On October 15, 2021, the Arkansas Department of Education’s Division of Elementary and Secondary Education released the 2021 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) School Index and Accountability-at-a-Glance (School Rating) reports for public viewing on My School Info. These reports include data from the 2020-2021 school year, including 2021 ACT Aspire results.
The ESSA School Index includes students’ weighted achievement and growth on state-required assessments for third through tenth grade, graduation rates, and school quality and student success indicators. In addition, the report includes three years of trend data (2018, 2019, 2021) on numerous indicators for student subgroups. The complete ESSA School Index is located on My School Info under the Reports tab.
Accountability-at-a-Glance provides an overview of the ESSA School Index score for all students and student subgroups. Under Act 89 of 2021, schools did not receive a school rating (letter grade) for the 2020-2021 school year. The overview is located on My School Info under the School Rating tab.
2020-2021 Accountability-at-a-Glance reports include adjusted and unadjusted ESSA School Index Scores to highlight the importance of testing 95% of students. Schools and districts that tested at least 95% of students will have the same adjusted and unadjusted ESSA School Index score. However, if a school or district tested less than 95% of its students, the adjusted and unadjusted scores will differ. When reviewing unadjusted scores where less than 95% of students were tested, it is essential to consider the students missing from test results and analyze how their performance would have impacted test scores if they had tested as expected.
The adjusted score reflects 95% of the students expected to test, while the unadjusted score reflects the actual number of students who tested in the school. The denominator for weighted achievement is adjusted by calculating 95% of the number of students expected to test and rounding that number down to the nearest whole number. The adjusted score consists of replacing the denominator in the weighted achievement equation with a denominator that equals 95% of the students expected to test. If a non-whole number results from the adjustment, the lower whole number is used.
For more information about navigating the school reports, please view the following video: 2021 ESSA School Index Public Release. FAQs are also available on the My School Info.
All stakeholders, including students, caretakers, educators, and community members, are encouraged to review their school’s data and discuss how the education needs for all students can be met. Additional information about Arkansas’s ESSA plan is available on the DESE website at Division of Elementary and Secondary Education - Offices - Public School Accountability - Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).