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esea flexibility september 23 2011

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esea f lexi bili ty u.s depar tme nt of e duca tio n flexibility to improve student academic achievement and increase the quality of instruction in order to move forward with state and local reforms designed to improve academic achievement and increase the quality of instruction for all students in a manner that was not originally contemplated by the no child left behind act of 2001 nclb a state educational agency sea may request flexibility on its own behalf and on behalf of its leas through waivers of ten provisions of the elementary and secondary education act of 1965 esea and their associated regulatory administrative and reporting requirements in order to receive this flexibility an sea must meet the principles described in the next section terms that are defined in the definitions section of this document are in bold type the first time they appear 1 flexibility regarding the 2013­2014 timeline for determining adequate yearly progress ayp an sea would no longer need to follow the procedures in esea section 1111b 2 e through h for setting annual measurable objectives amos to use in determining ayp instead an sea would have flexibility to develop new ambitious but achievable amos in reading/language arts and mathematics in order to provide meaningful goals that will be used to guide support and improvement efforts for the state local educational agencies leas schools and student subgroups 2 flexibility in implementation of school improvement requirements an lea would no longer be required to comply with the requirements in esea section 1116b to identify for improvement corrective action or restructuring as appropriate its title i schools that fail for two consecutive years or more to make ayp and neither the lea nor its schools would be required to take currently required improvement actions however an sea may still require or permit an lea to take such actions an lea would also be exempt from all administrative and reporting requirements related to school improvement under current law 3 flexibility in implementation of lea improvement requirements an sea would no longer be required to comply with the requirements in esea section 1116c to identify for improvement or corrective action as appropriate an lea that for two consecutive years or more fails to make ayp and neither the lea nor the sea would be required to take currently required improvement actions an lea would also be exempt from all associated administrative and reporting requirements related to lea improvement under current law 4 flexibility for rural leas an lea that receives small rural school achievement program funds or rural and low-income school program funds would have flexibility under esea sections 6213b and 6224e to use those funds for any authorized purpose regardless of the lea s ayp status 5 flexibility for schoolwide programs an lea would have flexibility to operate a schoolwide program in a title i school that does not meet the 40 percent poverty threshold in esea section 1114a 1 if the sea has identified the school as a priority school or a focus school and the lea is implementing interventions consistent with the turnaround principles or interventions that are based on the needs of the students in the school and designed to enhance the entire educational program in the school as appropriate 1

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esea f lexi bili ty u.s depar tme nt of e duca tio n 6 flexibility to support school improvement an sea would have flexibility to allocate esea section 1003a funds to an lea in order to serve any priority or focus school if the sea determines such schools are most in need of additional support 7 flexibility for reward schools an sea would have flexibility to use funds reserved under esea section 1117c 2 a to provide financial rewards to any reward school if the sea determines such schools are most appropriate for financial rewards 8 flexibility regarding highly qualified teacher hqt improvement plans an lea that does not meet its hqt targets would no longer have to develop an improvement plan under esea section 2141 and would have flexibility in how it uses its title i and title ii funds an sea would be exempt from the requirements regarding its role in the implementation of these plans including the requirement that it enter into agreements with leas on the uses of funds and the requirement that it provide technical assistance to leas on their plan this flexibility would allow seas and leas to focus on developing and implementing more meaningful evaluation and support systems an sea would not be exempt from the requirement of esea section 1111b 8 c that it ensure that poor and minority children are not taught at higher rates than other children by inexperienced unqualified or out-of-field teachers however once more meaningful evaluation and support systems are in place in accordance with principle 3 described below an sea may use the results of such systems to meet that requirement 9 flexibility to transfer certain funds an sea and its leas would have flexibility to transfer up to 100 percent of the funds received under the authorized programs designated in esea section 6123 among those programs and into title i part a moreover to minimize burden at the state and local levels the sea would not be required to notify the department and its participating leas would not be required to notify the sea prior to transferring funds 10 flexibility to use school improvement grant sig funds to support priority schools an sea would have flexibility to award sig funds available under esea section 1003g to an lea to implement one of the four sig models in any priority school optional flexibility in addition to its request for waivers of each of the requirements above an sea may wish to request flexibility through a waiver related to the following flexibility in the use of twenty-first century community learning centers 21st cclc program funds an sea would have flexibility under esea sections 4201b 1 a and 4204b 2 a to permit community learning centers that receive funds under the 21st cclc program to use those funds to support expanded learning time during the school day in addition to activities during non-school hours or periods when school is not in session i.e before and after school or during summer recess 2

