Understanding the LCAP’s Increased or Improved Services Requirement

/0 Comments/in , /by

By Jennifer Reyes, Ed.D., Educational Support Services Manager

Updated: November, 2023 

California school leaders, are you confused about the LCAP’s increased or improved services requirement?

If so, you’re not alone!  Read on for a breakdown of the basics of this critical LCAP component.

Unduplicated Pupils

To begin, a charter school’s unduplicated count refers to the total number of students who belong to one or more of the groups identified for additional funding under the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF):  Low Income (measured by Free/Reduced Lunch eligibility), English Learner, and Foster Youth.  Unduplicated simply means that any student in one or more of these groups would only be counted once in the calculation.

The unduplicated pupil count is used to determine the amount of supplemental and concentration funds the charter school will receive under LCFF.  Charter schools receive these additional funds up to a maximum of the unduplicated percentage of the school district in which they reside.

To illustrate, a charter school of 400 students may have a total of 320 unduplicated pupils. This school has 320 students who meet one or more criteria for unduplicated pupils.  Rather than add together the school’s 310 students who are eligible for free/reduced lunch, its 50 English Learners, and its five foster youth, the formula counts each student just once – even those who meet more than one criteria – for a total of 320 of the 400 enrolled students, or an Unduplicated Pupil Percentage (UPP) of 80%.

Alternate UPP Example

Total student population:  4

  • Student 1- Free/Reduced Lunch-eligible
  • Student 2- Free/Reduced Lunch-eligible and English Learner
  • Student 3- Free/Reduced Lunch-eligible and Foster Youth
  • Student 4- Meets no unduplicated pupil criteria

Unduplicated Pupil Count:  3

UPP: ¾=75%

Now, if the district the charter school resides in has an equal or higher UPP, the school will receive funds for its own full count. For example, if your UPP is 80% and the district your school resides in has a UPP of 90%, your UPP will be capped at 80%. However, if the district percentage is lower, the school will receive funding at the district percentage. For example, if your UPP is 80% but the district your school resides in has a UPP of 45%, your UPP will be capped at 45%.

Minimum Proportionality

Minimum proportionality refers to the proportion of supplemental and concentration funds to base funds the school receives. Districts and charter schools are required to state and justify how they have used the supplemental and concentration funds to increase or improve services for the unduplicated student population by at least the proportion of additional funds received.

For example, if a school receives $10,000,000 in total LCFF revenue, and based on its unduplicated student population receives $1,000,000 in supplemental and concentration funding, then its Minimum Proportionality Percentage (MPP) would be 10%.  This school needs to demonstrate how it has increased or improved services for its unduplicated student population, in quantity or quality, by at least ten percent.

MPP Example

All other LCFF Funding (less TIIG & Transportation):  $10,000,000

Supplemental and Concentration Funds: $1,000,000

MPP ($1,000,000/$10,000,000):  10%

How can a charter school best demonstrate that it has increased or improved services for its unduplicated pupils?  In the LCAP, each action or service must be identified as contributing or not contributing to the increased/improved services requirement.  Those contributing actions/services are then identified as being applied school-wide or limited to the unduplicated student population.

Increased or Improved Services Section Requirements

Here are the items a charter school must include in the LCAP under DIISUP:

  • The dollar amount of funds generated by unduplicated students.
  • The Minimum Proportionality Percentage (MPP) reflecting the proportion of funds generated by unduplicated pupils.
  • If enrollment for unduplicated pupils is above 55%, for services that are applied schoolwide, include a description of how the services are principally directed  and effective.  For unduplicated counts below 55%, for services that are applied schoolwide, include a description of how services provided are the most effective use of funds to meet the goals of the unduplicated pupils.  Provide the basis for this determination, any alternatives considered, plus supporting theory, experience, or research.

A complete explanation for schoolwide actions will include: 

  • Needs, conditions, circumstances  
  • Describe the action/service  
  • How the action relates to the needs  
  • Intended outcome for the group of students  
  • How the action will produce the intended outcome 

Concentration Grant Add-On: 

  • Amount and description of how funds will be used to increase staff providing direct services to students. 

