1. Every Student Succeeds Act 101
Developed by PSEA ESSA Workgroup
for PSEA Local Presidents
December 2018

2. What is ESSA? ESSA = The Every Student Succeeds Act
ESSA at its core is a civil rights law.
ESSA is the 2015 reauthorization of the ESEA = Elementary and Secondary Education Act
ESEA is the 1965 landmark civil rights law enacted by President Johnson seeking to ensure equitable educational opportunities for all students.
Note – various Titles contained in ESSA
Title I: Improving Basic Programs by State and Local Educational Agencies (formula grants; assessment, accountability, family literacy) •
Title II: Preparing, Training and Recruiting High-Quality Teachers , Principals, or Other School Leaders (includes professional development, incentives, school leaders) •
Title III: Language Instruction for English Learners and Immigrant Students •
Title IV: 21st Century Schools (includes afterschool and enrichment activities, charter schools, magnet schools, family engagement) •
Title V: Flexibility and Accountability (rural education; funding transferability authority) •
Title VI: Indian, Native Hawaiian & Alaska Native Education • Title VII: Impact Aid (schools on military bases) •
Title VIII: General Provisions
Title IX Education for the Homeless and Other Laws

3. What are the main purposes of ESSA?
Title I  Identifies lowest performing schools in poverty to support improvement
Title II Provides funding and criteria for educator professional learning
Title III  Provides funding for language Instruction for English Learners
Title IV Provides funding and criteria for well-rounded education
Other Titles
Title V  Rural education
Title VI  Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native Education​
Title VII  Funding for schools impacted by Federal lands (and hence limited property tax base)​
Title VIII General Provisions​
Title IX   Education for the Homeless and Other Laws
Key Components of ESSA:
Academic Assessments
Accountability, Support and Improvement
Supporting Excellent Educators
Supporting All Students

4. What does ESSA do? Focuses on: Equity Transparency
Stakeholder engagement
Multiple measures of accountability
Accountability for schools, not districts
Moving control back to the states and away from the federal government
Key Components of ESSA:
Academic Assessments
Accountability, Support and Improvement
Supporting Excellent Educators
Supporting All Students

5. What does ESSA require? Every state must:
Have college and career ready standards
Assess students for math, language arts, and science
Disaggregate student data by subgroup
Report data with transparency
Identify lower-performing schools in need of support and improvement (comprehensive; targeted)
ESSA data required to be reported captured in PDE’s recently unveiled Dashboard – Future Ready PA Index
New data reported /required by ESSA – to be published in fall 2019:
1) Financial Reporting
ESSA requires spending reported by school
PDE working with LEAs on data collection
per-pupil expenditures of federal, state and local funds disaggregated by source of funds at LEA and building level
include actual personnel and non-personnel expenditures
Equitable Distribution of “Effective Educators”
Ensuring Equitable Access to Effective Educators:
ESSA requires states to define “ineffective” to identify equity gaps and root causes that prevent students from accessing excellent educators. In consort with the ESSA plan, PDE will work with education stakeholders to implement this plan.

