The
2022-2023 Public School Accountability Timeline will guide districts and
schools in planning for the upcoming school year. The following timeline is
formatted to indicate the role of districts/schools, the Division of Elementary
and Secondary Education (DESE), and the Office of Innovation for Education (OIE)
in data collection, usage, and accountability. Please note that the DESE
reserves the right to change dates as necessary.
School
personnel are encouraged to review the 2023 Draft Business Rules for
Calculating the ESSA School Index and submit any recommendations, questions,
and clarifications to Louis Ferren at louis.ferren@ade.arkansas.gov by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, July
22, 2022.
Important changes to note and the rationale
behind those changes include:
- “ACT Aspire” and “Dynamic Learning Maps” (DLM) were replaced with “statewide summative assessment” and “alternate assessment,” respectively throughout the document as appropriate. The rationale that prompted the transition is the adoption of a new statewide summative assessment for Arkansas which will launch Spring 2024.
- “Regular high school diploma” was replaced with “complete Arkansas Graduation Requirements” in the section of the Rules concerning calculating Graduation Rates. A link has been provided to the following one-pager that lists the 22 core requirements. The rationale behind the change is to be inclusive of students on the alternate pathway to graduation which goes into effect for the graduating class of 2023 (4-year cohort).
- A new section on ESSA Accountability Identification, Plan Requirements, and Exit Criteria has been added in response to 2022-2023 being an identification year for schools. ESSA Cycle II begins the cascading levels of identification for schools who fail to exit their status from ESSA Cycle I. All notification and identification statuses and terms such as consistently underperforming and upward trend are well defined.
Other changes to be mindful of in the
2023 Draft Business Rules for Calculating the ESSA School Index include:
- Moved history of business rules changes to the end of the document (Appendix E).
- New download dates for determining student demographics and schools’ students that are included in percent tested, achievement and growth are noted on pages 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 20, and 21.
- Recently Arrived English Learner (RAEL) enrollment dates to exclude from achievement and growth were updated on page 6.
- ELPA21 download date was noted on page 26.
- Updated graduation rate years on pages 32, 34-39, and 41-42.
- Added the following comments on page 34: “Ensure all graduates are submitted in Cycle 9 Graduates Table by August 31, 2022 (early graduates need to be submitted with their cohort year). Districts need to use eSchool withdrawal/drop code 140 to indicate early graduates in Cycles 2-7 in the year they graduate.”
- Updated data pull dates on pages 46, 48, 50.
- Updated years of assessments used for score history on page 50.
- Added the definition of active student on page 53.
- Added a comment on page 86 about using the ACT Aspire Report ELA scale score and the ELA Cut Score table in Business Rules Appendix A to determine a student’s readiness level for ELA.
- Updated Concurrent Credit Courses starting on page 89.
- Updated data corrections information and included in Appendix D on page 100.
Informational
documents explaining the ESSA School Index and components are posted on the
website at
Division of Elementary
and Secondary Education - Offices - Public School Accountability - Every
Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) - Informational Documents
The 2022-2023 Federal Programs Programmatic and Fiscal
Monitoring Process and Procedures document was developed to provide a
comprehensive review of the federal programs monitoring process across federal
granting authorities. The purpose of this tool is to provide uniform guidance
for subrecipient monitoring. It is intended to be used by the Division of
Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to make determinations about whether
or not grant purposes are being met, to identify issues prior to an LEA audit
and to provide clarification of program requirements and expectations. Districts should note that required evidence
is color coded:
- ?Green: documents that the LEA needs to elaborate on in the application.
- ?Purple: documents that the LEA needs to maintain records on file at the local level.
- ?Red: documents that the LEA needs to upload to Indistar, or otherwise provide to the state.
Districts may be selected to participate
in onsite or virtual monitoring based on risks, sampling, difficulty resolving
issues during desk monitoring, and/or a request from the Secretary of Education
or State Board of Education. Superintendents will be contacted prior to onsite
or virtual monitoring.
The DESE Spending Handbook for ESEA/ESSA Funds provides general
guidance on how local educational agencies (LEAs) may spend funds under the
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). ESSA is the most recent version of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, which was signed into
law on December 10, 2015.
It is important to note that this
handbook only provides an overview of each of the programs’ spending rules and
options; it does not discuss the many other compliance requirements that apply to
each of these programs.
This is a summary of all deadlines and
submissions for Federal Programs during the school year 2022-2023. It is also available in Indistar under
Resources and then Docs & Links.
The 2022-2023 Standards
for Accreditation Monitoring Process and Procedures is posted on the Standards & Systems
Support webpage.
Districts should utilize this guide to archive documents for monitoring.
The Division of
Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Rules Governing the Standards for
Accreditation of Arkansas Public Schools and School Districts (2022) set the
requirements for every public school in the state. The DESE has the
responsibility of monitoring to ensure that all public schools comply with the
Standards for Accreditation.
Standards
for Accreditation (SFA) Tool - opens August 15, 2022
The DESE Standards and Systems Support
Unit, in collaboration with the Office of Information Technology, will open the
Standards for Accreditation (SFA) tool, on August 15, 2022.
This tool provides school/district personnel a daily view of the preliminary
accreditation status of each building.
- The signed
Statement of Assurance (SOA) should be uploaded to the SFA system (under
Document Management tab) by September 1, 2022. Please see SFA Login
Information and Modules.
- All state required
items on the 2022-2023 Website
Checklist
should be located on the district website under State Required
Information.
- The SFA will
automatically send emails (August - May) on the 21st of the month to the
superintendent, assistant superintendent(s) and principals to review the
preliminary accreditation reports. All exceptions should be corrected
within 15 days of this notification.
- Schools
and districts are encouraged to speak with their Standards and Systems
Support Specialist before requesting overrides or submitting tickets. Tickets will not be available until
after October 1, 2022. For SFA
general support please contact your Standards and Systems Support
Specialists. Specialists assigned
to each co-op can be found at Division of
Elementary and Secondary Education - Offices - Public School
Accountability - Standards & Systems Support - Contact Information for
Standards Specialists.
Public Reports
The SFA enables the public to view
school district accreditation reports approved by the Arkansas Department of
Education and enables school districts to view data which forms the annual
accreditation report. ADE approved accreditation reports are publicly accessible
while preliminary accreditation reports are restricted to authorized school
district personnel.