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Results of the 2000-01 ABCs Pilot Program to Test and Evaluate a Revised School Accountability Model for the ABCs Plan

Results of the 2000-01 ABCs Pilot Program

Executive Summary

Section 8.36 of the special provisions in the 1999 Budget required the State Board of Education to establish a pilot program in up to five Local Education Agencies (LEAs) "for the purpose of determining whether revisions in the present accountability model are likely to result in more students demonstrating mastery of grade level subject matter and skills." Section 8.36 further specified that the Board should report by October 15, 2001, and annually thereafter, "its findings and recommendations regarding the continued implementation, expansion, and modification of the pilot program." However, the report to the General Assembly has been rescheduled for December due to the delay in ABCs reporting as a result of the equating study in mathematics.

This report partially fulfills the requirements for the 2001 report to the General Assembly. It presents school level results for the pilot program participants. It will be augmented by additional analyses to address other "findings and recommendations" in subsequent months, leading to a final report for the General Assembly in December.

The State Board of Education is required to establish awards for pilot schools that meet the goals of the pilot program. This report is presented to the Board in order to fulfill its responsibility to identify, approve and award those schools that merit awards on the basis of their performance in 2000-01.

Based on applications submitted pursuant to Section 8.36, five LEAs were selected and participated in the pilot program during the 2000-01 school year. They were: Bladen County Schools (090); Craven County Schools (250); Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (340); Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (600); and Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Public Schools (700). Based on analyses of the 2000-01 ABCs data for schools in these Local Education Agencies, 67 schools (31.5% of participating schools) merit awards for meeting the goals of the pilot program.

In Section 8.36 of the special provisions in the 1999 Budget, the General Assembly required the State Board of Education to establish a pilot program in up to five Local Education Agencies (LEAs) "for the purpose of determining whether revisions in the present accountability model are likely to result in more students demonstrating mastery of grade level subject matter and skills." Section 8.36 further specified that the Board should report by October 15, 2001, and annually thereafter, "its findings and recommendations regarding the continued implementation, expansion, and modification of the pilot program." However, the report to the General Assembly has been rescheduled for December due to the delay in ABCs reporting as a result of the equating study in mathematics. This report presents school-by-school results for those schools participating in the pilot program during 2000-01. The report will be expanded in subsequent months to include other findings and recommendations regarding the pilot program.

Under the special provisions, local boards of education could volunteer to participate in the pilot. Each volunteer was required to hold a public meeting and pass a resolution specifically approving the LEA’s participation in the pilot program. Participation also required a commitment of local funds (on a 25% matching basis) if the LEA did not qualify for Low-Wealth or Small School supplemental funding.

In January 2000 Superintendents of LEAs and Chief Officers of Charter Schools were formally invited to submit applications to participate in the ABCs Pilot Program required by Section 8.36. They were advised of the legislative requirements and provided a copy of the legislation and the preliminary guidelines for the pilot program. Volunteers were required to submit their applications to the Department of Public Instruction by February 18, 2000 and to include results of their public meeting and a copy of the resolution passed by the local board approving their participation.

Six LEAs submitted applications. They were: Bladen County Schools (090); Craven County Schools (250); Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (340); Roanoke Rapids City Schools (421); Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (600); and Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Public Schools (700).

The State Board of Education met March 1-2, 2000 and approved the applications for: Bladen County Schools (090); Craven County Schools (250); Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (340); Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (600); and Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Public Schools (700). These LEAs provided good geographic, demographic, rural and urban coverage of the state as prescribed by Section 8.36. The application from Roanoke Rapids City Schools (421) was not selected because of the legislative restriction to five LEAs and because the small number of schools in the district would add the least statistical information to the pilot study.

The ABCs Pilot Program was first implemented starting with the 2000-2001 school year. Participation may continue through 2004-05 contingent on funding and evaluation results. Within each selected LEA, all schools containing any of the grades 3-8 participated. (No high schools were involved in the pilot due to the additional complexity of the high school ABCs and because of the anticipated transition to a prediction model for high school accountability in 2000-2001. High schools may be included in the pilot in later years, if feasible.)