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esea f lexi bili ty u.s depar tme nt of e duca tio n prin ciples for improving student academic achievement and increasing the quality of instruction to receive flexibility through the waivers outlined above an sea must submit a request that addresses each of the following four principles consistent with the definitions and timelines described later in this document to increase the quality of instruction for students and improve student academic achievement in the state and its leas in the sea s request the sea must describe how it will ensure that leas will fully implement these principles consistent with the sea s authority under state law and the sea s request 1 college and career-ready expectations for all students over the past few years governors and chief state school officers have developed and adopted rigorous academic content standards to prepare all students for success in college and careers in the 21st century states are also coming together to develop the next generation of assessments aligned with these new standards and to advance essential skills that promote critical thinking problem solving and the application of knowledge to support states in continuing the work of transitioning students teachers and schools to a system aligned to college and career ready expectations this flexibility would remove obstacles that hinder that work to receive this flexibility an sea must demonstrate that it has college and career-ready expectations for all students in the state by adopting college and career-ready standards in at least reading/language arts and mathematics transitioning to and implementing such standards statewide for all students and schools and developing and administering annual statewide aligned high-quality assessments and corresponding academic achievement standards that measure student growth in at least grades 3-8 and at least once in high school an sea must also support english learners in reaching such standards by committing to adopt english language proficiency elp standards that correspond to its college and career-ready standards and that reflect the academic language skills necessary to access and meet the new college and career-ready standards and committing to develop and administer aligned elp assessments to ensure that its college and career-ready standards are truly aligned with postsecondary expectations and to provide information to parents and students about the college-readiness rates of local schools an sea must annually report to the public on college-going and college credit-accumulation rates for all students and student subgroups in each lea and each high school in the state 2 state-developed differentiated recognition accountability and support fair flexible and focused accountability and support systems are critical to continuously improving the academic achievement of all students closing persistent achievement gaps and improving equity based on the principles for accountability developed by the council of chief state school officers many states are already moving forward with next-generation systems that recognize student growth and school progress align accountability determinations with support and capacity-building efforts and provide for systemic context-specific interventions that focus on the lowest-performing schools and schools with the largest achievement gaps this flexibility would give seas and leas relief from the school and lea improvement requirements of nclb so they can implement these new systems 3

