B-1. What causes a school to enter school improvement status?

A school that does not make AYP for two consecutive years, as AYP is defined by the State's accountability system, must be identified for school improvement.

B-2. What purpose is served by identifying a school for improvement?

Identifying a school for improvement serves as a formal acknowledgement that the school is not meeting the challenge of successfully teaching all of its students. The identification marks the beginning of the school improvement process, a set of structured interventions designed to help a school identify, analyze, and address issues that prevent student academic success. The SEA and LEA will provide a school that is identified for improvement with extensive support and technical assistance in designing and implementing a plan to improve student achievement.

B-3. May a school appeal the SEA's determination that the school has not made AYP for two consecutive years?

Yes. If the SEA, after completing its review, determines that a school has not achieved AYP for two years in a row, it must provide the school with an opportunity to review the data, including academic assessment data, on which the proposed identification for school improvement is based.

Each SEA's annual determination of school progress is based on the application of formulas defined and approved in its accountability system. Therefore, with rare exceptions, only statistical errors in the underlying data would provide cause for a reconsideration of the school's status. However, if the principal or a majority of the school's parents believe that the identification was made in error for statistical or other substantive reasons, the principal may provide supporting evidence to the LEA, and the LEA, in conjunction with the SEA, must consider it.

The LEA and SEA must make a final determination regarding the identification of the school no later than 30 days after the school is notified of the pending action. §1116(b)(2); §200.31

B-4. Are schools that do not receive Title I, Part A funding subject to consequences if they do not meet AYP targets?

Yes. In its approved accountability system, each State has defined the sanctions and rewards that it will use to hold all LEAs and schools accountable for student achievement. Therefore, although the sanctions detailed in §1116 of the ESEA do not statutorily apply to schools that do not receive Title I, Part A funding, these schools are still subject to State-defined sanctions if they do not make AYP. §1111(b)(2)(A); §200.12

B-5. How does a school exit from school improvement status?

A school identified for improvement must make AYP as defined in its State's accountability system for two consecutive school years in order to exit school improvement status. That is, if a school does not make AYP for two consecutive years, and must undergo Year 1 of school improvement during the 2003-04 school year, then in order for the school no longer to be identified for school improvement, it must make AYP during that school year as well as during the 2004-05 school year. The table below illustrates this point.

B-6. When the LEA identifies a school for improvement, what information must it provide to parents?

When one of its schools is identified for improvement, the LEA must promptly provide the following information to the parents of each child enrolled in the school:

• An explanation of what the identification means and how the school their child attends compares to other elementary and secondary schools served by the LEA and the SEA in terms of the academic achievement of its students;
• The reason(s) for the school being identified for improvement, such as insufficient participation in assessments or one or more subgroups not meeting academic proficiency targets;
• An explanation of how parents can become involved in addressing the academic issues that led to identification; and,
• An explanation of the parents' option to transfer their child to another school in the LEA that has not been identified for improvement. The notification must provide parents with enough relevant information to help them decide what school is best for their child and be made well before the beginning of the school year in which this option will be available, so that if parents choose to do so, they have sufficient time to exercise their choice option prior to the beginning of the school year.

At a minimum, the LEA must inform parents about the academic achievement level of students at the school or schools to which their child may transfer, but it may also choose to include other information, such as a description of special academic programs, facilities, before-or-after school programs, the professional qualifications of teachers in the core academic subjects, or parent involvement opportunities. The LEA must also explain to parents that it will provide their child with transportation to the schools that the LEA identifies as options, subject to certain cost limitations. §200.37

Additional information on public school choice is available in the Department of Education's Public School Choice Non-Regulatory Guidance accessible online at http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/schoolchoiceguid.doc.

B-7. What information must the LEA provide to both parents and the public regarding schools identified for improvement?

In addition to providing school improvement information to the parents of each student in the school, the LEA must publish and disseminate, to both parents and the public, information explaining -

• What the school is doing to address the problem of low achievement; and
• What the LEA or the SEA is doing to help the school address this problem. §1116(b)(6); §200.38

B-8. What guidelines should SEAs, LEAs, or schools follow when communicating with parents and the public during the school improvement process?

Meaningful parental involvement is one of the cornerstones of the reform initiatives contained in NCLB. Therefore, it is essential that SEAs, LEAs, or schools communicate with parents throughout the school improvement process and welcome them as key partners in addressing the academic issues that led to the school being identified for improvement. Clarity and timeliness of information are essential. The State, LEA, or school must ensure that required information is provided in an understandable and uniform format (including alternative formats upon request), regardless of the method or media used. To the extent practicable, written communication must be in a language parents can understand, with special attention given to parents of migratory and limited English proficient students. If that is not practicable, the information must be provided in oral translations for parents with limited English proficiency.

The SEA, LEA, or school must provide information to parents directly, through regular mail or by e-mail. However, if an SEA does not have access to individual student addresses, it may distribute information through the LEA or school. The same information must also be disseminated through broader means of communication, such as the Internet, the media, and through public agencies serving students and their families.

B-9. What are the responsibilities of the LEA after a school is identified for improvement?

When one of its schools is identified for its first year of school improvement, the LEA must:

• Ensure that public school choice is provided for children whose parents wish to transfer them from the school identified for improvement; and
• Ensure that the identified school receives technical assistance, both during the development or revision of its school improvement plan and throughout the plan's implementation. §200.39