Examples of Actions and Services

Some examples we have seen of actions and services targeting unduplicated pupils:

  • Restorative justice and bullying prevention programs  
  • Academic counseling and college preparedness resources
  • Training on how children respond to trauma 
  • Training on social emotional learning and culturally relevant instruction 
  • Mental health services 
  • Intervention programs, mentors, tutors 
  • Methods for differentiating instruction 
  • Arts education, field trips, sports, camps 
  • Connecting families to community resources 

Get Organized and Share Your Great Work!

A charter school or district needs to be able to show, through its LCAP, how it is appropriately utilizing the additional funds received to support unduplicated pupils.  Recent news coverage has spotlighted both charter and district examples where funds are underutilized or unaccounted for in LCAPs.  A March 2023 report by Public Advocates and ACLU Southern California found that 23% of LEAs under-budgeted these funds, and 52% failed to utilize all their funding for high-needs students.  In our experience with schools, there are often many innovative approaches and programs in place to serve unduplicated pupils, and our work together is a matter of organizing the information to meet the LCAP requirements and sharing success stories. 

Our experts are here to help you make the LCAP an actionable tool for your charter school community!

Learn more about EdTec’s LCAP Support Services.

Learn More

Edtec offers LCAP custom support services tailored to meet your school’s unique needs. Please fill out the form below for information about our LCAP services. One of our experts will be in touch soon!

 

Charter School Data Management

Don’t Have a Data Lead at Your Charter School? No Problem!

/0 Comments/in , , /by

At EdTec, we believe that success is built upon collaboration. Our team of charter experts forms a strong partnership with your school, providing the strategic insight needed to keep you firmly on track towards your educational goals. We meet charter school leaders exactly where they are, offering expert guidance and comprehensive solutions to troubleshoot challenges, streamline processes, and create efficiencies.

Your Compass in the Sea of Data

Our team works with you to maximize your system’s features and benefits. We offer support with scheduling, report cards, and gradebook and GPA setup, and we can also create custom reports. Our team can also provide training as well as extend year-round helpdesk support to your team.

We recognize that charter schools operate within a unique landscape, and that’s why our support is charter-specific and real-time. You’ll have consistent access to a dedicated member of our team who specializes in charter schools. There is no wasted time spent navigating call menus or re-explaining an issue to a different support person unfamiliar with your school’s history and the specific requirements charters must meet.

Fuel Growth Through Student Achievement Analysis

Numbers tell a story, and we’re here to help you decipher it. Our experts perform comprehensive student achievement analyses, showcasing your school’s growth and progress. Our analysis includes an overview of school-wide performance, longitudinal cohort analysis, and insights into performance of grade levels and subgroups on state and local assessments, such as NWEA and i-Ready. We can also compare your school’s performance to state and local benchmarks,, Our analysis allows you to identify where things are going well as well as where extra supports may be needed, empowering you to make decisions that bolster student success.

Harness the Power of Learning Management Solutions

Through our partnership with Otus, a K-12 all-in-one Data, Assessment, and Learning Management Solution, you’ll have t a holistic view of your student’s performance by collecting and using data from multiple sources.

Create and share formative and summative assessments, track progress over time, differentiate instruction, and deliver personalized learning. Customization allows you to view performance by student group to ensure all students are growing and on pace to meet their goals. EdTec provides the Otus platform to charter schools large and small with attractive solution pricing and charter-specific, customized support.

Chart Your Course with Confidence

Navigating the waters of charter applications and renewals can be daunting, but you don’t have to go it alone. Our team of experts provides guidance to ensure your charter applications and renewals are not only strong and compliant but also aligned with your school’s vision and goals. With EdTec by your side, you can confidently steer your charter through the process with grace.

Plan for Renewal with Confidence

EdTec works with schools to develop strong, compliant, and successful charter renewal applications. Our expert team provides support with narrative development and student performance analysis, all while making sure your school’s goals are in alignment with your mission and vision. and budget creation.