6. What’s in PA’s ESSA Plan?
Assessments
PSSAs, Keystone Exams
Supporting Effective Educators
Title II professional learning; clinical residency
Supporting All Students (Equity)
School climate; well-rounded education
Accountability, Support, School Improvement
Assessments:
Maintain PSSA, Keystone Exams for purposes of federal accountability
95% participation rule (after newly arrived ELL and 1% special needs)
Students who did not take the exam under that 95% considered NOT proficient for school accountability. This will not impact building scores under Act 82/teacher evaluation. PDE may perform assessment audit of schools that miss threshold.
Supporting Effective Educators:
Clinical Residency Programs
ESSA plan provides for PDE to use 3 percent state set aside in Title IIA as funding source
PDE – preliminary process with the Learning Policy Institute, PASSHE teacher preparation programs
Superintendent and Principal training
Superintendent Academies
Data Driven Leadership - newly developed PIL course for Act 45 credits
Lot of good things in the plan – will depend on capacity and Title II funding; this highlights what PDE is implementing/working on currently
Educator Clearinghouse to Connect Teachers with Opportunities: The Teacher Information Management System (TIMS) will be expanded to provide a venue to match credentialed teachers with real-time data on openings across the state.
Preparing Educators to Serve in High-need schools and Communities: Through the Troops to Teachers grant, this program will prepare at least 50 veterans to teach in critical shortage areas in high-need schools.
Identifying Teacher Shortages and Underserved Communities: Yearly, PDE’s Bureau of School Leadership and Teacher Quality gathers data on shortages across the state including data on subject area and geographical region (rural, urban, suburban). This data helps to identify shortages. The Department is also building pathways for early childhood education professionals to earn industry recognized credentials such as a Child Development Associate certificate, an associate’s or bachelor’s degree, and a Pennsylvania ECE PreK-4 instructional certificate.
Supporting English Learnings and Students with Disabilities: The plan points out the required teacher program requirements which are nine credit hours, or 270 hours, or an equivalency, in accommodations and adaptations for students with disabilities. These must include instruction in literacy and cognitive skills development for students with disabilities plus three additional credits, or 90 additional hours addressing instructional needs of English learners.
Supporting Teacher Leaders: PDE plans to lead an effort to develop teacher leader standards that will serve as the foundation to build and implement teacher-leader models.
Troops to Teachers: Utilizing a $400,000 Federal grant, PA will develop alternative pathways to certification that enables veterans who already hold at least a bachelor’s degree, to complete critical, specially-designed education courses and immediate opportunities to practice those knowledge and skills in the state’s neediest schools.
Enhancing the Standards Aligned System Portal (SAS): PDE will continue to utilize the SAS portal for educator support in standards, assessments, curriculum framework, instruction, materials and resources, and safe and supportive schools.
K-12 Educator Pipeline: The program would provide funds and support to secondary schools that implement curriculum which encourage exploration in teaching careers. It would also support the development of teaching academy magnet high schools across the state.
Paraprofessional Pathway Program: Again utilizing ESSA funds to support district/preparation program partnerships, PDE would foster pathways to certification for people working as paraprofessionals.
Supporting all Students:
Ensuring well-rounded, rigorous, and personalized learning experiences for all students
Work in this area includes a focus on increasing participation in advanced coursework for all students increasing offerings in high-need districts, improving low-income and minority student representation, and increasing postsecondary enrollment especially for students of color. The plan also aims to promote equitable access to STEM education by supporting PA’s STEM coalition and its efforts to increase STEM opportunities from early childhood to career in all communities. A third component will seek to provide awareness and opportunities for student developed career pathway exploration.
Addressing the needs of students through school-based supports and community partnerships
In order to support community schools in high poverty areas, the Department will provide technical assistance to specific schools in planning, development and scaling up partnerships between schools and community organizations. Additionally, a community schools support network will be established statewide.
Promoting successful transitions in early childhood through postsecondary education
Components of this part of the plan will include focusing on the key transition points of early childhood to elementary, elementary to middle, middle to high school, and high school to postsecondary.
Promoting positive school climate and social-emotional learning
In order to promote positive school climate, the Department will increase participation in the PA School Climate Survey in order to collect more accurate and comprehensive data, implement new professional learning programs, revitalize the Equity and Inclusion Toolkit, and increase bullying prevention work through the Safe Schools Office.
Accountability –
covered in next few slides

