School Status Designations and Annual Measurable Objectives

Dear Superintendent:

This letter is to inform you of the opportunity to review your preliminary data report that will be used to determine your School Status Designations and Annual Measurable Objectives.

School Status Designations 

School Status Designations are as follows: High Performance Reward School, High Progress Reward School, Focus School, Targeted Intervention School, and Priority School.  These designations replaced the former Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) school improvement designations (School Improvement, Corrective Action, and Restructuring) with the approval of the ESEA Waiver from the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 for the state of Oklahoma by the United States Department of Education on August 16, 2012. School Status Designations are determined based on the following criteria:

Designation	Reason for Designation
High Performance Reward	·       High Academic Performance ·       A on Report Card and missing no more than two Annual Measurable Objectives (AMOs)
High Progress Reward	·       High Academic Progress
Focus	Low performance in one or more of the following subgroups: ·       Black—Reading and Math ·       IEP—Reading and Math ·       ELL—Reading and Math ·       Black Graduation Rate ·       Hispanic Graduation Rate
Targeted Intervention	·       D on the Report Card
Priority	A school meeting any one or more of the criteria: ·       SIG—School Improvement Grant ·       Bottom 5% in Reading and Math ·       F on Report Card ·       Graduation Rate Below 60%
Some schools do not have a designation under the ESEA Waiver. These schools will not be listed.

 

Your school status designation will be available online on the Accreditation/Accountability/HQT Application. To access your School Status Designation report, go to https://apps.sde.ok.gov/security/Login.asp and log into the School District Reporting Site (SRDS). After logging in, click on the Accreditation/HQT/School Improvement.  Then, click on the School Improvement tab. A report of all schools in your district with designations will be listed along with the reason for the designation. If no schools in your district have School Status Designations, then the report will read "NO DESIGNATIONS."  To assist you, note the following documents posted at the School Improvement Webpage.

·       Guide to Priority School Identification

·       Guide to Focus School Identification

·       Guide to Reward School Identification

 School Status Designation Appeals (form posted on School Improvement webpage)

The appeals process for School Status Designations is set forth in 210:10-13-18(c). If you have a substantive or statistical reason to appeal your preliminary School Status Designation, you may appeal within 10 working days of the release of the designations by completing the School Status Designation Appeal Form and attaching all supporting evidence. All School Status Designation Appeal Forms and supporting documents must be submitted electronically to SSDAppeals@sde.ok.gov.  All appeals of School Status Designations must be made at the district level and must be received by 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 14, 2014.

The purpose of this appeal relates solely to the School Status Designation. The window for data verification requests related to the A-F report card and corrections of accountability data closed in October. Because the process for completing data changes has concluded, no additional changes will be made.

Appeals of School Status Designations may be made on the following grounds:

Statistical reasons for appeal exist when the statistic on the preliminary data report does not reflect the true measure of the district/school.  For example, a statistical reason may exist when a school’s declining enrollment impacts the graduation rate, since their dropouts from four years ago were drawn from a larger student body than the student body providing the number of graduates in the current year.

Substantive reasons for appeal exist when mitigating circumstances, outside of the district’s/school’s control, have negatively impacted the district’s/school’s performance. Substantive reasons may include circumstances (e.g. natural disaster, flu epidemic) that affect test conditions, test scores, percent tested, and/or other factors (e.g. attendance rate or graduation rate).

Districts requesting a School Status Designation Appeal must submit the following documents:

·       A completed School Designation Appeal Form (available in the Accountability/HQT/School

Improvement and on the SDE Accountability website).

·       A letter from the district superintendent to the Oklahoma State Department of Education requesting an appeal on the school’s behalf.

·       All appropriate evidence, in a clear and concise format, supporting the basis for appeal.

 

Upon receipt of the request for appeal, the appeal will be processed by the State Department of Education Office of School Turnaround.

 

In addition to requesting to appear before the School Status Designation Appeals Committee (in person or by phone), a district may also request a hearing under the Oklahoma Administrative Procedures Act, Title 75 O.S. § 309. If such a hearing is requested, the district must provide a written waiver of the right of the district to receive a final determination from the State Department of Education within the period required by federal law. A district’s request to a hearing under the Oklahoma Administrative Procedures Act (Title 75 O.S. § 309) must be indicated on the School Designation Appeal Form.

 

Annual Measurable Objectives

The United States Department of Education requires that schools receive Annual Measurable Objective (AMO) results each year.  These objectives provide the performance of all students and that of subgroups.  Performance on the AMOs does not lead to a designation like Low Performing status, but is provided to show subgroup performance of students. The AMOs are posted when you click View Details by each school on the Designations page. Please refer to the Annual Measurable Objectives Guide for a description of the AMOs.  The guide is posted on the Accountability/HQT/School Improvement website.

Contact Information

·       Please contact the Office of Accountability and Assessments, at (405) 521-3341, with any questions regarding calculations of School Status Designations.

·       Please contact the Office of School Turnaround, at (405) 522-0855, with logistical questions regarding the School Status Designation Appeals Process.

·       Please contact the SDE Service Desk, at (405) 521-3333, for technical support in navigating and logging into the Accreditation/HQT /School Improvement to view your School Status Designations. 

We appreciate your dedication to improving the quality of education in Oklahoma schools.

Sincerely,

 

Janet C. Barresi

State Superintendent of Public Instruction