Shape College-Ready Futures with Postsecondary Data Analysis

Through our partnership with the National Student Clearinghouse® EdTec offers the StudentTracker® for High Schools service to charter schools bundled with EdTec’s robust, charter-specific data services.

StudentTracker® for High Schools provides information about your graduates’ college enrollment, persistence, and completion. EdTec acts as your data lead, managing the data upload and reporting process. This valuable postsecondary data and analysis resource empowers schools to track goals tied to college readiness and completion and demonstrate progress for renewal and other compliance requirements.

Actionable School Plans in Partnership with Seasoned Charter Experts

At EdTec, we’re advocates, collaborators, and partners in your mission to provide an excellent education for your students. Our data and assessment services are designed to empower you with the tools, information, and insights needed to bolster student outcomes and fulfill the mission and vision of your charter.

Ready to harness the power of data? Reach out to us today to learn more about our charter school data and assessment services!

Setting Up Your Data Systems for Successful Performance Analysis

/0 Comments/in , /by

June 2021

By: Annice Weinstein 

This school year has brought a new set of challenges and requirements to charter schools regarding student performance and data analysis. Schools opting to administer local assessments instead of, or in addition to, state tests will still need to disaggregate and report results by student group. This raises the question for charters: Are my testing systems set up to report the results that I need?

Student IDs Are Key

Any student data your school collects can be easily disaggregated by student group if the data includes either the students’ local SIS IDs or their SSIDs. Similarly, you can track growth over time if the results from multiple administrations are linked to the same student IDs. This requires you to be consistent in the set-up of your testing systems. If you are tracking student performance locally, make sure you include the student ID in your data tracking sheets.

If you are using a testing system that requires a roster upload (examples: NWEA, i-Ready, Renaissance Star), it is important to:

  • Decide whether to use the local SIS ID or the SSID as the primary ID and BE CONSISTENT. Use the same student ID for each administration of the test.
  • Stick to a defined process for creating rosters in the testing system, preferably through uploads and not manual entry.
  • If there is the need to manually enter students, make sure to use the selected student ID.

A breakdown in this process will make it very difficult to disaggregate student performance by student group and may result in missing growth data for your school, because the testing system cannot connect the results from two separate administrations to the same set of students.

How can EdTec Help?

EdTec’s data or assessment team can help you determine the best method to maintain consistent IDs in your testing systems. This may involve setting up custom exports from your SIS, having EdTec manage the export/import process at regular intervals, or exploring if Clever is a good integration option for your school.  Each option has its limitations, and it’s important to make a well-informed decision based on your needs.

EdTec can also provide custom data analyses of your assessment results. This includes breakdowns by student groups as well as an analysis of longitudinal progress, if the test was given over multiple administrations. Some examples of assessments EdTec has analyzed are NWEA MAP, i-Ready, Renaissance Star, and the SBAC Interim Comprehensive Assessments (ICAs).

EdTec helps charters prepare their student outcome data for state and authorizer requirements, in addition to stakeholder engagement.

EdTec also offers affordable licenses to Otus, a data, assessment, and learning management system. Maintaining student performance data in a system like Otus allows your staff, students, and parents to see student growth over time across multiple measures. It also provides a single repository for all performance data that can be disaggregated by student group and used for longitudinal analysis.

Using an assessment and learning management system such as Otus can help to streamline the data collection and reporting process.

Using an assessment and learning management system such as Otus can help to streamline the data collection and reporting process.

For further questions, please contact us at assessment@edtec.com.

Otus logo and images are the property of Otus, LLC and reproduced with permission.d engaging for all students. For example, they hosted a cooking activity where students could participate either in-person or online.

Ongoing Performance Monitoring to Drive Gains in Student Achievement

/0 Comments/in /by

By Annice Weinstein, Senior Manager, Assessment Data & Analysis

November 2020 

EdTec’s charter school data and assessment experts support school leaders in developing plans to monitor progress on identified measurable outcomes, and schools that follow a defined process have shown considerable gains in student performance.  

