The U.S. Education Department on Thursday granted Arkansas a one-year extension of the state's school accountability plan that excuses schools and districts from complying with key provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2002.
Arkansas' 2-year-old waiver plan from the federal law was due to expire this summer. The extension of the plan comes with one amendment giving districts some flexibility on the hiring of school-improvement companies. The state also must commit to continuing to work with the federal agency on the state's teacher and principal evaluation system.
The state's waiver plan relaxes the federal requirement that 100 percent of students were scoring at proficient, or grade level, on state math and literacy tests by the just-ended 2013-14 school year.
Instead, achievement goals vary by school, with those schools that have the fewest students scoring at proficient on state tests having to make the greatest gains each year. The state labels schools that fail to meet their annual achievement goals as "needing to improve." The existing waiver plan also requires the state to identify and work with its 5 percent lowest-achieving schools, known as "priority" schools, and schools with the largest achievement gaps between traditionally at-risk student groups and students not considered to be at risk of school failure. The schools with achievement gaps are "focus" schools.
Annette Barnes, assistant commissioner for public school accountability at the Arkansas Department of Education, said Thursday that she was "extremely happy" and "relieved" to win the extension for the existing waiver plan.
"If they had not approved our extension request, we would have had to revert back to our previous accountability system, which was under the No Child Left Behind Act," Barnes said. "It would have caused great distress all the way around. We are extremely happy that we were able to get this extension and districts can continue the work that they've started."
Returning to the provisions of the federal act would have kicked in new timelines and other requirements, including the levying of penalties against schools and districts.
The federal law requires schools that fail to meet annual achievement requirements to offer students the opportunity to transfer to other, higher-performing schools and to pay for private after-school tutoring for their students. The penalties escalate over time and include removal of the principal and/or faculty members as well as the closure of an underperforming school.
U.S. Assistant Education Secretary Deborah Delisle announced the extension in a letter to Arkansas Education Commissioner Tony Wood. Five other states also received federal approval of extensions for their plans Thursday.
"My decision to extend Arkansas's ... flexibility request is based on my determination that the ... flexibility has been effective in enabling Arkansas to carry out important reforms to improve student achievement, and this extension is in the public interest," Delisle wrote to Wood.
In a news release, the federal agency said Arkansas had reported being on track with its timeline for putting into place education standards that are intended to prepare students for college and careers.
Arkansas' public schools this past year completed a three-year phase-in of the new Common Core State Education Standards. Those standards identify the skills and knowledge that students should acquire in different grades. The standards have been adopted by a majority of the 50 states.
The federal agency also said that Arkansas has "effectively used school improvement specialists in priority and focus schools to monitor progress" in student achievement and in the carrying out of school-improvement plans.
The agency highlighted a communication system that allows the improvement specialists to update the state Education Department on the work being done with the focus and priority schools.
"Arkansas has set targets for districts, schools and subgroups for both improvement of student achievement and increasing the percentage of students making adequate growth to meet standards. Only schools that meet targets for both achievement and growth receive the highest level of recognition in Arkansas' system," agency leaders said in a news release.
Nine of Arkansas' 1,000 schools were identified as "exemplary" based on the 2013 state test results.
The one approved amendment to the Arkansas waiver plan removes the requirement that districts with priority schools hire an "external provider" or school improvement consulting company to work with the targeted schools. The amendment makes the hiring of a consulting company optional if the district chooses to instead employ a school-improvement specialist.
The external providers were initially required because the Arkansas Education Department didn't have enough personnel to meet all the needs of all of the schools, Barnes said. Over time, staff members in the districts have learned new strategies to address student needs and no longer have to rely so heavily on outside companies. The amendment gives school districts some choices.
"We are just simply beginning to give control back to the districts where they are able to meet the needs of their student population and improve student achievement," Barnes said. "We're trying to help districts regain the ability and confidence to work with their students and do it according to the specific needs. We do not have the capacity to be in every school all the time, but we are holding true to our mission and are providing them with services, support and training."
Arkansas asked for only one amendment to its plan, Barnes said, because the state was more focused on getting the extension.
Colorado, Connecticut, Nevada, South Dakota and Virginia also received a one-year extension of their waiver plans from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which is also known as the No Child Left Behind Act.
"The one-year extension of ESEA flexibility allows states to continue moving forward on the ambitious work they undertook in their original waiver requests," Delisle said.
"We want to be supportive partners with states as they continue with their ESEA flexibility principles that ensure a comprehensive, systemic approach to improve instruction and learning for all students," she wrote.
A section on 07/04/2014