1. District and School Accountability System: Recommended Modifications
Presented to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
June 25, 2019

2. Process Timeframe Action March 2019
Initial discussion of potential changes:
Accountability & Assistance Advisory Council (AAAC)
Board of Elementary & Secondary Education
April 12 –
May 31, 2019
Public comment on proposed changes
Survey
Information sessions
AAAC
June 2019
Final discussion & Board vote on proposed changes

3. Proposed changes to accountability system
Expanded advanced coursework list (high school only)
Current method: One of the additional indicators in the Accountability System is the percentage of 11th & 12th graders completing advance coursework (Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, dual enrollment courses, & other selected rigorous courses).
Proposed change: Expand the list of advanced coursework to include Project Lead the Way (PLTW) courses.

4. Proposed changes to accountability system
Old method: Calculate participation rates separately for each subject (ELA, math, science) for each subgroup.
Proposed new method: Calculate participation rates for all subjects combined, separately for each subgroup. Rate for “all students” group remains disaggregated by subject. Modeling indicates this proposal would decrease the amount of identified schools by 25-33%.
Group
English language arts
Mathematics
Science
Enrolled
Assessed %
Met Target?
Years in Rate
All Students
1,030
1,010 98
Yes 1
1,033
1,021 99
424
416
Group
English language arts
Mathematics
Science
Overall
Enrolled
Assessed
Total enrolled
Total tested %
Met Target?
Years in Rate
EL and Former EL
118
105
119 49
286
273 95
Yes 1
(89%)
(100%)

5. Proposed changes to accountability system
Using two years of data
Current method: The 2018 district & school accountability results included only one year of data (2018).
Proposed change: Include two years of data (2018 & 2019) when calculating accountability results for Data from both years would be weighted in the overall percentile & criterion-referenced calculations, with more weight on data from the most recent year (e.g., 40 percent for 2018 & 60 percent for 2019).
Progress towards targets categories
Current method: Progress towards targets was initially reported in two categories (meeting targets & partially meeting targets) & moves to three categories starting with 2019 reporting (meeting targets, partially meeting targets, & not meeting targets).
Proposed change: Name the second of the three categories improving towards targets, so the three categories to be reported in 2019 are: meeting targets, improving towards targets, & not meeting targets.

6. The Department received correspondence from 40 individuals
Public comment
The Department received correspondence from 40 individuals
31 submitted comments as individuals
9 submitted comments on behalf of their school or district
Many commenters expressed support for the proposed changes, while others shared concerns about the changes

7. Frequently received comments
Advanced courses should include more than Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), & Project Lead the Way (PLTW)
Chronic absenteeism:
Should not be included as an indicator in the accountability system, as student attendance is outside of the school’s or district’s control
Rates should take into consideration the reason for or kind of absence
The accountability system should not include two years of data because the system is still very new

8. Frequently received comments
Participation rate calculation:
Proposed change does not take into consideration those students who are unable to participate in the assessment due to medical reasons
Proposed change may not do enough to mitigate the impact of one or two non-participations in small subgroups
There should be additional categories that reflect school & district progress towards targets within the criterion-referenced part of the accountability system
In response to comments of this nature, the Department has added a fourth category related to progress towards targets & renamed the categories

9. Categorization of schools & districts – 2018 & proposed
Not requiring assistance or intervention
Requiring assistance or intervention
2018
Schools of recognition
Meeting
targets
Criterion-referenced
target percentage
75-100
Partially meeting
0-74
Focused/
targeted
support
Broad/
comprehensive support
2019 (Proposed)
Criterion-referenced target percentage
Improving toward
50-74
Not meeting
0-49

10. Categorization of schools & districts – recommended
Not requiring assistance or intervention
Requiring assistance or intervention
Schools of recognition
Meeting or exceeding
targets
Criterion-referenced
Target
percentage
75-100
Substantial progress towards
target
50-74
Moderate progress
towards
Criterion-
referenced
25-49
Limited or no progress towards
0-24
Focused/
targeted
support
Broad/
comprehensive support

11. Next steps
The Department is asking the Board to approve the proposed changes to the accountability system as described in the accountability system summary document
Changes include:
Expanded advanced coursework list
Participation rate calculation
Using two years of data
Progress towards targets categories (now 4 categories, revised in response to public comment)
No changes to state regulations are needed this year
Pending Board approval, the Department will incorporate these changes into the 2019 accountability results (reported in fall 2019)