PUBLIC NOTICE
Submission to the United States Department of Education
Application for Addendum of State Education Agency Requirements under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
In December 2021, responding to the impact of the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic on schools across the nation, the U.S. Department of Education (USED) issued guidance for the 2021- 22 school year regarding annual assessment and accountability duties required by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in section 1111 (20 U.S.C. 6311). Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, USED is offering states the opportunity to apply for addenda related to accountability provisions required under ESSA. The State Educational Agency (SEA) is inviting the public and interested Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to comment in the manner provided below.
Summary of Addendum Request
In order to meet ESSA accountability requirements, Wisconsin must resume identifying schools for comprehensive (CSI), targeted (TSI), and additional targeted (ATSI) support and improvement in fall 2022. Identifications have been frozen for two years in accordance with the requirements of previous waivers from USED. However, COVID-19 broadly disrupted data collection and reliability from the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years. Due to these disruptions, Wisconsin’s approved ESSA plan cannot produce identifications in fall 2022. The proposed ESSA addendum accounts for these data disruptions and allows the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to identify the schools and subgroups most in need of support at the present time. Through the addendum, DPI requests two types of changes to the identification system for 2021- 22:
1) Reduce the number of years of data used for identifications.
For identifications in fall of 2022, we propose to use only the most recent year of data available for each indicator to create the accountability summary score. We also propose to use only the 2021- 22 summary score to produce TSI and ATSI identifications. For schools participating in alternate accountability, data from the 2020-21 and 2021-22 alternate accountability processes will be used for CSI identifications in fall of 2022.
2) Shift certain timelines forward by two years.
Data disruptions from 2019-20 and 2020-21 also affected the process for exiting identified schools from their identifications. Schools with ATSI identifications and most schools with CSI identifications have not been eligible to exit those identifications for two years. We propose to shift both the ATSI-to-CSI conversion and the CSI more rigorous interventions timelines forward by two years to provide identified schools with adequate time to engage in continuous improvement work and accumulate the data needed to demonstrate readiness to exit their identifications. Similarly, we also propose to shift long-term goals forward by two years.
Further Information and Location for Providing Written Comments
The Department’s state plan addendum is available to review at: https://dpi.wi.gov/esea/esea- and-covid-19. Public comment on the application described above may be submitted by using the Department’s form for submitting comment at https://forms.gle/WznSMew6kdGBhjZa7. Questions or additional comments may be accepted by using the contact information below. Written comments should be submitted no later than Thursday, March 3, 2022, in order to receive consideration. Agency Contact Person
Sam Bohrod, Assistant Director Office of Educational Accountability
Division for Student and School Success Department of Public Instruction
125 South Webster Street
P.O. Box 7841
Madison, WI 53707-7841 oeamail@dpi.wi.gov
