1. Phillipsburg Middle School Identification as a School in Need of  Comprehensive Support and Improvement: Starting Community Conversations
March 25, 2019
Phillipsburg School District
Phillipsburg Middle School
Dr. Gregory Troxell, Superintendent
Dr. Maureen Kehoe, Assistant Superintendent
Kathleen Troxell, Principal

2. Presentation Overview
This presentation will cover the following topics:
Background information about the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
How schools are identified as a School in need of Comprehensive Support and Improvement
Next steps for our school

3. Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
On August 9, 2017, the U.S. Department of Education approved New Jersey's ESSA State Plan, which was developed in collaboration with stakeholders from across New Jersey.
The plan emphasizes New Jersey’s collective expectation that all students have equal access to high-quality educational experiences so they may all reach their greatest potential.
To fulfill this promise to our students, the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) is obligated by federal law, and New Jersey’s ESSA State Plan, to identify schools in need of comprehensive and targeted support and improvement.

4. ESSA School Accountability: Overview
School accountability in ESSA is just one of the New Jersey accountability systems meant to improve student access to high-quality education programs. Its role is to identify our schools most in need of support and improvement. 
School and District Reporting
District Accountability (QSAC)
School Accountability (ESSA)

5. Our School 
Phillipsburg Middle School has been designated as a school in need of Comprehensive Support and Improvement.
What is a Comprehensive School?
Schools performing at or below the bottom fifth percentile of all Title I schools (elementary and middle schools)
High schools with a graduation rate of 67% or less
Insert the name(s) of your school(s) and their identification

6. How Was Our School Identified?
New Jersey’s ESSA school accountability system provides a formula to determine a performance score, which is based on various measures of progress (accountability indicators).
Our school has been identified based on its relative low performance using these measures. 

7. New Jersey's ESSA Accountability Indicators
Academic Achievement: Percentage of students in the school who meet/exceed grade- level standards on each required annual statewide assessment, such as PARCC or DLM
Represented by two separate indicators – ELA Proficiency and Math Proficiency
Academic Growth: Measure of students’ growth on the annual statewide assessment compared to other students in their academic peer group (median Student Growth Percentile)
Represented by two separate indicators – ELA Growth and Math Growth
Graduation Rate: Percentage of students who graduate in four or five years
Represented by two separate indicators – 4-Year and 5-Year Graduation Rate
Progress toward English Language Proficiency: Percentage of English learners that demonstrate expected annual growth on the ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 test
School Quality and Student Success: Measured by chronic absenteeism, which is the percentage of students who are not present 10% or more of their total days in membership.
These are the 5 indicators the New Jersey will use for ESSA Accountability.  The first 4 are based on federal requirements, and Chronic Absenteeism was chosen based on stakeholder feedback.

8. Accountability Indicators: Weighting
Each indicator is weighted to determine a summative score for the school with focus on student growth and equity.
NJ State Plan Indicator
Elementary/ Middle
ELP Available
ELP Missing
High School
Mixed Configuration
Academic Proficiency
30%
35%
20%
25%
Academic Growth
40%
50% 0%
Graduation Rate
Progress toward English Language Proficiency (ELP)
Chronic Absenteeism
10%
15%
The weights for each indicator are determined based on school configuration and whether the ELP indicator is available.
Each column of weights adds to 100%.
These six versions of weights represent the most common configurations.  However, if a school is missing data for any other data element (e.g. Math Proficiency or Chronic Absenteeism), the weights will be adjusted.
*Schools with missing indicator data will have adjusted weights.

9. Student Groups Summative Cut Score 14.08
Two or more races (21 students) – 7.21
ELA growth and Chronic absenteeism
White
Math growth and Chronic absenteeism
Students with Disabilities – 13.56
ELA and Math Proficiency
ELA and Math Growth
Chronic absenteeism

10. What Happens Next? Assess needs related to the areas of weakness
Identify strategies and resources that can impact improvement
Create an Annual School Plan that will outline specific steps
Outline a timeline for completion of those steps 
Understand the steps needed to be removed from status 

11. Annual School Plan Goals
Language Arts Literacy – Reading – raising Lexile scores of students reading two or more grade levels below expectations
Mathematics – Increase score on end of year benchmark
Culture and Climate – Decrease in student referrals for discipline
State support
Dr. Michael Gilbert – Office of Comprehensive Support
Title I SIA Funding – $76,900 (current)
More funding for the school year

12. Action Steps Review the needs assessment in the Annual School Plan
Analyze the data
Assess the rigor of the curriculum and make revisions
Instruction – Do we have the teachers placed to best fit the needs of the students? Are there changes that need to take place in instruction?
Middle School Schedule
Transition from 5th to 6th grade – Vertical articulation
Interventions for students reading below grade level – READ 180 (current) What else is needed?
Professional development – Inspired Instruction
Advisor period – Second Step Program
Continue Math tutoring
Collaboration with Special education – What changes are needed?
Target students who are absent 10% of school year (18 days)

13. How Can We Learn More?
Detailed school information will be publicly available on the NJDOE website in School Performance Reports.
School Performance Reports:
Provide families, educators and the public a picture of overall school performance.
Include valuable information across many elements, including schoolwide academic achievement and progress, demographics, school climate, chronic absenteeism, and college and career readiness. 
Can be used to start local conversations by asking questions such as: How is our school doing relative to other schools? Are all of our students making progress from last year?

14. For More Information Visit NJ’s ESSA State Plan website:
Visit our district website for updates
questions: 
NJ Department of Education ESSA team: