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“Title I” refers to Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which was enacted in 1965 as a key piece of civil rights legislation under President Lyndon Johnson. Most recently, Title I was reauthorized and amended by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2002 and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which was enacted by President Barack Obama in 2015. Kainz (2018) explains that Title I “appropriates federal funding through states to local education agencies for the purpose of improving the academic achievement of economically disadvantaged students.” The more recent amendments of NCLB and ESSA increase focus on closing achievement gaps through flexibility in spending funds.

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Role of Texas Education Code in creating a CIP/CNA

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Role of Texas Education Code in creating a CIP/CNA

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Section 11.251 and 11.252 (2 Texas Education Code, 2019) establish the requirements for district and campus planning. These sections of the code lay out the requirements beginning at the district level, establishing which stakeholders should be involved, procedures for both the needs assessment and the creation of the improvement plan, essential components of the planning process, and the timeline for each.  Section 11.253 (2 Texas Education Code, 2019) of the Texas Education Code provides detailed guidelines for the same process at the campus level as well as specific performance indicators to be used.

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2 Texas Education Code § 11.251 (2019).

2 Texas Education Code § 11.252 (2019).

2 Texas Education Code § 11.253 (2019).

ESSA (2015). Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, Pub. L. No. 114-95 § 114 Stat. 1177 (2015-2016).

Gordon, N. (2016). Increasing targeting, flexibility, and transparency in Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to help disadvantaged students. The Hamilton Project. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.

Hanover Research. (2014). Best Practices for School
Improvement Planning [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://www.hanoverresearch.com/media/Best-Practices-for-School-Improvement-Planning.pdf

Kainz, K. (2018). Early academic gaps and Title I programming in high poverty, high minority schools. Early Childhood Research Quarterly 47, 159–168.

Reedy High School. (2019). Reedy High School: 2019-2020 Campus Improvement Plan. Retrieved from https://plan4learning.806technologies.com/plan#/Main

Texas Education Agency. (2019). ESF: The Framework. Retrieved from https://texasesf.org

Texas Education Agency. (2018). Supplement, Not Supplant Handbook: A Guide for Grants Administered by the Texas Education Agency. (Version 3.1). Retrieved from https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/SNS%20Handbook_3.1--revised%2012-2018.pdf

Weatherford, V. (n.d.). What's your plan: Comprehensive needs assessment. Retrieved from https://blackboard.angelo.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-2251930-dt-content-rid-19189052_2/courses/13073.202010/13073.202010_ImportedContent_20191008084901/CNA%20Process%20Resource%20Guidebook%281%29.pdf

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Legally defining "Supplement, not supplant"

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Legally defining "Supplement, not supplant"

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The Texas Education Agency defines "Supplement, not supplant (SNS)" (2018) as a method of accountability, in theory ensuring that federal  funds are put toward programs or measures that otherwise would not have been available. Federal funding is intended to level the playing field for low-income districts and students, and SNS intends to prevent districts from putting those funds toward programs or measures that should be funded through state or local money. The TEA (2018) states, "federal supplementary activities must be separately identified and clearly distinguishable" from those using state or local funds.

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Comprehensive Needs Assessment or Campus Improvement Plan?

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Comprehensive Needs Assessment or Campus Improvement Plan?

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The Comprehensive Needs Assessment (CNA) is the process by which the campus committee collects data to determine the needs of the campus.

Section 11.252 (a)(1) of the Texas Education Code (2019) makes clear the requirements for districts to conduct the CNA.

Categories and measurable indicators

This data then informs the formation of goals and action steps in the District/Campus Improvement Plan (DIP/CIP).

The ESSA (2015) also addresses the development of a CNA as required to receive federal funding in Section 1114 (b)(1)(A).

CNA should be part of any Schoolwide Program (SWP)

The CIP contains the goals, strategies, and actionable steps to support the student needs in the CNA.

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Weatherford identifies ket steps to developing a CNA.

Create the committee of stakeholders

Campus admin, staff, students (high school), not-teaching staff, parents, community members, and business reps

Review previous CIP and establish measurable indicators and timelines

Demographics

Student Achievement

School Culture/Climate

Staff Quality, Recruitment, and Retention

Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment

Family and Community Involvement, and Engagement

School Organization

Technology

Review mission/vision and create school profile

Collect, analyze, and document data

Hanover Research (2014) identifies key elements of applying the results of the CNA to develop and implement the CIP:

Begin with SMART goals based on priorities identified in CNA

Create separate task forces to attack individual priorities

Provide specific vehicles for data collection and data analysis

Establish criteria for measuring student learning and improvement

Include initiatives to address social and emotional needs of students

Plan for continuation of review, assessment, and planning cycle

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Interestingly, our campus does not have a defined vision statement, and our mission statement is more of a motto (One Pride, Many Dreams). We are currently in our fifth year as a campus, and our first principal was clear that she wanted our mission to be stated very simply. Our mascot is the lion, so the idea behind "One Pride, Many Dreams" is that we are all one family group (the pride) with shared goals, but we are made up of individuals with unique (many) dreams. Our new principal this year has decided to create traditional vision and mission statements. Our current Campus Leadership Team is in the process of creating a campus mission statement and will then move on to the vision.