Amid all the uncertainty and unexpected changes this school year, it is important not to lose sight of your charter goals for academic achievement and student success, particularly given the current political climate. With some forward planning, you can keep your school on target by defining your measurable outcomes, monitoring progress, and regularly sharing results with your school community throughout the year to reinforce common goals.

Identify Key Measurable Outcomes 

The first step is to identify the primary measurable outcomes for your school. This should include key statewide accountability measures such as state tests, English learner progress, chronic absenteeism, suspension rates, and graduation rates. For academic achievement, consider including measures that can be evaluated throughout the year as well, such as performance on common benchmarks or normed assessments, or measures of course performance like the percentage of students with passing grades in all core courses. Make sure to include measures that are representative of the unique qualities of your charter. For example, set college application/acceptance rates or post-secondary outcomes as a measure for a college preparatory charter, or student survey results if social-emotional growth and a positive school climate are a focus. And remember to engage your stakeholders – teachers, administrators, parents, students – to determine the best measures of success for your students.

Edtec helps charters prepare their student outcome data for presentation at stakeholder engagement meetings.

Create a Cycle of Data Inquiry 

Once your team has identified the key measures for your school, start to map out your calendar of when the data will be available and your schedule of reviewing progress with your stakeholders. The level of analysis will vary depending on the group but do your best to present the same measures to all stakeholder groups. For example, your teachers may take a deep dive into NWEA MAP performance, overall and by strand, for their whole class, groups of students and individual students. For your parents, it may be sufficient to let them know the MAP subjects tested and how students schoolwide are progressing towards an annual target. The frequency of review will also depend on the data type. Chronic absenteeism could be monitored monthly, grades by semester, benchmark tests after each administration, and graduation rates annually. Determine what measures make sense to share at different points throughout the year.

Define the Data Collection Process 

The most complicated part of the process will be determining how you will collect data on key performance measures in a way that allows for a streamlined analysis. For some measures, it’s a matter of tasking a staff member to extract data from your existing systems on a regular basis, such as downloading a state test data file from its reporting system or aggregating attendance data from your student information system (SIS). For custom measures, it helps to house the data in a single online reporting system, such as Otus or Illuminate DnA. If you plan to collect information from each individual teacher, establish templates for data collection to make it easier to aggregate scores across classes.

Using an assessment and learning management system such as Otus can help to streamline the data collection and reporting process.

Plan for Streamlined Reporting 

Finally, think about how you plan to report the information. For example, if you want to know how many of your students are reading at or above grade level by the end of the year, do not just collect students’ raw scores on their reading assessments. Include a field in your template that translates the raw score to a proficiency score of Below Grade Level, Approaching Grade Level, or At or Above Grade Level, so you can easily see how many students are At or Above Grade Level. If you select NWEA MAP performance, it makes more sense to track progress towards a student’s growth target than it does to track whether the student is on grade level, since the system reports focus more on growth than grade level equivalents.

No matter what measures you select, make sure you can also disaggregate the data by significant student subgroups. This is easier to do if you store the data in a system such as Otus or Illuminate DnA, but this analysis can be done manually as well as long as all the data sources include a unique student identifier, such as the SIS student ID or state student ID. Performance of student subgroups can be a key factor in charter renewal decisions, and many charters excel in supporting historically disadvantaged student groups, so it’s good to stay on top of your progress.

EdTec’s data and assessment experts provide NWEA analysis services, Illuminate DnA implementation and customization support, as well as setup and licensing for the Otus Data, Assessment, and Learning Management solution at a low per-student cost. Additionally, we help charters to plan for stakeholder engagement meetings and to present outcome data to stakeholders, authorizers, and the community. Through EdTec’s new partnership with the National Student Clearinghouse®, we offer the StudentTracker® service to charter schools bundled with our robust, charter-specific data services.

If you’re interested in learning more about how we can support your school in these areas, reach out to us at assessment@edtec.com.

Otus logo and images are the property of Otus, LLC and reproduced with permission. 