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esea f lexi bili ty u.s depar tme nt of e duca tio n to receive this flexibility an sea must develop and implement a system of differentiated recognition accountability and support for all leas in the state and for all title i schools in these leas those systems must look at student achievement in at least reading/language arts and mathematics for all students and all subgroups of students identified in esea section 1111b 2 c v ii graduation rates for all students and all subgroups and school performance and progress over time including the performance and progress of all subgroups they may also look at student achievement in subjects other than reading/language arts and mathematics and once an sea has adopted high-quality assessments must take into account student growth an sea s system of differentiated recognition accountability and support must create incentives and include differentiated interventions and support to improve student achievement and graduation rates and to close achievement gaps for all subgroups including interventions specifically focused on improving the performance of english learners and students with disabilities more specifically the sea s system must at a minimum set new ambitious but achievable amos in at least reading/language arts and mathematics for the state and all leas schools and subgroups that provide meaningful goals and are used to guide support and improvement efforts provide incentives and recognition for success on an annual basis by publicly recognizing and if possible rewarding title i schools making the most progress or having the highest performance as reward schools effect dramatic systemic change in the lowest-performing schools by publicly identifying priority schools and ensuring that each lea with one or more of these schools implements for three years meaningful interventions aligned with the turnaround principles in each of these schools the sea must also develop criteria to determine when a school that is making significant progress in improving student achievement exits priority status work to close achievement gaps by publicly identifying title i schools with the greatest achievement gaps or in which subgroups are furthest behind as focus schools and ensuring that each lea implements interventions which may include tutoring and public school choice in each of these schools based on reviews of the specific academic needs of the school and its students the sea must also develop criteria to determine when a school that is making significant progress in improving student achievement and narrowing achievement gaps exits focus status provide incentives and supports to ensure continuous improvement in other title i schools that based on the sea s new amos and other measures are not making progress in improving student achievement and narrowing achievement gaps build sea lea and school capacity to improve student learning in all schools and in particular in low-performing schools and schools with the largest achievement gaps the sea must provide timely and comprehensive monitoring of and technical assistance for lea implementation of interventions in priority and focus schools and must hold leas accountable for improving school and student performance particularly for turning around their priority schools the sea and its leas must also ensure sufficient support for implementation of interventions in priority schools focus schools and other title i schools identified under the sea s differentiated recognition accountability and support system including through leveraging funds the lea was previously required to reserve under esea section 1116b 10 sig funds and other federal funds as permitted along with state and local resources 4

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esea f lexi bili ty u.s depar tme nt of e duca tio n 3 supporting effective instruction and leadership in recent years many seas and leas have begun to develop evaluation systems that go beyond nclb s minimum hqt standards provide more meaningful information about the effectiveness of teachers and principals and can be used to inform professional development and improve practice high-quality systems informed by research that affirms that educators have significant and lasting effects on student learning draw on multiple measures of instructional and leadership practices to evaluate and support teacher and principal effectiveness this flexibility will give seas and leas the ability to continue this work designed to increase the quality of instruction for all students by building fair rigorous evaluation and support systems and developing innovative strategies for using them to receive this flexibility an sea and each lea must commit to develop adopt pilot and implement with the involvement of teachers and principals teacher and principal evaluation and support systems that 1 will be used for continual improvement of instruction 2 meaningfully differentiate performance using at least three performance levels 3 use multiple valid measures in determining performance levels including as a significant factor data on student growth for all students including english learners and students with disabilities and other measures of professional practice which may be gathered through multiple formats and sources such as observations based on rigorous teacher performance standards teacher portfolios and student and parent surveys 4 evaluate teachers and principals on a regular basis 5 provide clear timely and useful feedback including feedback that identifies needs and guides professional development and 6 will be used to inform personnel decisions an sea must develop and adopt guidelines for these systems and leas must develop and implement teacher and principal evaluation and support systems that are consistent with the sea s guidelines to ensure high-quality implementation all teachers principals and evaluators should be trained on the evaluation system and their responsibilities in the evaluation system as part of developing and implementing these evaluation and support systems an sea must also provide student growth data on current students and the students taught in the previous year to at a minimum teachers of reading/language arts and mathematics in grades in which the state administers assessments in those subjects in a manner that is timely and informs instructional programs once these evaluation and support systems are in place an sea may use data from these systems to meet the requirements of esea section 1111b 8 c that it ensure that poor and minority children are not taught at higher rates than other children by inexperienced unqualified or out-of-field teachers 4 reducing duplication and unnecessary burden in order to provide an environment in which schools and leas have the flexibility to focus on what s best for students an sea should remove duplicative and burdensome reporting requirements that have little or no impact on student outcomes to receive the flexibility an sea must assure that it will evaluate and based on that evaluation revise its own administrative requirements to reduce duplication and unnecessary burden on leas and schools nothing in these principles shall be construed to alter or otherwise affect the rights remedies and procedures afforded school or school district employees under federal state or local laws including applicable regulations or court orders or under the terms of collective bargaining agreements memoranda of understanding or other agreements between such employees and their employers 5