7. Accountability under ESSA
States must use Academic Indicators and at least one School Quality indicator to identify schools in need of Comprehensive or Targeted supports and improvement:
Lowest performing 5% of Title I schools
Any high school with graduation rate at or below 67%
Title I schools with chronically low-performing student group/s
PA indicators:
Academic: Growth; Proficiency; Graduation rates; English Language Proficiency
School Quality: Career readiness; Chronic absenteeism
Academic indicators
Achievement - % proficient in math and ELA on state assessments
Academic growth
% making progress toward English language proficiency
Adjusted cohort graduation rate
School quality indicators
Chronic Absenteeism and Career Readiness
Pennsylvania defines chronic absenteeism as the number of students in a school who miss more than 10 percent of school days across the academic year for any reason. 5 A student is absent if they are not physically participating in instruction or instruction-related activities on school grounds or at an approved off-grounds location for at least half of the school day. Any student enrolled for fewer than 60 days in a school will be excluded from the school’s chronic absenteeism rate.
Each school’s career readiness indicator reflects the number of students in grades 5, 8, and 11 who demonstrate evidence that they have met Pennsylvania’s Career Education and Work Standards (CEW). Calculations will be applied to schools with a grade 5, 8 and/or 11:
1. For schools with a grade 5: The percent of all students and each subgroup9 of students who, by the end of grade 5, demonstrate engagement in career exploration and preparation aligned to the CEW standards by participating in a career exploration and preparation program/curriculum.
2. For schools with a grade 8: The percent of all students and each subgroup of students who, by the end of grade 8, create an individualized career plan10 and participate in career preparation activities aligned to the CEW standards.
3. For schools with a grade 11: The percent of all students and each subgroup of students who, by the end of grade 11, implement their individualized career plan through ongoing development of a career portfolio and participation in career preparation activities aligned to the CEW standards.

8. PA Process to Identify Schools
Step 1: Preliminary identification based on low academic achievement and low growth
Step 2: Evaluation of performance for following indicators:
Substantially Weighted Indicators (1 or both)
High school graduation rate; Progress in ELP
School Quality Indicators (both)
Step 3: ID additional high schools with graduation rate at or below 67 percent (all high schools, not just Title I)
Pennsylvania will identify CSI schools in the fall of 2018 and every three years thereafter.
Comprehensive Support & Improvement (CSI) schools
Lowest Performing 5% Title 1 schools:
lowest achievement & lowest growth based on 2 years of data
low performance on one other academic indicator (grad rate; ELP); or
low performance on both school quality indicators
• Lowest-Performing Schools: Pennsylvania’s three-step approach for identifying the lowest 5 percent of Title I schools is set forth above.
• Schools with Low High School Graduation Rates: Pennsylvania will report both four- and five-year graduation rates,and average the two rates for purposes of annual meaningful differentiation determinations, including CSI identification. Pennsylvania will identify any high school with a resulting graduation rate at or below 67 percent.
• Schools with Chronically Low-Performing Subgroups: Title I schools identified for Additional Targeted Support and Improvement that fail to satisfy Pennsylvania’s exit criteria over a four-year span will be identified for CSI. (A-TSI)
STEP ONE:
Pennsylvania will initially categorize schools as eligible for identification based on performance in two domains—academic achievement and academic growth.
The achievement measure will be derived from a weighted average of the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced on state assessments in English language arts and mathematics combined over two years.
These same achievement data will inform the calculation of growth measures using the Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System (Average Growth Index); again, Pennsylvania will use the average of two years of measures across subjects.
Achievement and growth scores will be plotted to allow the state to identify a subset of schools exhibiting the lowest performance in both domains on a scatter plot. Within Quadrant 3 of the scatter plot, cut points will be set that denote inadequate school performance for both achievement and growth.
Cut points will be established using median academic proficiency within quadrant 3 and a growth standard associated with less than expected academic growth, one of two options outlined in the approved state plan.
Adjustments may be made to the AGI cut based on evaluation of final data sets, consultation with the TAC, and a desire to balance the composition of schools identified.
STEP TWO:
PA will next examine the performance of low achievement and low growth schools on the remaining accountability indicators as available based on school configuration and minimum N-size. These indicators fall in two main categories, as defined by the ESSA.
Substantially Weighted Indicators:
Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate –percentage of students in a school who earn a high school diploma within four or five years. Pennsylvania will take the number of graduates in both cohorts for each year in the two-year window for each annual meaningful differentiation determination and compute an average from these four values.
English Learners’ Proficiency – EL Proficiency is determined based on the percentage of students who either met their improvement target or attainment level.
School Quality/Student Success Indicators: Chronic Absenteeism and Career Readiness:
Chronic Absenteeism – Expressed as regular Attendance (two years of data) is determined based on the number of students enrolled for 60 or more school days and present 90 percent or more of school days.
Career Readiness (one year of data in first year) – Determined based on the percentage of students who submit their required pieces of evidence, divided by the total number of full year academic students.
*Schools for which only one School Quality/Student Success indicator is available, and that fall in the bottom quartile of performance for that indicator, will also be identified for CSI.
One of the following next steps will occur to finally identify the lowest-performing 5 percent of all schools:
Number of schools identified from Steps 1 and 2 equals 5% of Title I schools: These schools are identified for CSI.
Number of schools identified from Steps 1 and 2 exceeds 5% of Title I schools: Step 2 cut point will be adjusted from bottom quartile to bottom quintile, or if necessary, the bottom decile.
Number of schools identified from Steps 1 and 2 is less than 5% of Title I school: Step 2 cut point will be adjusted from the bottom quartile to the bottom third.
STEP THREE:
ESSA requires that States identify all public high schools in the state failing to graduate one third or more of their students. PA will identify any such high
schools not already identified in steps 1 and 2 through evaluation of the four- and five- year adjusted cohort graduation rates. Pennsylvania will identify any such high schools not already identified through Steps 1 and 2 through evaluation of the four- and five-year adjusted cohort graduation rates. Pennsylvania will take the two rates for each year in the two-year window for each annual meaningful differentiation determination and compute a weighted average from these four values.
Additional TARGETED SUPPORT AND IMPROVEMENT:
Beginning , Pennsylvania proposes to annually identify TSI schools using the state’s overall approach to CSI determinations. To ensure clarity for the education community, as well as sufficient supports for schools experiencing the most significant challenges with student group performance, Pennsylvania proposes to identify TSI schools in a manner consistent with its overall approach to annual meaningful differentiation and CSI identification.

