Cerf on “New School Accountability” as state moves away from No Child Left Behind Act…

file photoActing Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf, shown in this file photo, gets clear in message to schools listed as low performing “Priority” or in need of improvement “Focus” as the state continues to implement the next phase of the new school accountability system replacing various elements of the federal NCLB (No Child Left Behind Act.)

 The Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger (4/13, Mueller) reports New Jersey's Department of Education "put its most troubled schools on notice Wednesday, ordering administrators and educators to cooperate with state intervention and improve student performance or face serious consequences" as the state reaches it "next phase in its rollout of a new school accountability system that replaces some elements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act." 370 schools fell into "three categories: low-performing 'priority schools' in need of aggressive guidance; 'focus schools,' which must improve in certain areas; and 'reward schools,' which demonstrate continual excellence or improvement." Seven newly created regional achievement centers work "with the low-performing schools" and the focus schools, although the latter "will receive less intrusive guidance."

Priority Schools
A Priority school is a school that has been identified as among the lowest-performing five percent of Title I schools in the state over the past three years, or any non-Title I school that would otherwise have met the same criteria. There are 75 Priority Schools. The types of Priority Schools are—

1.    Lowest-Performing: schools with the lowest school-wide proficiency rates in the state. Priority schools in this category have an overall three-year proficiency rate of 31.6% or lower.

2.    SIG school: schools that are part of the School Improvement Grant (SIG) program.

Focus Schools
A Focus School is a school that has room for improvement in areas that are specific to the school. As part of the process, Focus Schools will receive targeted and tailored solutions to meet the school’s unique needs. There are 183 Focus schools. The types of Focus schools are—

1.    Low Graduation Rates: High schools with a 2011 graduation rate lower than 75%.

2.    Largest Within-School Gaps: schools with the largest in-school proficiency gap between the highest-performing subgroup and the combined proficiency of the two lowest-performing subgroups. Schools in this category have a proficiency gap between these subgroups of 43.5 percentage points or higher.

3.    Lowest Subgroup Performance: schools whose two lowest-performing subgroups rank among the lowest combined proficiency rates in the state. Schools in this category have an overall proficiency rate for these lowest-performing subgroups of 29.2% or lower.

Reward Schools
A Reward School is a school with outstanding student achievement or growth over the past three years. There are 112 Reward Schools. The types of Reward Schools are—

1.    Highest-Performing: schools that are the highest-performing in the state, in terms of school-wide proficiency, subgroup proficiency, and graduation rates.

2.    Highest-Progress: schools that have high levels of student growth, measured using their median Student Growth Percentiles (SGP) over time.

Beyond these three categories, the vast majority of the 2,500 schools in New Jersey will not be categorized as Priority, Focus, or Reward Schools. In these schools, districts will have autonomy over the necessary investments and supports to sustain strong performance or strengthen areas for improvement. Beginning in the 2012-13 school year, the Department will develop individual growth targets for each school and subgroups within that school and will report those targets in a new School Performance Report.