Tracking student engagement and enrollment during distance learning

Tracking Attendance and Engagement During Distance Learning

/0 Comments/in , , /by

By the EdTec Data Team 

August 18, 2020

This past spring, many schools learned that tracking student attendance and engagement during distance learning can be a complicated and often messy process. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be! There are many ways to track attendance and engagement in this new learning environment, and you’ll be in better shape if you clearly define which methods your school will use from the start. Accurate data is not only necessary for reporting purposes, it will also help your school to identify students who are not engaging and risk falling behind. We’ve put together a few tips to help schools get a plan in place to track student attendance and engagement this school year.

#1 Continue to take attendance on a daily basis 

Most schools need to collect daily attendance to provide evidence of whether a student is present or absent to fulfill state, district, and/or other reporting requirements. This data is also important so that school leaders and teachers have an accurate picture of which students are participating in distance learning and which are not. This data can be used to inform optimal resource allocation and determine the appropriate interventions and supports for those students who need it most.

#2 Develop a consistent process for taking attendance that can be applied across learning models 

Schools will likely switch between different instructional models during the 2020-2021 school year, so there should be processes and systems that allow for a seamless transition in attendance recording. To minimize confusion, consider setting up a daily Advisory or Homeroom class that can be used for taking attendance both when the school is offering fully remote instruction and when the school is ready to transition to a hybrid model.

#3 Have a system in place for tracking in-person attendance versus virtual attendance 

Even if your school intends to or has already reopened with fully remote learning, plan to have separate codes in place if, and when, the school returns to some form of in-person instruction. Given the vastly different nature of remote learning, the ability to distinguish between and report on the two types of attendance will help schools identify students who may require additional resources and support. Keeping your attendance system as clear as possible will help ease any confusion when in-person instruction resumes.

#4 Rely on multiple sources of information to document and verify student engagement 

While the guidance on what qualifies as sufficient documentation of student engagement varies across districts and is evolving, schools should keep track of and be able to demonstrate how students and teachers are being held accountable to one another.

Some sources might include:

  • Gradebook assignments and assignment scores
  • Log in records and log in duration from learning platforms or student portals
  • Daily logs (electronic or paper) that can be saved or stored in a student’s file
  • Online polls or chat history
  • Attendee logs from video or audio calls

If your school uses PowerSchool or Aeries as a student information system, you can reach out to our school data experts for ideas about how to prepare your system for the new school year.

–

Having a clear plan in place to monitor student attendance and engagement will help your school to collect accurate data for reporting as well as determine which students may need additional support to keep them engaged and learning. How is your school tracking student attendance and engagement? Let us know in the comment section below!

Related Posts

 

Understanding the LCAP’s Increased or Improved Services Requirement

Four Ways School Leaders Can Promote Equity-Driven Distance Learning

California Charters, Stay Calm and Focus on Your LCAP Submission and the 2019 Dashboard!

/0 Comments/in , /by

By Jennifer Reyes, Ed.d., Educational Support Services Manager; Chris Lim, Senior Director of Data Management; and Annice Weinstein, Senior Manager, Assessment Data and Analysis 

April 16, 2019

California charter leaders, as you enter the last few months of the school year, pay attention to these important tasks to help you stay on top of your LCAP submission as well as ensure accurate reporting on the 2019 Dashboard.

CALPADS Submissions and the Dashboard

Demographic data reported to CALPADS informs the subgroup information reported on the CA School Dashboard. The CA Department of Education (CDE) typically extracts this information shortly after CAASPP testing is completed, so review the 8.1 ODS report in CALPADS to be sure the right demographic information is reported for each student: race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, homeless, foster, English learner, and disability status. For corrections, update the information in your student information system (SIS) first, then push an updated extract up to CALPADS, so the original source of your data (your SIS) is accurate and matches what’s in CALPADS.

We also recommend you push up an enrollment update to CALPADS prior to testing to make sure all students enrolled at your school are represented in TOMS.

The end-of-year submissions (EOY 1, 2, and 3) provide information on program eligibility, chronic absenteeism, suspension rate, and other disciplinary incidents, as well as college and career readiness. EOY information is also used to determine graduation rates along with cumulative enrollment, which the CDE uses to determine which students will factor into each of the Dashboard calculations.