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This is another area where we appear to be deficient in the eyes of the TEA. We do have clearly written goals with performance objectives, but I would not consider these SMART goals. The goals are not measurable, and some lack true specificity. Additionally, the performance strategies/tasks assigned to each goal are scaffolded but also lack measurability. This is especially concerning because these action steps are reviewed three times during the year and assigned percentages to measure their progress.

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Again, our CIP is lacking a key required element. We have no parent policy section, nor do any of our goals include collaborative elements with parents. Within our CNA, there is a brief mention of "Community surveys and/or other feedback," but not additional information.

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We are not a Title I school, so no funding is included in our CIP.

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This is difficult. From a holistic view, our CIP goals do appear to work together toward a shared campus set of goals. Our goals show a clear scaffolded approach to improve student achievement. Elements such as collaborative teams, RtI, and social/emotional support show a thorough approach to increasing student achievement.

As noted above, though, there are some serious omissions from our CIP.

The lack of measurability in our goals and action steps prevent our campus from being able to truly measure progress.

The added lack of parental involvement is also disturbing. I spoke to our Associate Principal about this, and she noted that surveys were sent to parents through our school messenger system and that Student Ambassadors are also being consulted on elements of the CIP.

I also find it odd that a district as large as Frisco, and that carries as much clout as Frisco does, that CIP's are not published online. In fact, I had to be given special access to it, access that some of our admin team do not even have.

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Here I found much more positive results with our CIP. We do have a new building principal, and some of the new initiatives clearly align with the goals in our CIP.

Goal 1 - Close achievement gap - Obj. 2 - Implement RtI process: admin created a Google Form to streamline the process of referring students to mandatory tutorials and ultimately into the RtI system in place on campus. The process also increases the efficiency of admin involvement in the process.

Goal 2 - Build future-ready skills for educators and students: our librarian and Digital Learning Coach are working with ELA department to create Bulb e-portfolios for every student on campus.

Goal 3 - Balanced assessment: Perf. Obj. 1 pertains to CFA’s and incorporating them more in our teams; our faculty meetings and some PD have already been devoted to staff members teaching other staff members options/types of CFA’s. We also had a Twitter chat dedicated to formative assessment

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Effective Schools Framework (ESF) and Significance

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Effective Schools Framework (ESF) and Significance

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The ESF is a diagnostic process provided by the TEA to ensure Texas schools are continually improving and providing the highest levels of education for students. It is modeled after other national frameworks and created with district and campus leaders around the state to ensure “every child in Texas is an independent thinker who graduates as an engaged, productive citizen prepared for success in college, a career, or the military" (Texas Education Agency, 2019). The ESF provides five Levers to assist in understanding the process for creating high-performing schools.

Lever 1: Strong School Leadership and Planning - Lever 1 focuses on creating strong campus leaders who create, implement, and monitor the Campus Improvement Plan. Leadership models effective practices through weekly meetings, measurable goals, and effective data analysis.

Lever 2: Effective, Well-Supported Teachers - Districts provide campuses with guidance but also autonomy to hire the highest quality educators who fit the needs of the campus. The campus then builds capacity in teachers through clearly-defined, well-structured observation and feedback cycles.

Lever 3: Positive School Culture: - Districts provide campuses with a safe environment, necessary support services, and relevant data. Campuses use these, plus additional involvement of all relevant stakeholders, to produce a shared vision and mission for the campus. From here, campuses implement systems to manage behavior of students and staff, proactively address mental health needs, and engage families and community members.

Lever 4: High-Quality Curriculum - Districts provide campuses with a Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum, standards-aligned assessments, and time for professional learning. Campuses ensure that curriculum is aligned and best practices are in use to create the most effective teaching and learning environment is present all year long.

Lever 5 - Effective Instruction - The district provides campuses with support to ensure high-quality instruction, rigor activities, and additional support are provided to campuses. Campuses provide data-driven, standards-aligned instruction that includes common formative assessments, rigorous activities, and differentiation. Support services for struggling learners are intentional and thorough and utilize the RtI process.

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Despite the flaws in our CIP, all five levers are represented.

Lever 1 - campus leadership is named and a timeline is provided for formal review

Lever 2 - Goal 1, Obj. 1 and 5 - teacher capacity is built through timely, targeted feedback and professional learning

Lever 3 -  Goal 1, Obj. 3 directly addresses social and emotional health

Lever 4 - Goal 2, Obj. 1 and 2 both provide training in best practices for teachers

Lever 5 - Goal 1, Obj. 2 outlines the process for training and implementing an effective RtI process