0. CPS School Quality Rating Policy
Talking Points
Purpose is to introduce the new School Quality Rating Policy (SQRP).
This is just an introduction – school communities will have plenty of opportunities to learn more about it throughout the year, and materials are also online.
Office of Accountability

1. What will we be discussing today?
SQRP overview and purpose
SQRP/PRPP differences
Metrics, ratings and status
Next steps/additional information
Talking Points
Ask who in the audience is familiar with the old Performance Policy (levels 1, 2, 3).
Ask who knows whether the school is on probation or not.
The rating and status are based on the old “Performance Policy” which has been the Board’s policy for the last six years and is being replaced by the SQRP.
Office of Accountability

2. What is the SQRP?
The School Quality Rating Policy (SQRP) is the Board of Education’s policy for evaluating school performance.
It establishes the indicators of school performance and growth and the benchmarks against which a school’s success will be evaluated on an annual basis.
Through this policy, each school will receive a School Quality Rating and an Accountability Status.
Talking Points
The SQRP has been developed with input from a lot of stakeholders – chiefs, principals, parent focus groups, etc.
The SQRP is an annual measure, so school’s will receive a level and a status every year.
Office of Accountability

3. Which Schools Will This Affect?
All schools will receive a rating, including:
Neighborhood Schools
Magnet Schools
Charter Schools
Selective Enrollment Schools
Option Schools (formerly known as “Alternative Schools”)
Talking Points
All CPS schools—including charter schools—are held to the same performance standards.
Option Schools is the new term for schools formerly called Alternative Schools. These are schools primarily serving students who have dropped out and re-enrolled.
Office of Accountability

4. What is the Purpose of the SQRP?
The School Quality Rating and Accountability Status serve the following purposes:
Communicating to parents and community members about the academic success of individual schools and the district as a whole;
Recognizing high achieving and high growth schools and identifying best practices;
Providing a framework for goal-setting for schools;
Identifying schools in need of targeted or intensive support; and
Guiding the Board’s decision-making processes around school actions and turnarounds.
Talking Points
More emphasis on SUPPORT than in the past.
CPS will no longer be referring to our schools using the term “Probation.” We got a lot of feedback from our stakeholders that this is not a term that should be associated with our schools, and we have taken it to heart. Instead, you will hear terms referring to the level of support a school needs.
Office of Accountability

5. How is the SQRP Different from the Performance Policy?
“Old” Performance Policy
SY14-15 School Quality Rating Policy
Metrics centered on assessments, attendance, and progress towards graduation
Three levels of school performance
Evaluates Option schools using traditional high school metrics
ISAT is the main elementary assessment
Uses CPS historical benchmarks
Does not account for test participation
Metrics better aligned to district’s strategic action plan, e.g., college enrollment, persistence, priority student group growth, 5Essentials
Five-level rating to more effectively differentiate schools
New Option School model more targeted to the students served
Significant changes to ISAT make it unstable for year to year comparisons; replace with NWEA MAP
Performance benchmarks are tied to national standards where possible
Target test participation rate of 95%
Talking Points
SQRP generally recognizes that school success is defined by more than just tests.
Metrics like college persistence measure how well we’re preparing students for college.
For Option schools (formerly known as Alternative schools – again, generally students who have dropped out at some point and re-enrolled), was using the same metrics as traditional high schools – not a good measure of success for those students.
ISAT has phased out, so CPS is switching to NWEA for elementary metrics.
Instead of CPS-only benchmarks, the SQRP will tell us how we’re doing in catching up with the rest of the country.
Participation rates are being emphasized because we need to know how all our students are doing.

6. What Measures will be Used?
Elementary Schools
High Schools
Option Schools
Metric
Weight
Student Growth on NWEA MAP
25%
Student Attendance
20%
Growth of Priority Groups on NWEA MAP
10%
Percentage of Students Making National Average Growth on NWEA
5Essentials Survey
Student Attainment on NWEA MAP (Grades 3-8)
Student Attainment on NWEA MAP (Grade 2) 5%
ELL Language Development Growth on ACCESS
Data Quality
Metric
Weight
Student Growth on EPAS
20%
Growth of Priority Groups on EPAS
10%
Student Attainment on EPAS
Student Attendance
Freshman On-Track Rate
4-Year Cohort Graduation Rate
Early College / Career Credentials 5%
1-Year Dropout Rate
College Enrollment
College Persistence
5Essentials Survey
Data Quality
Metric
Weight
Percentage of Students Meeting / Exceeding National Growth on STAR
30%
Average Student Growth Percentile on STAR
20%
1-Year Graduation Rate
15%
Stabilization Rate
10%
Student Attendance
Growth in Attendance
Credit Attainment 5%
Talking Points
Overall, growth is the key word here. We are not expecting different students to perform the same. Instead, we’re measuring how well a school is able to advance a student’s learning from Point A to Point B.
Growth is also measuring apples to apples. So students who start at Point A are compared to students who start at Point A nationally. Then each school is assessed on how much its students moved compared to that national average growth. More on that in a moment.
The SQRP also accounts for priority groups specifically – African American, Hispanic, ELL and Diverse Learners. This connects a school’s performance to the district’s overall strategic focus on closing achievement gaps.
5Essentials – the results from the teacher and student surveys that are given in the spring.
FOT is a key predictor of high school graduation.
Office of Accountability

7. How is Growth Measured? Office of Accountability Spring (pretest)
Score
Above average growth
Average growth
Below average growth
Spring
(pretest)
School year
Spring
(posttest)
CPS School
National average comparison score
(schools nationally with same average pretest score)
Talking Points
This graph shows that apples to apples growth comparison mentioned earlier. A given CPS school (blue circle) takes the pretest in the spring. Based on that average score, they are matched with schools nationally who received the same average score on the same pretest (brown circle). The school has a full school year to teach students and advance learning before taking the posttest the next fall. Then, that growth is compared to the growth achieved by the group of schools nationally that started at the same place.
Based on whether the school’s growth is higher, lower or the same as the national growth, the school will receive 1-5 points on the SQRP.
Office of Accountability

8. How is Growth Measured? Office of Accountability Spring (pretest)
Above average growth
Average growth
Below average growth
Test
Score
Spring
(pretest)
School year
Spring
(posttest)
CPS School
National average comparison score
(schools nationally with same average pretest score)
Talking Points
This graphic shows that the same approach is taken to measuring growth regardless of how the school performed on the pretest (in this case, a higher performing CPS school is compared with a similarly performing group of schools nationally).
Office of Accountability

9. How Are Ratings Assigned?
Schools earn between 1 – 5 points for each metric.
Points are weighted according to the tables on slide 6 and added together. The school’s overall score is also between 1 – 5.
Based on the overall score (or minimum attainment percentile – see below), the school receives a School Quality Rating and Accountability Status.
Overall Score OR
Minimum Attainment Percentile
School Quality Rating
Accountability Status
4.0 or more
90th
Level 1+
Good Standing
Between 3.5 and 3.9
70th
Level 1
Between 3.0 and 3.4
50th
Level 2+
Between 2.0 and 2.9
40th
Level 2
Provisional Support
Less than 2.0 --
Level 3
Intensive Support
Talking Points
Five levels (instead of three) will help to differentiate schools much better.
As an example, in the Performance Policy, there were schools in Level 3 that were struggling over the long-term while other Level 3 schools were doing much better and had a one-year drop. These types of schools need different types of support. This new system will add levels that will help us differentiate schools not just by their performance but by the level of support they need.
“Probation” is being replaced with the term “Intensive Support” because these are the schools that need the most help in getting back on track to preparing our students for career and college.
Office of Accountability

10. What Does the School’s Rating Mean?
Level 1+ is the highest performance; nationally competitive school with opportunity to share best practices with others
Level 1 is high performance; a good school choice with many positive qualities - minimal support needed
Level 2+ is average performance; additional support from network team needed to implement interventions
Level 2 is below average performance; “provisional support” rating means increased support from network
Level 3 is the lowest performance; school is in need of “intensive intervention” directed by the district, charter schools in this category are on Academic Warning List
Office of Accountability

11. What Does the School’s Status Mean?
Good Standing
Levels
Provisional Support
Level 2
Intensive Support
Level 3
These schools are meeting or exceeding the minimum performance expectations for CPS schools.
While these schools are still bound by federal and state law and CPS policies, they have some autonomy around school improvement planning and budgets. LSCs approve CIWPs in these schools.
These schools are in need of targeted support to keep them moving in the right direction. The CEO may require the following:
Drafting a new CIWP
Directing the implementation of the CIWP
Providing additional training for the LSC
Mediating disputes or other obstacles to improvement
If the CEO determines the problems are not able to be remediated by the above methods, the CEO may place the school in Intensive Support.
These schools are in need of intensive support to quickly improve the quality of education for students. In addition to the types of support provided under “Provisional Support”, the following actions may be taken*:
Replacing the principal
School turnaround
Ordering new LSC elections
Closure
*These actions are allowable under Illinois School Code, but will not necessarily happen in all “Intensive Support” schools. A hearing and a Board vote are required for these actions.
Talking Points
This is an important slide with implications for LSC members, as it describes the impact of schools’ achievement on LSC responsibilities.
The actions CPS can take for schools in Provisional Support or Intensive Support are based on Illinois School Code. The bullet points here are what the law says CPS can do.
Good standing – nothing changes
Provisional Support – CIWP and budget approval moves to Chief, but LSC involvement and input is still required by law (and very important).
Intensive Support – these options are possible, but will not necessarily happen and will still require a Board vote.
Office of Accountability

12. SQRP Amendments Since August 2014
Extending Minimum Attainment Percentile Provision (August 2014)
The original SQRP included a clause whereby schools achieving 90th attainment percentile on NWEA Reading and Math (elementary schools) or EPAS (high schools) would receive a rating of Level 1+. This amendment to the SQRP extends that alternative rating assignment farther down the attainment scale, as described in the table on slide 9.
Nomenclature Change (November 2014)
This amendment included language changing the rating labels from Tier 1 through Tier 5 to Level 1+ through Level 3, as described in the table on slide 9.
Level 1 CEO Determination (November 2014)
The November 2014 amendment also included language allowing for a CEO determination to be made for schools where a significant change (e.g. principal change) at a district-operated Level 1 school has impacted the school. The CEO can now designate a school in this situation to remain Level 1 for a one year period.
The primary reasons for making these changes were as follows:
Extension of Minimum Attainment Percentile: This amendment is simply an extension of the logic in the original policy that a school should not receive a rating lower than what its level of attainment indicates it deserves.
Nomenclature Change: Students, Parents, Teachers and other stakeholders were already familiar with schools ranked using a Level system. We received feedback that indicated a preference for continuing to use a system based on Levels.
Level 1 CEO Determination: Given the nature of some of the changes that can significantly impact a Level 1 school in the short term, it will be valuable for the CEO to have the discretion to maintain these schools’ ratings for one year.
Office of Accountability

13. How Will Results be Communicated?
SQRP results will be communicated in the following ways each fall:
Direct Principal Notification: Principals will receive a letter and SQRP report notifying them of the school’s rating and status.
Direct LSC Notification: LSC members will receive a letter and SQRP report, which will be sent to the LSC member’s home.
The CPS Website: Each school’s rating, status, and complete SQRP report will be included on the school’s profile page at cps.edu, as well as on the School Data page at cps.edu/schooldata.
Talking Points
CPS will send some things home, such as LSC notifications.
Most of the information will be online.
Office of Accountability

14. Where Can I Find More Information?
Materials will be available at the following locations:
(search “SQRP”)
Your school’s main office or network offices
Available Resources include:
SQRP Handbook
PowerPoints and FAQs on the SQRP
Calculators
Office of Accountability