Requiring Assistance or Intervention Designations
The 2018 school accountability designations are based on the new system created to meet requirements of both ESSA and Massachusetts statute. This new system using a different set of accountability indicators but is still largely based on MCAS scores.
The new system drops the school performance “levels”. Schools are now placed into one of two categories – Does Not Require Assistance or Intervention or Requires Assistance or Intervention. The categories within the Requires Assistance or Intervention will drive any required response from the school and trigger the level of support the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will provide to the schools. (Note: The required response and types of support will be covered in a later post.)
In 2018, 16% of schools are placed into Requires Assistance or Intervention. There are two categories of assistance – Focused Targeted Support or Broad Comprehensive Support.
The Focused Target Support category is similar to the Level 3 designation in the previous accountability system. Schools can be assigned to the Focused Targeted Support category for any of the following reasons:
- Ranked in the bottom 10% of schools – scores on each indicator are ranked on each indicator, assigned a percentile and a weighted average of the percentiles is calculated
- Ranked in the bottom 10% for one or more subgroups
- Low graduation rate overall or for any subgroup – below 66.7%
- Low participation rate overall or for any subgroup – below 95%
The Broad Comprehensive Support schools are those currently designated as Under-performing or Chronically Under-performing (formerly Level 4 or Level 5 schools).
Schools can be assigned to the Broad and Comprehensive Support category through designation by the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education for Under-performing schools and Chronically Under-performing schools.
Thirty schools remain labeled as Under-performing or Chronically Under-performing based on prior designations. No new schools were assigned to Broad Comprehensive Support this year; four schools exited Under-performing status this year.