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esea f lexi bili ty u.s depar tme nt of e duca tio n consultation each sea must engage diverse stakeholders and communities in the development of its request by engaging relevant stakeholders at the outset of the planning and implementation process an sea can ensure they have input in shaping the sea s comprehensive plan which will help ensure successful implementation of the sea s plan ideally an sea will solicit input from stakeholders representing diverse perspectives experiences and interests including those that will be impacted by and implement the policies included in the sea s plan and will strengthen its request by revising it based on this input each sea must provide a description of how the sea meaningfully engaged and solicited input on its request from teachers and their representatives each sea must also provide a description of how the sea meaningfully engaged and solicited input on its request from other diverse communities such as students parents community-based organizations civil rights organizations organizations representing students with disabilities and english learners business organizations and indian tribes finally each sea must provide an assurance that it has consulted with the state s committee of practitioners regarding the information set forth in its request evaluation implementing this flexibility presents a valuable opportunity for seas leas and the department to learn more about the effectiveness of various programs practices and strategies and to contribute to the evidence base of what works the department encourages an sea that receives approval to implement this flexibility to collaborate with the department to evaluate at least one program practice or strategy the sea or its leas implement under principle 1 2 or 3 for example an sea could propose to evaluate an aspect of its plan for transitioning to college and career-ready standards the interventions the sea and its leas are implementing in priority or focus schools or its teacher and principal evaluation and support systems interested seas will need to upon receipt of approval of this flexibility nominate for evaluation a program practice or strategy the sea or its leas will implement under principle 1 2 or 3 the department will work with the sea to determine the feasibility and design of the evaluation and if it is determined to be feasible and appropriate will fund and conduct the evaluation in partnership with the sea ensuring that the implementation of the chosen program practice or strategy is consistent with the evaluation design 6

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esea f lexi bili ty u.s depar tme nt of e duca tio n definitions 1 college and career-ready standards college and career-ready standards are content standards for kindergarten through 12th grade that build towards college and career readiness by the time of high school graduation a state s college and career-ready standards must be either 1 standards that are common to a significant number of states or 2 standards that are approved by a state network of institutions of higher education which must certify that students who meet the standards will not need remedial course work at the postsecondary level 2 focus school a focus school is a title i school in the state that based on the most recent data available is contributing to the achievement gap in the state the total number of focus schools in a state must equal at least 10 percent of the title i schools in the state a focus school is a school that has the largest within-school gaps between the highest-achieving subgroup or subgroups and the lowest-achieving subgroup or subgroups or at the high school level has the largest within-school gaps in graduation rates or a school that has a subgroup or subgroups with low achievement or at the high school level low graduation rates an sea must also identify as a focus school a title i high school with a graduation rate less than 60 percent over a number of years that is not identified as a priority school these determinations must be based on the achievement and lack of progress over a number of years of one or more subgroups of students identified under esea section 1111b 2 c v ii in terms of proficiency on the statewide assessments that are part of the sea s differentiated recognition accountability and support system combined or at the high school level graduation rates for one or more subgroups 3 high-quality assessment a high-quality assessment is an assessment or a system of assessments that is valid reliable and fair for its intended purposes and measures student knowledge and skills against college and career-ready standards in a way that covers the full range of those standards including standards against which student achievement has traditionally been difficult to measure as appropriate elicits complex student demonstrations or applications of knowledge and skills provides an accurate measure of student achievement across the full performance continuum including for high and low-achieving students provides an accurate measure of student growth over a full academic year or course produces student achievement data and student growth data that can be used to determine whether individual students are college and career ready or on track to being college and career ready assesses all students including english learners and students with disabilities provides for alternate assessments based on grade-level academic achievement standards or alternate assessments based on alternate academic achievement standards for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities consistent with 34 c.f.r § 200.6a 2 and 7