Schools in the pilot continue to be subject to standard ABCs requirements and the associated awards and sanctions continue to apply. Awards achieved under the pilot program are in addition to any earned under the standard ABCs program. For each school, additional awards are contingent on meeting growth standards in ten subgroups of students. Subgroups are defined in terms of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and prior achievement. Additional details are given in the Preliminary Guidelines for implementation of the pilot program (see appendix).

Pilot program LEAs met with DPI staff in conjunction with the 2001 Testing and Accountability Conference. The meeting on January 29, 2001 was used to review activities to that point in time and to discuss data from prior years as they informed potential areas of concentration for pilot efforts.

ABCs Pilot analyses were applied as outlined in the pilot program guidelines. Results are shown in the appendix. A list is provided showing, by LEA, each school that participated and the outcomes for each subgroup in the pilot program. An overall status is given for each school indicating whether the school met the overall pilot program requirements (i.e. whether they met growth expectations in all applicable subgroups). Table 1 below shows the number and percentage of schools (by LEA, and in the total pilot program) that met the goals of the pilot program.

Additional analyses will be forthcoming in a subsequent report showing to what extent the pilot program schools experienced improvements in the percent of students at grade level and how the pilot program schools’ overall performance in the ABCs compares to the performance of the state as a whole.

Table 1. Number and Percent of Schools Meeting ABCs Pilot Requirements

During the 2000-01 school year 67 schools, or 31.5% of the schools participating in the pilot program, met the pilot program goals by attaining growth expectations in all applicable subgroups.

 Preliminary Guidelines

Legislative requirements include:

1. Statewide, no more than five LEAs will be selected to participate in the pilot

2. The LEA must hold a public hearing and the local Board of Education must approve participation in the event the LEA is selected

3. The LEA must submit an application to the State Board of Education

4. The LEA must contribute 25% matching funds, if not qualified for Low-Wealth or Small School supplemental funding.

5. The pilot program will be implemented starting with the 2000-2001 school year and could continue through 2004-2005

Administrative requirements:

1. Within each selected LEA, all schools containing any of the grades 3-8 shall participate

2. Standard ABCs requirements, awards and sanctions will continue to apply to schools in the participating LEAs

3. The pilot will be restricted to grades 3-8. (No high schools will be involved in the pilot due to the additional complexity of the high school ABCs and because of the anticipated transition to a prediction model for high school accountability in 2000-2001. High schools may be included in the pilot in later years, if feasible.)

4. Awards achieved under the pilot program are in addition to any earned under the standard ABCs program

5. Additional awards under the pilot will be based on growth in the following subgroups:

1. American Indian

2. Asian

3. Black

4. Hispanic

5. White

6. Other (including multi-racial)

7. Students eligible for free/reduced price lunches

8. Students not eligible for free/reduced price lunches

9. Students whose pretest scores were in Level I/II in reading or mathematics

10. Students whose pretest scores were in Level III/IV in reading or mathematics

6. Pilot awards may be up to $750 for each teacher and certified personnel and up to $325 for each teacher assistant (to be determined by the SBE)

7.  

8. Pilot awards will be based on:

1. Expected growth composites calculated for each subgroup,

2. using the same formula used in the standard ABCs, including weighting the components if done for the standard ABCs,

3. restricted to reading and mathematics only (writing will not be included),

4. across all applicable grades 3-8 in the school

9. To receive awards under the pilot, schools must make the growth expectation in all subgroups that meet the following conditions:

1. There must be at least 15 students contributing to the composite (i.e., across all grades/subjects) in each subgroup for it to count

2. Subgroups with less than 15 students contributing to the composite will be dropped from the pilot accountability requirements for that school (i.e., if there are less than 15 Asian students, then the school must meet the remaining nine subgroup goals)

10. All of the above requirements are subject to change, pending further developments or additional information

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