Focus Schools: Next Steps August 22, 2012

1. Focus Schools: Next Steps August 22, 2012

2. More Need Less Need Multi-Tiered System of Support

3. Arizona’s Reward, Focus, and Priority School Definitions • * Alt Schools and Small Schools are NOT included in this criteria

4. Focus Schools • Within-School Gap • (TI Participating) • Achievement gap between bottom Q and Top 2Q >75% • No growth in bottom Q passing rate from 2011 to 2012 • Alt Schools and Small Schools are NOT included in this criteria

5. Focus Schools • Low Achieving Subgroup • (TI Participating) • Bottom Q passing < 10% • No growth in bottom Q passing rate from 2011 to 2012 • Alt Schools and Small Schools are NOT included in this criteria

6. Examples

7. Focus Schools • Low Graduation Rate • (TI Participating) • High School with 4-year cohort grad rate greater than 60% in 2009, 2010, AND 2011

8. Exit Criteria for Focus • Within-School Gap and Low Achieving Subgroup schools must: • Reach an SGP for the bottom quartile students of 50 • Show a 10% increase in the percent of bottom quartile students passing AIMS • Low Grad Rate Schools must: • Show an annual increase of 2% for 2 consecutive years, and • Below 50% - meet a graduation rate of 60% • Between 50% and 60% - meet a graduation rate of 70%

9. Exit Criteria for Focus • Minimum of three years of intervention implementation for both Priority and Focus Schools. • Even if a school exits either Priority or Focus Status, but has an individual subgroup(s) that has not met AMOs or for high schools not improving the graduation rate, the LEA will be responsible for ensuring the school continues to address the academic improvement of the specific subgroup(s) as part of the school’s continuous improvement plan until AMOs are met and monitoring by ADE will continue.

10. More Need Less Need School Improvement and Intervention Multi-Tiered System of Support 2012-2013 School Year System consists of four components: Technical Assistance Professional Development Progress Monitoring Compliance Monitoring

12. 20% Set Aside and Choice/SES • ESEA Flexibility included a waiver of the section on Choice and SES, including the 20% set aside requirement • Resulted in the following changes: • Retention of Choice in Priority and Focus Schools • End of SES requirement for all schools • Redistribution of 20% set aside

13. Retention of Choicehttp://www.azed.gov/no-child-left-behind/title-i/school-choice/ • Public School Choice is required in Priority and Focus Schools • Options include transfer to schools within the LEA that are not a Priority or Focus School • LEA pays for excess transportation costs from Title I funds • Notice to parents who previously opted for school choice and whose home school is not a Priority of Focus School - transportation funds from Title I are no longer available but transfer rights may continue – see the link above for more details and a sample notice

14. End of SES requirement • ADE chose to exercise the option of not requiring Supplemental Educational Services (SES), as part of the ESEA Flexibility Request • The approved SES provider list has expired; LEAs may contract with them or any other service provider on an individual basis, using the appropriate procurement process.

15. A “Sufficient” Set-aside • Note the amount is not described as a percentage, but as “sufficient” • In the case of Choice-related transportation an LEA must enter a budgeted amount as a Title I set aside in the ESEA ConApp and complete the assurances that: • Choice options will be available to any new enrollees of Priority and Focus Schools throughout the year ,and • The LEA will amend its budget to increase the set aside, if additional funds are needed during the year

16. A “Sufficient” Set-aside • In the case of LEA support the LEA must enter a budgeted amount as a Title I set aside in the ESEA ConApp • The LEA has multiple options in deciding how to approach support from the LEA level • The LEA may consider its own capacity and other supports in determining the amount of Title I funds

17. A “Sufficient” Set-aside • Examples of support include: • LEA-level personnel (employee or contracted) to oversee and/or assist the Priority or Focus school with the School Improvement processes • Support for the data necessary for a complete needs assessment, progress monitoring of the plan implementation, and evaluation • Supports for specific intervention programs, particularly in Focus Schools, in conjunction with the school’s regular Title I program • Program specialists from the Title I and School Improvement offices can provide guidance for the LEA‘s decision-making process

18. What are the District’s Responsibilities? Conduct a Needs Assessment looking at both student achievement data and issues and concerns with any systems or processes at either the district or school level. Based on the outcomes of the Needs Assessment, develop SMART goals for each of the primary concerns. The goals should focus on one or more of the 7 intervention strategies that are listed in the ESEA Flexibility Request. Support the school in the implementation, evaluation, and modification of the plan.

19. The Seven Interventions from the Flexibility Request Intervention 1: Aligned and Rigorous Curriculum Intervention 2: Effective Instruction Intervention 3: Increased Instructional Time Intervention 4: Use of Formative Assessments and Student Assessment Data Intervention 5: Positive School Climate focused on Student Achievement Intervention 6: Effective School Leadership Intervention 7: Engaging Families and Communities

20. Aligned and Rigorous Curriculum The LEA must: • provide evidence that it has implemented a curriculum that meets 10 specific components (see pages 90-91). • schedule a continuous curriculum review. • clearly plan for 4 hour ELD, RTI and core curriculum.

21. Effective Instruction The LEA must: • develop an effective instruction framework • provide relevant PD via a professional development model • implement a policy for teacher collaboration during the day.

22. Increase Instructional Time • “An LEA with a Focus School is highly recommended to perform an instructional time audit.” • Based on effective strategy use during core instruction AND use of scheduled time

23. Formative Assessment and Student Data The LEA must: • require data be used to inform instruction • provide a robust system that includes hardware, software, policy and procedures

24. School Climate Focused on Achievement The LEA must create a culture of high expectations through policies and procedures that can include Vision and Codes of Conduct and Safety

25. Effective School Leadership The LEA must: • evaluate the leadership capacity of the principal • send any continuing principal to an approved leadership development program • demonstrate they systematically support the school’s leadership team

26. Engage Families and Communities The LEA must: • Increase the role that family engagement plays in increasing student engagement and achievement

32. FAQ’s Who should be involved in conducting the Needs Assessment? Representatives from the district, school administration, teachers, support staff, and community members. If the school is a high school, student participation may be an integral part of this process. Does the school need to implement all seven interventions at one time? No! In most cases this would turn the school upside down. You will make the decision on where to start based on the results of your Needs Assessment. For example, if you discover your curriculum needs better alignment to the new Arizona Common Core, then your first focus would be on Intervention 1. Am I in this alone or will I have support from ADE? You are not alone in this process. ADE will assign a specialist to your district/school to help guide you through the process and offer technical assistance to help ensure implementation of your plan with fidelity.

33. Important Dates • Parent Notification Letters should go out by September 13th. • Continuous Improvement Plans due in ALEAT by November 1st. • Email a pdf of the CIP to your county superintendent.

34. Questions or Comments?

35. Online Resources • School Improvement’s page for documents: http://www.azed.gov/improvement-intervention/school-improvement/ • Arizona’s ESEA Flexibility Request Documents: http://www.azed.gov/blog/2012/02/06/esea-flexibility-waivers-ade-scheduled-outreach/

36. Contact Information School Improvement John Black--South 520-682-6873 john.black@azed.gov Robert Gray--Central 602-364-2202 robert.gray@azed.gov Teri Regan—North 602-542-3281 teri.regan@azed.gov Research & Evaluation Rebecca Bolnick 602-542-3452 Rebecca.bolnick@azed.gov Title I Nancy Konitzer 602-542-7847 nancy.konitzer@azed.gov

37. School Improvement and Intervention Team Marv Lamer, Associate Superintendent, Highly Effective Schools Division Dan Brown, Deputy Associate Superintendent, SII Cindy Richards and Felicia Francis