LASAFAP Presentation October 26, 2017
Objectives In this session, we will: • Share Louisiana’s vision and the role of school redesign • Provide an overview of the School Redesign Grant application process • Discuss the approach that school systems should take to funding school redesign 2
Agenda I. Vision and Theory of Action II. School Redesign Application Process III. Budgeting and Prioritizing Funds 3
Our Vision for Louisiana Students Louisiana’s students are just as capable as any in the country and deserve the opportunity to succeed at the highest level. Because of this belief, Louisiana educators have been working tirelessly over the past several years to raise expectations and educational outcomes for students in five major focus areas: 1. Unification of child care, Head Start and Pre-Kindergarten to ensure that all students are ready for Kindergarten 2. Alignment of standards, curriculum, assessments, and professional development to provide students and teachers with the tools they need to meet new standards 3. Expert training for veteran and aspiring educators under the guidance of an effective mentor, in the classroom, on the job 4. Creation of unique opportunities for every student to graduate ready for college or a career 5. Focus on students in persistently struggling schools by transforming those schools and creating new options for their families 4
Louisiana’s Success As a result of this work, students across Louisiana are performing at levels never seen before. ● Louisiana fourth-grade students achieved the highest growth among all states on the 2015 NAEP reading test and the second highest growth in math. ● The number of students scoring “Mastery” and above on LEAP tests has increased 13% in the last five years . ● A record 25,704 high school seniors in the class of 2017 earned a college-going ACT score (18+), an increase of 7,397 students since 2012 ● More students graduated in 2016 than ever before. More than 3,500 students graduated in 2016 than in 2012, and 43% of them did so with an early college credit or a statewide industry-based credential. ● Since 2012, the number of students earning Advanced Placement credit each year has increased by more than 3,700, an increase of 137% . 5
Focus on Persistently Struggling Schools However, a sizable number of schools continually struggle to provide an excellent education to all students. In all: • 239 schools, 18% of schools, received a letter grade of D or F letter grade for three consecutive years and/or had a 2016 cohort graduation rate below 67% • 14% of all Louisiana students, nearly 102,000 students, attend these persistently struggling schools. These students are more likely to be low income (90%, compared to 71% state average) and minority (85%, compared to 55% state average) • The academic results of historically underserved subgroups, particularly special education students and English language learners, continue to lag significantly behind their more advantaged peers 6
ESSA Requirements The federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires that school systems and states intervene with persistently struggling schools. The state is required to: • Identify persistently struggling schools • Award school improvement set aside dollars to school systems that have strong evidence- based plans for improving struggling schools • Intervene in schools that do not improve over time School systems are required to: • Develop an evidence-based school improvement plan for each struggling school within their school system • Engage local stakeholders in the development of the plan 7
Agenda I. Vision and Theory of Action II. School Redesign Application Process III. Budgeting and Prioritizing Funds 8
School Redesign List All school systems with a school on Louisiana’s school redesign list must complete a full School Redesign Grant application in the Fall (September) or the Spring (March). Schools are identified as persistently struggling and therefore qualify for the school redesign list if they earn a comprehensive or urgent intervention required label: 1. Consistently low overall performance → comprehensive intervention label 2. Consistently low subgroup performance* → urgent intervention label 3. Chronic issues with student behavior → urgent intervention label Comprehensive and urgent intervention labels will appear on School Report Cards beginning November 2017. * A subgroup is defined as a minimum of 10 students in any of the following groups: major racial and ethnic groups, economically-disadvantaged, students with disabilities, and English learners. 9
School Redesign Application Process School systems take the following steps to complete the School Redesign Grant application process: 10
Conduct a Needs Assessment School systems must assess their unique needs to create a plan that is tailored to the specific context of each school. Conducting a needs assessment is a required component of the grant application. School systems should take the following steps as part of their needs analysis: • Analyze progress and gaps in all data sets • Establish areas of greatest need and the reasons behind these needs • Set school system- and school-level improvement goals for the areas of greatest need and interim goals that indicate progress 11
Build a Plan School systems must build a plan that reflects the evidence-based strategies and initiatives they believe will lead to the most significant positive changes in student achievement. Planning areas are organized into four categories: • Core academics • Talent • Systems-level changes • Special Populations All school systems are required to have a plan that addresses three indicators foundational to student achievement: • High quality curricula across core academic areas in PK-12 • High quality assessments across core academic areas in PK-12 • High quality teacher professional development in core academic areas in PK-12 Beyond these indicators, school systems should plan for interventions that are most likely to lead to significant positive growth for students according to their needs assessment. 12
Align Budget School systems must submit a budget template that describes the cost associated with the interventions described in their plans, including costs funded by the redesign grant funds and by the school system’s existing state and federal funds. To earn full points, a school system’s school redesign financial plan must: • Maximize all school system funds available to support school redesign • Align grant funds requested to interventions in the redesign plan • Include a budget that fully implements all interventions in the redesign plan 13
Application Evaluation & Funding All applications will be evaluated by a team of independent reviewers. Reviews of written applications will be followed by in-person interviews. The strongest plans will receive 3-year grants based on the quality of the application, budget, and information gathered during the interview process. 14
Agenda I. Vision and Theory of Action II. School Redesign Application Process III. Budgeting and Prioritizing Funds 15
Overview During the School Redesign Grant application process, school systems will share information about their school redesign budgets in three ways. School systems will: (1) Describe in the School Redesign Grant application the steps that they have taken to identify funds to support school redesign interventions, (2) Complete a School Redesign Grant budget form, and (3) Provide clarifying information in an interview. 16
Application In the School Redesign Grant application each school system will have the opportunity to provide information about existing sources of funds that they will use to support their school redesign plan. School systems will explain how they plan to maximize funds available to support their school redesign plan and how they will align those funds to interventions in their plan. 17
Budget Form In the School Redesign Grant budget form schools systems will describe how all of the interventions in their redesign plans will be funded. School systems will complete a separate budget page for: • Line items funded by sources the school system already has • System-level line items that a School Redesign Grant would fund • School-level line items that a School Redesign Grant would fund On each of these pages, school systems will be asked to identify the intervention from their redesign plans to which each line item is aligned. 18
Evaluation For a school system’s financial plan to earn the highest possible score, it must: • Maximize all school system funds available to support school redesign • Align grant funds requested to interventions in the redesign plan • Include a budget that fully implements all interventions in the redesign plan Reference the School Redesign Grant LEA Guidance for additional information about what constitutes each score. 19
Next Steps Round 1 Applicants: - Prepare for interviews using guidance that the Department will release. - Interviews will take place during the week of November 27th. Round 2 Applicants: - Work with school system leaders to craft a budget, including braided funds, that supports the school system’s proposed redesign plan. - The application will be released in November and due in March. Contacts: Shavonne Price (Network A): shavonne.price@la.gov Delaina Larocque (Network B): delaina.larocque@la.gov Kelly DiMarco (Network C): kelly.dimarco@la.gov 20
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