LCAP Annual Update

Coordinate with your staff to gather the data necessary to update all the measurable outcomes defined in your LCAP. You’ll notice that some of the measures may be a year old (SBAC scores or graduation rate from 2017-18),but do your best to gather current data when available (example: local assessment data). Gathering the data early will give you a chance to share progress with your stakeholders and get their feedback, as well as use the data to determine if the actions or services you implemented are showing the results you anticipated. If they aren’t, this is the perfect time to update your plans in the 2019-20 LCAP.

If you haven’t been coding your finances to align with your LCAP goals, actions, and services throughout the year, you’ll need to start reviewing your general ledger to identify how each of the expenses line up with your LCAP. The Annual Update requires you to include your estimated actual expenditures for each action/service, including the funding source (base, supplemental/concentration, title funds, CSI), so this task can take some time.

It’s also a good time to start planning for that final round of stakeholder engagement prior to Board approval.  This will allow you to get quality input on your draft LCAP so that your entire school community is represented in the plan.  You will be able to include these efforts in the stakeholder engagement section and show that you are meeting this LCAP requirement.

One last item to start preparing is your responses to how you’ve addressed each of the local indicators. You will need to present the information at a regularly scheduled board meeting either at the end of this school year or the start of the next school year. Your overall score – Standard Met or Standard Not Met – will be entered by your Dashboard Coordinator next fall, but since you will be including that information in the LCAP Annual Update, it makes sense to prepare your narratives for the Dashboard local indicator reporting at the end of 2018-19.

The end of the school year will be here before we know it! We recommend planning ahead and allotting time to get these items right, as they have a significant impact on your school. For additional questions on the LCAP, Dashboard, or CALPADS submissions, please contact LCAP360@edtec.com.

California Charters, Know the Impact of Participation Rate on Your School’s Academic Indicators!

/0 Comments/in , /by

By Annice Weinstein, Senior Manager, Assessment Data and Analysis

March 29, 2019

In 2018, the California Department of Education added participation rate as a factor into the calculations for the Academic Indicators on the CA School Dashboard. But how exactly does that affect your school?

For both ELA and Math, the goal is to have a participation rate of 95% or higher on the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments (SBAC) and the California Alternate Assessments (CAAs.) If the participation rate falls below 95%, a fourth of a point (.25) is deducted from the Distance from Standard (DFS) for that subject for each percentage point below the target 95%.

For example, if a school had a participation rate of 91% on the SBAC/CAA ELA and a DFS in ELA of 9:

95% – 91% = 4 (points below the target participation rate)

4 x .25 = 1 (deduction amount from the DFS)

9 – 1 = Adjusted DFS of 8

Participation rate is calculated for every subgroup with 11 or more students and factored into the Academic Indicators for all reported Dashboard subgroups.

The following students are not included in the participation rate calculation: students absent from testing due to a significant medical emergency who are also flagged with the medical emergency condition code on the CAASPP file, and for the ELA portion of the SBAC/CAA, English learners enrolled in a U.S. school for less than one year. Parent waivers do not exempt students from the participation rate calculations.

Schools are also responsible for testing students who transfer in during the beginning 14-day grade period or during the Accountability Testing Window. These students will be included in the participation rate calculation. Schools are not responsible for testing students who transfer in during the ending 14-day grace period or transfer out during the beginning 14-day grace period. However, schools are responsible for testing students who transfer out during the Accountability Testing Window or during the ending 14-day grace period.

To see how participation rate may have affected your school’s Academic Indicators in 2018, schoolwide and for each significant subgroup, enter your school name into the box on this site:

https://public.tableau.com/profile/aweinstein#!/vizhome/2018_Participation_Rate_Impact/ParticipationRateDashboard

Why Now is the Best Time to Revise Your LCAP for Next Year!

/0 Comments/in , /by

by Jennifer Reyes, Ed.D., Educational Support Services Manager

October 2, 2018

California charter schools, think back to your experience updating your 17-18 LCAP.  Did you feel overwhelmed by too many goals and metrics?  Outdated actions and services?  Unclear budgeted expenditures?  Lack of available data for any of the sections?  If you experienced any of these frustrations, now is a great time to work on revising your 19-20 LCAP.