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esea f lexi bili ty u.s depar tme nt of e duca tio n produces data including student achievement data and student growth data that can be used to inform determinations of school effectiveness for purposes of accountability under title i determinations of individual principal and teacher effectiveness for purposes of evaluation determinations of principal and teacher professional development and support needs and teaching learning and program improvement 4 priority school a priority school is a school that based on the most recent data available has been identified as among the lowest-performing schools in the state the total number of priority schools in a state must be at least five percent of the title i schools in the state a priority school is a school among the lowest five percent of title i schools in the state based on the achievement of the all students group in terms of proficiency on the statewide assessments that are part of the sea s differentiated recognition accountability and support system combined and has demonstrated a lack of progress on those assessments over a number of years in the all students group a title i-participating or title i-eligible high school with a graduation rate less than 60 percent over a number of years or a tier i or tier ii school under the sig program that is using sig funds to implement a school intervention model 5 reward school a reward school is a title i school that based on the most recent data available is a highest-performing school which is a title i school among the title i schools in the state that have the highest absolute performance over a number of years for the all students group and for all subgroups on the statewide assessments that are part of the sea s differentiated recognition accountability and support system combined and at the high school level is also among the title i schools with the highest graduation rates a highest-performing school must be making ayp for the all students group and all of its subgroups a school may not be classified as a highest-performing school if there are significant achievement gaps across subgroups that are not closing in the school or a high-progress school which is a title i school among the ten percent of title i schools in the state that are making the most progress in improving the performance of the all students group over a number of years on the statewide assessments that are part of the sea s differentiated recognition accountability and support system and at the high school level is also among the title i schools in the state that are making the most progress in increasing graduation rates a school may not be classified as a highprogress school if there are significant achievement gaps across subgroups that are not closing in the school 6 standards that are common to a significant number of states standards that are common to a significant number of states means standards that are substantially identical across all states in a consortium that includes a significant number of states a state may supplement such standards with additional standards provided that the additional standards do not exceed 15 percent of the state s total standards for a content area 8

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esea f lexi bili ty u.s depar tme nt of e duca tio n 7 state network of institutions of higher education ihes a state network of institutions of higher education means a system of four-year public ihes that collectively enroll at least 50 percent of the students in the state who attend the state s four-year public ihes 8 student growth student growth is the change in student achievement for an individual student between two or more points in time for the purpose of this definition student achievement means for grades and subjects in which assessments are required under esea section 1111b 3 1 a student s score on such assessments and may include 2 other measures of student learning such as those described in the second bullet provided they are rigorous and comparable across schools within an lea for grades and subjects in which assessments are not required under esea section 1111b 3 alternative measures of student learning and performance such as student results on pre-tests end-of-course tests and objective performance-based assessments student learning objectives student performance on english language proficiency assessments and other measures of student achievement that are rigorous and comparable across schools within an lea 9 turnaround principles meaningful interventions designed to improve the academic achievement of students in priority schools must be aligned with all of the following turnaround principles and selected with family and community input providing strong leadership by 1 reviewing the performance of the current principal 2 either replacing the principal if such a change is necessary to ensure strong and effective leadership or demonstrating to the sea that the current principal has a track record in improving achievement and has the ability to lead the turnaround effort and 3 providing the principal with operational flexibility in the areas of scheduling staff curriculum and budget ensuring that teachers are effective and able to improve instruction by 1 reviewing the quality of all staff and retaining only those who are determined to be effective and have the ability to be successful in the turnaround effort 2 preventing ineffective teachers from transferring to these schools and 3 providing job-embedded ongoing professional development informed by the teacher evaluation and support systems and tied to teacher and student needs redesigning the school day week or year to include additional time for student learning and teacher collaboration strengthening the school s instructional program based on student needs and ensuring that the instructional program is research-based rigorous and aligned with state academic content standards using data to inform instruction and for continuous improvement including by providing time for collaboration on the use of data establishing a school environment that improves school safety and discipline and addressing other non-academic factors that impact student achievement such as students social emotional and health needs and providing ongoing mechanisms for family and community engagement 9

