of comprehensive and targeted support and improvement.

4. ESSA School Accountability: Overview
School accountability in ESSA is just one of the New Jersey accountability systems meant to improve student access to high-quality education programs. Its role is to identify our schools most in need of support and improvement.
School and District Reporting
District Accountability (QSAC)
School Accountability (ESSA)
School Accountability (ESSA)
We will now look at the ESSA School accountability system, which is just one of three accountability systems in New Jersey. (Charters have their own Performance Framework in lieu of QSAC, but all charter schools are included in ESSA and all have Performance Reports (dark blue)
The primary purpose of the ESSA school accountability system is to identify schools that are most in need of support.
We ask stakeholders to keep this purpose in mind as we go through the next few slides.

5. How Was Our School Identified?
New Jersey’s ESSA school accountability system provides a formula to determine a performance score, which is based on various measures of progress (accountability indicators).
Our school has been identified based on its relative low performance using these measures.

6. What is a Comprehensive School?
Schools performing at or below fifth percentile of all Title I schools
High schools with a graduation rate less than 67%
The Academic Achievement indicator is determined by student performance on:
PARCC ELA/L: Grades 3-10
PARCC Mathematics: Grades 3-8 and end-of course assessments for Algebra I, Algebra II and Geometry
DLM: ELA/L and Mathematics 3-8 and high school

7. What is a Targeted School?
Schools with a subgroup performing at or below the bottom 5% threshold of Title I schools
Subgroups include different racial and ethnic groups, English Language Learners, students with disabilities, and economically disadvantaged students

8. What are ESSA’s Accountability Indicators?
The accountability indicators in the ESSA State Plan measure the progress of schools as they prepare students for a successful life after high school. Stakeholders, including NJ parents and educators statewide, provided input into New Jersey’s ESSA State Plan.

9. Guide to ESSA Accountability Indicators
Academic Achievement: Percent of students in the school who meet/exceed grade-level standards on each required annual statewide assessment, such as PARCC. Academic Growth: Metric that measures students’ growth on the annual statewide assessment compared to other students in their academic peer group. Graduation Rate: Percentage of students who graduate in 4 years and the percentage of students who graduate in 5 years. English Language Proficiency: All English learners must demonstrate growth of approximately one level on the ACCESS for ELLs test per year for a maximum of 5 years. Chronic Absenteeism is used as a measure of school quality or student success. This is the percent of students who are not present 10% or more of their total enrolled school days.

10. = Accountability Indicators: Weighting (2016-2017) + + + 50% 35% 15%
Each indicator is weighted to determine a summative score for the school.
ESSA Requirement
NJ State Plan Indicator
Weighting*
Academic Progress (Elementary/Middle Schools)
and Graduation Rate (HS)
Student Growth Percentile/
Graduation Rate
50% +
Academic Achievement
PARCC/DLM Proficiency
35% +
Additional Measure of School Quality or Student Success
Chronic Absenteeism
15% +
Progress Towards English Language Proficiency
Progress to English Language Proficiency (ELP) 0% =
100%
*Accountability for Progress towards English Language Proficiency will begin with the calculations in

11. = Accountability Indicators: Weighting + + + 40% 30% 10% 20% 100%
Each indicator is weighted to determine a summative score for the school.
ESSA Requirement
NJ State Plan Indicator
Weighting*
Academic Progress (Elementary/Middle Schools)
and Graduation Rate (HS)
Student Growth Percentile/
Graduation Rate
40% +
Academic Achievement
PARCC/DLM Proficiency
30% +
Additional Measure of School Quality or Student Success
Chronic Absenteeism
10% +
Progress Towards English Language Proficiency
Progress to English Language Proficiency (ELP)*
20% =
100%