9. 4-year Cycle of Improvement
To exit CSI, A-TSI identification and not be identified for “more rigorous interventions” after 4 years, schools must:
Show continued progress on the academic achievement indicator and on the school quality indicator(s)
Exceed the identification standards for CSI that were applied the year of initial identification
Submit an updated improvement plan
Participate in PDE-sponsored technical assistance activities
Did we clarify if it is only CSI standard year of initial ID? Or is it also year of current identification (i.e for next round)?

10. ESSA in PA: Timeline December 2015 - ESSA enacted
ESSA signed into law
Stakeholder engagement; development of PA Plan begins
January 2018
PA Consolidated State Plan (ESSA Plan) approved by US Ed Dept.
Data collection; state planning process continues
2017–2018
Future Ready PA Index goes live; CSI, A-TSI schools identified
November-December 2018
CSI, A-TSI - needs assessment; develop improvement plans
Winter/Spring 2019
July 1, 2019
CSI, A-TSI School Improvement Plans to be completed, approved
Improvement Cycle; demonstrate progress
Exit (or not) CSI, A-TSI status
Late Fall 2021
New cohort of CSI schools identified;
4-year improvement cycle begins again
December ESSA enacted
PSEA has been active stakeholder from the beginning
Member representation on PDE ESSA Stakeholder groups
Ongoing engagement with legislators, PDE, Governor’s Office
Extensive review, comments on PA State ESSA Plan
January USDE approved PA ESSA Plan
Spring 2018 – PDE continue to flesh out implementation
Fall 2018 – ESSA goes into full effect
Fall 2018 – Districts collecting data for state and local report card for federal accountability purposes; and for PA Future Ready Index (dashboard of information for the public regarding schools)
Late fall – pde identifies CSI, A-TSI
Spring 2019 – CSI and TSI – work on plan