LCFF Evaluation Rubrics Adopted by State Board
Published: September 14, 2016
At the State Board of Education meeting Sept. 8-9, members unanimously adopted a concise set of state and local indicators and performance standards to form the new Local Control Funding Formula Evaluation Rubrics.
While the SBE also adopted criteria for determining eligibility for formalized technical assistance and intervention, they continued to emphasize that local education agencies should begin supporting each other to close gaps immediately fostering continuous improvement. The board stressed there will be a single accountability system.
Data for the rubrics will be released to LEAs in November for review and correction, but not publicly released until January 2017. The web-based user interface is still planned scheduled to be up and running by January. The system is intended to be easily searchable and accessible on a phone.
“This doesn’t mean either the rubrics or the accountability system are “Done,” but California officially met the statutory deadline and have a plan in place for the coming year,” Teri Burns, CSBA legislative advocate, said.
The SBE officially adopted a concise set of state indicators and local performance indicators; performance standards for the indicators; criteria for determining eligibility for technical assistance and intervention; statements of model practices; and links to external resources.
Sue Burr, on behalf of the board, reiterated the intent of developing a single system that incorporates state and federal accountability and that more information would be forthcoming as the ESSA State Plan is completed. The ESSA, formally known as the Every Students Succeeds Act, is the federal school accountability plan. They also intend to align as many of the reporting documents as possible. A November report on that status is anticipated. Burr also said LCFF is still not fully funded and that we should not “let expectations get ahead of resources.”
Crucially for school leaders, the SBE answered the “so what” question of what happens if districts don’t improve performance for subgroups. In January, LEAs with multiple red ratings will get a letter urging them to take action. In 2017-18, LEAs with red rankings for any subgroup for two or more priorities will be targeted with technical assistance.
“It is clear that considerable work still needs to be done on the college and career indicator and the English proficiency indicator, as well as the locally assessed indicators,” Burns said.
The state’s largest school districts, through a partnership known as CORE, were present in force urging that they be allowed to continue operating their collaborative and data driven accountability system as a pilot. While no commitments were made, several board members voiced support for their work and the benefits of a research partnership with the Policy Analysis for California Education, or PACE.
In addition to adopting the LCFF rubrics, the SBE postponed action on the updated LCAP template prior to the meeting and in light of the delay in approval of ESSA regulations at the state level, the ESSA update was relatively short. They noted that they were delaying submission of the state plan until the June deadline to accommodate regulation changes, and would be getting a further look at the state plan draft in November.
Also scheduled for the November SBE meeting, the board is expected to add to the statements of model practices and links; set standards for the 2015-16 assessments based on the new data; continue to build out the college and career indicator; adopt an annual process for review of the rubrics; and review the top-level data display for the rubrics. The meeting is scheduled for Nov. 2-3 in Sacramento.