Why now? 

A central tenet of the Local Control Funding Formula is the engagement of all stakeholders in the process of updating and revising a school or district’s LCAP.  Starting the process now allows you time to bring the needs to your advisory bodies, Board, staff, parents, and secondary students.  If you work on the LCAP now you can engage your school site council in understanding the LCAP and develop proposed changes. Then you can bring it to the school community for input all in time for a smooth update next spring.

By contrast, schools that rush through changes in the spring may find there is no time to consider all relevant data and develop a plan that has full support and staying power.

What to do?

Here are some examples of changes schools can make to increase the relevance of the LCAP and improve the process:

  • Organize your metrics under a few (3-5) powerful goals that all stakeholders can articulate.
  • Set up your financials according to LCFF guidelines for base, supplemental, and concentration funds.
  • Update your actions and services to convey your school’s current initiatives.

A fall or winter revision also frees up the time you need to focus your spring efforts on the 18-19 LCAP Update that is due July 1. You will need to collect and analyze data from the current academic year during this time.  The LCAP process provides greater flexibility to LEAs to plan and measure their success, but at the same time demands a new level of organization, involvement, and transparency.  If your LCAP could use some improvement, there is no time like the present to get started!

If you have any questions about your LCAP or LCAP Support Services, feel free to reach out to Jennifer by filling out this form and she will get back to you.

CALPADS Update for CA Charter Schools

/0 Comments/in , /by

By Gerald Cockrell, Data and Categorical Program Specialist

September 19, 2018

For California charter schools, it can be hard to stay on top of all the changes to CALPADS. Use the list below as an easy checklist to make sure your school isn’t forgetting anything this year. Check out our previous CALPADS post to see our list of the most important CALPADS reports to prepare for Fall 1.

Important Changes to CALPADS for the 18/19 School Year

  • There are new CALPADS submission certification deadlines for ‘18-‘19 and they are much earlier than previous years. Please plan accordingly, especially for the Fall 1 submission which now ends around Thanksgiving instead of the end of January.
    • Fall 1 Certification Deadline: 11/21/18
    • Fall 1 Amendment Window Deadline: 12/7/18
    • Fall 2 Certification Deadline: 2/1/19 (No Amendment Window)
    • EOY 1 – EOY 3 Certification Deadline: 8/17/19 (No Amendment Window)
  • In addition to the shorter submission windows CALPADS also has a significant outage planned for 9/21-10/01 to make major system changes. Please plan accordingly. It’s also important to get any SSID’s or other information from CALPADS you may need for assessment or ELPAC testing.
  • New students with a non-English primary language must have an ‘18-‘19 enrollment record and a “TBD” SELA record in CALPADS in order for them to show up in TOMS and be tested with the Initial ELPAC.
  • This update is not new, but it is important enough to warrant an annual reminder: all National School Lunch Program (NSLP) Free and Reduced Price Meal (FRPM) applications for the year MUST BE RECEIVED BY 10/31/18 for the student eligibility to count towards your official FRPM or LCFF Unduplicated counts.

To help you prepare for Fall 1 and make sure your charter school’s data is accurate for funding and accountability, check out our previous CALPADS post about the most important CALPADS reports.

We Need Proof: Capture & Demonstrate Student Performance across a Data Spectrum

/0 Comments/in , /by

by Annice Weinstein, Senior Manager, Assessment Data and Analysis 

May 23, 2018

With so much going on at your charter school on a day-to-day basis, it can be difficult to remember what data your staff needs to track throughout the year. This data is necessary to stay on top of accountability requirements and be able to demonstrate student performance to your stakeholders, as well as for your LCAP, charter renewal, WASC, and grants. This article takes a step-by-step approach to help you evaluate your data needs and establish processes for collecting that data.

