January 28, 2022
Accountability Waiver Public Comment
Dear Partners in Education,
Due to the waivers that Montana received from the accountability requirements of the Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years and the assessment requirements for the 2019-2020 school year, we have not implemented all aspects of the statewide accountability system or identified schools for support and improvement since fall 2019. Upon receiving an accountability waiver for the 2020-2021 school year, the Montana Office of Public Instruction agreed that it would resume identifying schools for comprehensive, targeted, and additional targeted support and improvement using data from the 2021-2022 school year in the fall of 2022 to ensure school identification resumes as quickly as possible.
As a result, the US Department of Education has provided a streamlined process to modify approved ESEA consolidated State plans for the 2021-2022 school year as they implement accountability and school identification requirements under section 1111 of the ESEA in order to make accountability determinations and identify schools in fall 2022.
Click Here for the Montana Accountability Waiver Template.
In this waiver, Montana is requesting the following one-time adjustments due to COVID-19 pandemic:
- Shifting timeline for long term goals and measurements of interim progress forward by two years;
- Using non-consecutive 3 years of data (2019, 2021 and 2022) for annual Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) identification for School Year 2022-2023.
- Not counting 2019-2020 or 2020-2021 in the four-year limit to exit Comprehensive and Support Improvement (CSI) status, allowing schools additional time to exit before additional requirements are imposed;
- Allowing schools identified CSI in Fall 2022 to exit after one year. The Exit Criteria for Fall of 2023:
- The first criteria is to exit out of the lowest performing 5 percent of Title I schools and for all high schools that have improved graduation rates to be at or above 67 percent; and
- The second criteria is to meet the academic growth goals (ELA and Math) set in a school’s Continuous School Improvement Plan (CSIP). The plan will be driven by a comprehensive needs assessment and the school’s report card and growth goals that include the same growth percentages each year as the long-term and interim goals set by the state.
- Allowing schools identified Additional Targeted and Support (ATSI) in Fall 2022 to exit after one year. The Exit Criteria for Fall of 2023:
- The first criteria is all subgroups must perform at a level higher than the lowest performing 5 percent of Title I schools; and
- The second criteria is to meet the academic growth goals (ELA and Math) set in a school’s Continuous School Improvement Plan (CSIP). The plan will be driven by a comprehensive needs assessment and the school’s report card and growth goals that include the same growth percentages each year as the long-term and interim goals set by the state.
- Extending the allowable duration of the sub-grant period from four to five years for LEAs with schools that were implementing ESEA section 1003 sub-grants in school years 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022. Due to the impact of COVID-19 on schools, LEAs will benefit from additional time to implement the school improvement interventions and to revise their improvement plans and budgets and improvements to address lost instructional time.
Any written comments should be submitted to essainput@mt.gov. Written comments will be accepted through February 26, 2022.
Below is a Timeline outlining the process with stakeholder involvement:
January 28, 2022: Initiate public comment, by sending email to stakeholders and posting information on the OPI webpage with links to Montana Accountability Waiver Template.
February 2022: Consultation with the Governor’s office
February 15, 2022: Webinar 1 for public input, 4:00pm-5:00pm
February 22, 2022: Webinar 2 for public input, 4:00pm to 5:00pm
February 15, 2022: Discussion with Education Advocates
February 26, 2022: Public comment deadline
March 7, 2022: Final Draft prepared and submitted to the DOE
Webinars - Zoom Links
Please send feedback, input and questions to ESSAinput@mt.gov
The OPI is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation, require an alternate format, or have questions concerning accessibility, contact the OPI ADA Coordinator, 406-444-3161, opiada@mt.gov, Relay Service: 711.
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