Indiana selected for federal school improvement pilot
State Superintendent Reed welcomes move from one-size-fits-all model to new tailored approach for assisting under-performing schools
Indiana is one of six states selected by the U.S. Department of Education to participate in a new federal Differentiated Accountability Program pilot that targets assistance to under-performing public Title I schools based on their level of need.
“Experience shows us that tailoring support based on need is more effective than a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to turning around struggling schools,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Suellen Reed from the National Forum on Education Policy in Austin, Texas where U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings made the announcement. “We welcome this opportunity to focus Indiana’s improvement efforts on those students and schools that need the most help.”
Seventeen states submitted differentiated accountability proposals, which were subjected to a rigorous review by a panel of nationally recognized experts. Based upon the panel’s recommendations, Secretary Spellings approved proposals from Indiana, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland and Ohio.
“The plans these states submitted speak to the fact that many were among the first to embrace data-based decision making and accountability,” said Spellings. “I’m hopeful that they will build on this progress by creating effective new strategies that we can share and take to scale.”
Differentiated Accountability in Indiana
As required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), Indiana’s differentiated accountability model can only be applied to under-performing public schools that participate in the federal Title I program. Title I schools, those with high percentages of students from low-income families, receive additional federal funding to help at-risk students.
Under the current accountability system set by NCLB, Title I schools that consistently fail to meet annual academic performance goals, called Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), face a series of progressive consequences depending on the number of consecutive years improvement does not occur. The current system does not, however, make any distinction between schools that miss a single AYP goal and those that fall short across the board.
In contrast, the differentiated accountability model developed by the Indiana Department of Education, with input from local practitioners, employs two levels of assistance (Focused and Comprehensive) that vary the intensity of interventions based upon on the extent to which schools consistently do not meet AYP. Using existing funding, this tiered approach allows Indiana to prioritize limited resources to schools in need of major reform.
Focused vs. Comprehensive Improvement
Indiana schools identified for Focused improvement must take such steps as offering tutoring services and school choice for non-proficient students, providing targeted professional development for teachers and taking corrective action to address the needs of students not making AYP.
Schools identified for Comprehensive improvement are required to take these actions as well as more extensive interventions such as mandatory participation in the state’s new computer-based diagnostic testing tools, hiring full-time literacy and math coaches, participating in the state’s reading and math academies and working with state support teams.
Indiana’s differentiated accountability model includes restructuring actions for schools that remain in Comprehensive improvement for multiple years. These restructuring actions include such steps as replacing the school principal or other staff, extending the school day or year, closing or reopening the school as a charter school and contracting with a private management company to run the school.
Based upon the most recent AYP ratings, about 50 of Indiana’s 220 Title I schools currently identified as needing improvement will transition to the Comprehensive model beginning with the upcoming 2008-09 school year. The remaining under-performing Title I schools will move to the Focused model.
Indiana Department of Education staff will be contacting local school superintendents and Title I Program Administrators this week with additional details and instructions based on schools’ level of improvement status.
To learn more about the Differentiated Accountability Program pilot, visit www.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/differentiatedaccountability/index.html.