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School Improvement

 

What causes a school to enter School Improvement status?

 

Because a major component of NCLB focuses on improving education for disadvantaged students, Title I schools that do not make AYP for two or more years in a row are identified as in need of school improvement. These schools will receive technical assistance and face sanctions. The ultimate goal of these sanctions is still to improve academic achievement of students; however, the strategies to do so are more restricted and directed by authorities at district and state levels. These sanctions range from offering parents the choice to transfer to another school in the district to completely restructuring a Title I school that repeatedly does not meet its AYP goals.

In the first and subsequent years of Title I School Improvement, schools must provide students with Public School Choice. In the second and subsequent years of Title I School Improvement, schools must offer Supplemental Educational Services (SES) to eligible students who choose not to transfer. In the third year of Title I School Improvement, schools must take Corrective Actions, such as replacing school staff, implementing a new curriculum, or changing the school's internal organization structure. In the fourth year of Title I School Improvement, schools must plan for restructuring. Schools in the fifth year of Title I School Improvement must implement the restructuring plan that was developed in the previous year.

If a school makes AYP in a single year, the school remains in a holding pattern in regard to sanctions, with one exception. Once schools reach the level of planning for restructuring, they are expected to implement the plans the following year. to exit from Title I School Improvement, a school must meet their AYP target goals for two consecutive years in the subject area that caused it to be identified for school improvement.

Schools are required to revise their School Improvement Plans on an annual basis. Technical assistance is provided to these schools by the Local Educational Agency (LEA) and the State Educational Agency (SEA).

Nash-Rocky Mount Public Schools has 11 schools that are identified as Title I Schools in School Improvement for the 2011-2012 school year. The following charts identify the Title I Schools and their School Improvement year levels.

What causes a LEA to enter District Improvement status?

 

Under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), school districts, sometimes referred to as LEAs or Local Education Agencies, have the same proficiency target goals for students in reading and math that schools do. Like schools, if districts consistently don't meet target goals, they go into Title I District Improvement and face sanctions.

Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is determined for a school district by compiling the data for each student group and for the students as a whole in the district as well as by calculating the attendance and graduation rates at the district level. All schools, including those that do not receive Title I funding, are included in this determination. A school district's AYP is not determined by the number of schools making AYP in the district, but by considering the achievement level of each student in the designated student groups at the district level. Thus, it is possible for a district to not make AYP even though its individual schools do.

In North Carolina, an LEA enters Improvement by missing any one target goal in the same subject (reading/language arts or mathematics) in each of three grade spans (3-5, 6-8, and high school) for two years in a row. To exit Improvement, an LEA must meet all target goals in one grade span (3-5, 6-8, and high school) in the subject area that placed the LEA in Improvement for two consecutive years. (The grade span meeting all targets can differ from one year to the next.) Since target goals do not have to be met in each of the three grade spans, an LEA could still not make AYP, but exit Improvement.

What must an LEA in District Improvement do?

 

  • Must notify parents of the district's status
  • Must revise its local education plan with input from parents and staff
  • Must set aside 10% of its Title I allotment for professional development purposes for staff

District Improvement Plan