12. Accountability Indicators: Subgroup Weighting
Within each indicator, student groups and total population are weighted equally to determine the school’s summative score
SGP/Graduation Rate All Students (50%)
SGP/Graduation Rate
Subgroups (50%)
PARCC Proficiency
All Students (50%)
PARCC Proficiency
Subgroups (50%)
Chronic Absenteeism
All Students (50%)
Chronic Absenteeism
Subgroups (50%)
In addition to assigning weights for each indicator, ESSA requires states to factor each subgroup’s performance on each indicator into the ESSA school accountability system. This, of course, does not apply to the English Language Proficiency indicator, as that indicator applies only to English learners.
Subgroups that must be included in the ESSA school accountability system include economically disadvantaged students, students from major racial and ethnic groups, students with disabilities, and English learners.
To ensure the ESSA school accountability system does not mask within-school achievement gaps, the New Jersey Department of Education weights subgroup performance and overall student performance equally when determining a school’s performance on each indicator.
Progress to English Language Proficiency (ELP)
Summative Score

13. Example of School Subgroup Weighting: Math Proficiency
Accountability Indicators: Subgroup Weighting
Example of School Subgroup Weighting: Math Proficiency
The below example illustrates how the subgroup weighting works. All subgroups are counted equally. Note that students can be in more than one subgroup (e.g. White and Economically Disadvantaged).
TOTAL POPULATION
1000
All Students
White
700
Black/African American
300
White: 16.7%
SUBGROUPS
All Subgroups
Economically Disadvantaged Students
150
White Students
700
Black/African American Students
300
All Students: 50%
Black or African American: 16.7%
50%
Who: James/Sarah/Don
Subgroups are a significant factor in how we evaluate schools. Weighting is used for the following areas:
long-term goals
proficiency, growth
graduation rate
chronic absenteeism.
Economically Disadvantaged: 16.7%

14. What Happens Next?
Schools identified for support and improvement work in partnership with their education community of parents, families, educators, and community members throughout the year to:
Assess needs related to the areas of weakness
Identify strategies and resources that can impact improvement
Create an Annual School Plan that will outline specific steps
Outline a timeline for completion of those steps 
Understand the steps needed to be removed from status

15. How Can I Get Involved?
Reach out to your school and district to find out about opportunities for how parents, families, and educators will work together to improve their schools.
Schools and districts are required to engage with parents, families, educators, and community members throughout the year to assess needs related to the areas of weakness, identify strategies and resources that can impact improvement, create an improvement plan and timeline for completion.
See NJDOE’s Stakeholder Engagement Guide for detailed descriptions of these requirements.

16. Ways To Engage With Our School
[Optional: Insert planned school engagement and/or information sessions]

17. How Can We Learn More?
Detailed school information will be publicly available on the NJDOE website in School Performance Reports:
School Performance Reports:
Provide families, educators and the public a picture of overall school performance.
Include valuable information across many elements, including schoolwide academic achievement and progress, demographics, school climate, chronic absenteeism, and college and career readiness.
Can be used to start local conversations by asking questions such as: How is our school doing relative to other schools? Are all of our students making progress from last year?

18. How Will This Impact Our Children?
RECOMMENDED OPEN SLIDE – SAMPLE QUESTIONS
How does this impact the school curriculum for the rest of this school year and beyond?
Will our teachers and administrators remain here at the district? Will others be brought in?
How will the content and curriculum of WHAT my children learn and HOW they are learning change?
Will they get more tests? How will the state measure progress?
How does this impact juniors and seniors in high school who are applying to colleges?
How can our children get on track to learn what they need to succeed, according to the state’s parameters?
How soon can we have this designation removed and what are the steps?
The Academic Achievement indicator is determined by student performance on:
PARCC ELA/L: Grades 3-10
PARCC Mathematics: Grades 3-8 and end-of course assessments for Algebra I, Algebra II and Geometry
DLM: ELA/L and Mathematics 3-8 and high school

19. For More Information
Visit NJ’s ESSA State Plan website:
Visit our district website for updates [insert]
questions:
[insert district or school information]
NJ Department of Education ESSA team: