Decision Letter on Request to Amend Arizona State Accountability Plan
August 23, 2004
Honorable Tom Horne
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Arizona Department of Education
1535 West Jefferson Street, Bin Z
Phoenix, Arizona 85007
Dear Superintendent Horne:
I am writing in response to Arizona’s request to amend its State accountability plan under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). Following our discussions with your staff, those changes that are aligned with NCLB are now included in an amended State accountability plan that Arizona submitted to the Department on August 17, 2004. A list of the changes is enclosed with this letter. I am pleased to fully approve Arizona’s amended plan, which we will post on the Department’s website.
If, over time, Arizona makes changes to the accountability plan that has been approved, Arizona must submit information about those changes to the Department for review and approval, as required by section 1111(f)(2) of Title I. Approval of Arizona’s accountability plan is not also an approval of Arizona’s standards and assessment system. As Arizona makes changes in its standards and assessments to meet requirements under NCLB, Arizona must submit information about those changes to the Department for peer review through the standards and assessment process.
Please also be aware that approval of Arizona’s accountability plan for Title I, including the amendments approved above, does not indicate that the plan complies with Federal civil rights requirements, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
I hope that you have found the accountability plan amendment process effective for implementing a State accountability system that best serves the needs of Arizona’s students and schools and that will lead to improving the academic achievement of all students. As evidenced by the diversity among State accountability plans and State consolidated applications, States have great flexibility in the design of their systems and implementation of particular NCLB provisions. If, as you implement your accountability plan, you find additional elements of your plan that you believe should be refined or amended for next school year to best serve the needs of your students and schools, I encourage you to explore all the areas of flexibility available to your State.
In addition to the flexibility available to States in the design and implementation of their accountability plans, I also encourage you and your districts to utilize the additional flexibility available for the administration and operation of NCLB programs. NCLB continued the flexibility available to States and districts under the 1994 reauthorization of the ESEA, including the ability to consolidate State and local administrative funds (sections 9201 and 9203), to operate schoolwide programs (section 1114), and to participate in the Education Flexibility Partnership Program (“Ed-Flex”). Additionally, NCLB created several new flexibility options for States and districts for the operation of federal programs. These new flexibility provisions include the State Flexibility Authority (sections 6141 through 6144), the Local Flexibility Demonstration program (sections 6151 through 6156), Transferability (sections 6121 through 6123), and the Rural Education Achievement program (sections 6201 through 6234). These flexibilities truly offer States and districts the ability to target federal resources to their unique and individual needs.
I am confident that Arizona will continue to advance its efforts to hold schools and school districts accountable for the achievement of all students. I wish you well in your school improvement efforts. If I can be of any additional assistance to Arizona in its efforts to implement other aspects of NCLB, please do not hesitate to call.
Sincerely,
Raymond Simon
Cc: Governor Janet Napolitano
Enclosure
Amendments to the Arizona Accountability Plan
These statements are a summary of the amendments. For complete details, please refer to the Arizona Accountability plan on the Department’s website:www.ed.govhttps://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/stateplans03/index.html.
Indicator to identify economically disadvantaged children (Element 2.1)
Revision: Arizona will use student participation in the Free/Reduced Priced Lunch Program as the indicator for the economically disadvantaged subgroup.
Use of alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards (Element 5.3)
Revision: Arizona will implement the flexibility provided by the December 2003 regulation related to alternate assessments based on alternate achievement scores.
Two-Year Average for Participation Calculations (Elements 10.1, 10.2)
Revision: Arizona will take advantage of the flexibility offered in calculating participation rates over a two-year period.