Start with your Charter

When your school’s founding team wrote the charter, they laid the foundation for what the school aims to accomplish, student performance goals, and how it plans to measure its progress over the duration of the charter period. Because your LCAP is an annual reflection of the school’s performance and plan for improvement, aligning the goals and measurable pupil outcomes in your LCAP to your charter is critical. This will also save you time when you renew your charter, as aligning the two documents is a requirement for renewal.

As a next step, you’ll need to track progress towards the measurable outcomes you set in your LCAP. For example, if one of your student performance goals is that all students enrolled at your school since ninth grade will graduate and be accepted to college, then you need to have processes in place to track progress towards graduation requirements and college acceptance rates. To accomplish this, you could assign a member of your data team to collaborate with the school’s guidance counselors and college counselors to determine the best way to gather this information. If one of your metrics for academic achievement is that all students enrolled at your school since kindergarten will be reading on grade level by the end of 3rd grade, then you need to have processes in place to track reading levels for a cohort of students over time.

Data Integrity

You won’t be able to evaluate your progress and student performance toward LCAP goals and tell your school’s story without consistent, reliable data. What’s more, your CALPADS data will be used to calculate the CA School Dashboard state indicators, so it’s extremely important that it’s complete and accurate. Review all CALPADS certification reports carefully. Take the time to download all student-level state test results from TOMS, CELDT, ELPAC, and testing systems to a safe place at your school. The data may not always be available to download when you need it; for example, TOMS only houses two historical years of data.

For all local test data, make sure to include student IDs so you can calculate longitudinal progress. Include proficiency levels where applicable to make it easy to determine the percentage of students on grade level or meeting the standard. Make sure the team in charge of data at your school is aware of the important role they play in compliance requirements and storytelling, and work with them to establish standard processes for tracking and reporting all data. You’ll want to make sure that everyone involved in these processes is kept informed of critical updates and timelines.

Use Data to Tell Your Story

CA School Dashboard Indicators

When it comes time to tell your story, it’s important to present the school’s performance in a clear, honest, effective way. In addition to the good news, you’ll also need to communicate dips in performance and indications of achievement gaps. You can use your Dashboard indicators to identify achievement gaps by identifying any student groups performing two or more levels below the school’s overall performance. You should also be prepared to explain how you are using data to assist in improving performance or closing the achievement gap.

Your Dashboard indicators are also useful for identifying and highlighting progress in student performance, such as an improvement in the test performance of English Learners. Whenever possible, try to identify specific programs or lack of programs that can be tied to progress or setbacks; this will weave a thorough story and set the stage for you to provide related recommendations about the best way to allocate resources going forward.

Local Metrics

You can also use local metrics to highlight your school’s performance. If you’ve had success in a particular area, you’ll want to make sure to share this with your stakeholders. Here are a few examples of metrics that might make sense for your school to track and report:

  • College Application, Acceptance, or College-Going Rate
  • AP Course Enrollment or AP Pass Rate
  • GPA
  • Participation in Programs (extracurricular activities, arts & science programs, leadership)
  • SAT/ACT Scores
  • Fundraising Success
  • Community Service Hours
  • Re-Enrollment Rate or Waitlist Count (to indicate satisfaction with or interest in your school)
  • Results of Parent/Student Surveys

Performance Analysis

There are two main ways to demonstrate student performance when telling your school’s story: longitudinal progress and comparison view. The longitudinal view compares performance for the same set of students over time. The comparison view shows school-wide performance by grade level or subgroup compared to demographically similar, resident, or district schools. When comparing performance, be sure to select comparison schools based on specific criteria such as similar demographics or geographic proximity. In the end, it all goes back to data integrity, as both views depend on access to complete, accurate data.

Summary

The most effective way to prepare to demonstrate student performance at your school is to outline a data collection strategy and plan. Make sure the relevant staff are on the same page regarding your school’s goals and implementation of those goals, so you are capturing the information you need to tell a powerful story. Schedule time throughout the school year to review progress on the measures established in your LCAP, accurately maintain your CALPADS data, and thoroughly understand your Dashboard. All of this will prepare you to explain both the progress and struggles reflected in your data.

Find out more about EdTec’s Student Performance Services.