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esea f lexi bili ty u.s depar tme nt of e duca tio n a priority school that implements one of the four sig models is implementing an intervention that satisfies the turnaround principles an sea may also implement interventions aligned with the turnaround principles as part of a statewide school turnaround strategy that allows for state takeover of schools or for transferring operational control of the school to another entity such as a recovery school district or other management organization 10

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esea f lexi bili ty u.s dep ar tment of e duc a tio n timelines the dates identified in the chart as deadlines bolded in the chart for complying with a principle are the latest by which an sea or lea must meet a particular principle the dates identified as when an sea or lea may begin to implement a waiver represent the earliest the sea or lea may take advantage of the specified waiver the at submission column describes generally the information an sea must supply in order to receive the flexibility see the document titled esea flexibility request for more detail on the specific evidence that states must submit to meet the principles the initial waiver period will be through the 2013­2014 school year however an sea that wishes to receive the flexibility must develop a plan that covers all four years identified in the chart the sy 2014­2015 column identifies the additional actions that an sea must take if it receives an extension of the flexibility timeline for impleme ntation of esea flexibility principle or waiver adopt college and career-ready standards implement collegeand career-ready standards develop and administer highquality assessments aligned with college and careerrequired during initial waiver period at submission request includes evidence that the state has formally adopted college and careerready standards request includes plan for transitioning to and implementing collegeand career-ready standards request includes plan for developing and administering high-quality assessments aligned with college and career-ready sy 2011­2012 sy 2012­2013 sy 2013­2014 required if approved for extension sy 2014­2015 sea and leas prepare to implement college and career-ready standards sea develops statewide high-quality assessments aligned with college and career-ready standards sea and leas implement college and career-ready standards sea administers pilot high-quality assessments aligned with college and sea administers high-quality assessments aligned with 11

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esea f lexi bili ty u.s dep ar tment of e duc a tio n principle or waiver ready standards required during initial waiver period at submission standards and assurance that sea will develop and administer alternate assessments consistent with 34 c.f.r § 200.6a 2 request includes assurance that sea will adopt elp standards sy 2011­2012 sy 2012­2013 sy 2013­2014 career-ready standards required if approved for extension sy 2014­2015 college and career-ready standards adopt elp standards that correspond to college and careerready standards sea adopts elp standards that correspond to state s collegeand career-ready standards consistent with the requirement in esea section 3113b 2 sea develops and administers elp assessments aligned with the state s elp standards consistent with the requirements in esea sections 1111b 7 3113b 2 and 3122a 3 a ii develop and administer elp assessments request includes assurance that sea will develop and administer elp assessments 12

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esea f lexi bili ty u.s dep ar tment of e duc a tio n principle or waiver annually report college-going and college creditaccumulation rates for all students and subgroups of students in each lea and each public high school in the state at submission request includes assurance that sea will annually report to the public the required data required during initial waiver period sy 2011­2012 sy 2012­2013 sy 2013­2014 waiver to set new ambitious but achievable amos waiver of requirements to identify schools and leas for improvement status waiver of requirements for schools and leas in improvement status to take certain specified actions request includes proposed new amos and justification that they are ambitious but achievable sea may apply new amos to ayp determinations beginning with sy 2011-2012 assessment results beginning with release of ayp determinations based on sy 2011­2012 assessments sea and leas need not identify leas or schools respectively for improvement required if approved for extension sy 2014­2015 sea annually reports to the public collegegoing and college creditaccumulation rates as defined under state fiscal stabilization fund indicators c 11 and c 12 continue applying new amos continue waiver beginning in sy 2012-2013 leas and schools need not take required actions under esea section 1116b or c per the waiver discussed in the preceding row leas and schools will no longer be in improvement status continue waiver 13

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