Questions to Consider as You Read this Plan

To continue our collaboration with stakeholders across the state, we ask you to consider the following questions as you read our draft Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan, and give us honest, concrete, and actionable feedback so we can improve the plan:

Please indicate your primary role or perspective related to education in Arkansas: *
 
Educator Role: *
Does the accountability system described align with your beliefs about how schools and districts should be accountable for student learning? *
 
Do the measures in this section offer enough information about the quality of Arkansas schools? *
 
Do you think the accountability system described here will provide accurate information for the State Department of Education and other stakeholders to support schools in need of improvement? *
 
Do the assessments listed provide clear, actionable data about student learning for parents/families and teachers? *
 
Are there any types of assessments you feel provide better information about student learning? *
 
Is it clear from this plan how the Department of Education will support the recruitment, preparation, professional growth and development, retention, and professional development of teachers? *
 
Does the plan clearly describe how the Department of Education will ensure equitable access to effective teachers for students across Arkansas, regardless of geographic, social, and economic diversity? *
 
Does this plan present a clear picture of the current work being done to support migratory, rural, and homeless students? *
 
Are there appropriate services to identify, monitor, and support migratory, rural, and homeless students? *
 
Does this plan outline a clear picture of the support systems for students with disabilities? *
 
Are there clear actions outlined in this plan that the Arkansas Department of Education will take to support identifying and targeting of support for students with disabilities? *
 

States are required by federal law to identify English Learners and the progress they make towards becoming proficient in English. Arkansas is moving towards common statewide entry and exit procedures that take into account the wide variety of districts in the state that serve English Learners. The English proficiency indicator is intended to measure individual student’s progress towards achieving English proficiency based on where students begin and how long it should take them to become proficient in English, as informed by our data.

Do the assessments used for assessing English proficiency for English Learners (the ELPA21 assessment) provide clear and accurate information about the progress of these students? *
 
Are there appropriate supports identified in this plan to support students as they work towards English proficiency? *
 
Does this plan describe how the Arkansas Department of Education will provide targeted support to districts for continued identification and support of English Learners beyond reclassification? *
 

In the current draft of the plan, we offer two  (2) options for weighting our indicator of English Language Proficiency:

Option 1: A standard weight of 10% for the English Language Proficiency score for the school performance rating. (NOTE: If a school does not meet the minimum N of 15 students for an English Language Proficiency score, then the 10% weighting is distributed to the other indicators.)

Option 2: An indicator that combines English Language Proficiency growth score with Math and English Language Arts growth scores. (NOTE: This provides all schools with the same weighting for all other indicators and provides schools with higher concentrations of English Learners with more weight for the English Language Proficiency score.)            

Which weighting option do you feel will provide better information about the progress and proficiency of English Learners? *
Does this plan describe a clear course of action for how the Department of Education will help LEAs (districts) improve the educational outcomes of students in schools in need of support? *
 
Do you consider the responsibilities and consequences for schools to improve appropriate and reasonable? *
 
Do you think the responsibilities and consequences are clear for districts to help schools improve? If not, what do you believe would support schools to improve? *
 
Overall, do you feel that this ESSA plan lays out a clear vision for education for the State of Arkansas? *
 
Do you agree with the direction that this plan will take our schools and districts? *
 
Based on the current long-term goals in the ESSA plan, do you believe they are: *
Do you believe the goals will be effective in closing achievement gaps within Arkansas schools? *