Decision Letter on Request to Amend Iowa Accountability Plan
June 17, 2004
The Honorable Ted Stilwill
Director
Iowa Department of Education
Grimes State Office Building
East 14th & Grand Streets
Des Moines, IA 50319-0146
Dear Director Stilwill:
I am writing in response to Iowa’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 Iowa submitted to the Department on June 16, 2004. A list of the changes is attached to this letter. I am pleased to fully approve Iowa’s amended plan, which we will post on the Department’s website.
If, over time, Iowa makes changes to the accountability plan that has been approved, Iowa 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 Iowa’s accountability plan is not also an approval of Iowa’s standards and assessment system. As Iowa continues to develop its standards and assessments to meet requirements under NCLB, Iowa must submit information about those efforts to the Department for peer review through the standards and assessment process.
Please also be aware that approval of Iowa’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 Iowa’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 Iowa 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 Wisconsin in its efforts to implement other aspects of NCLB, please do not hesitate to call.
Sincerely,
Raymond Simon
Attachment
cc: Governor Thomas J. Vilsack
Amendments to the Iowa Accountability Plan
These statements are summaries of the amendments. For complete details, please refer to the Iowa’s Accountability plan on the Department’s website: www.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/stateplans03/index.html
Identification of districts for improvement (Elements 1.2., 5.2)
Revision: Iowa will identify districts for improvement only when they do not make AYP in the same subject and all grade spans (elementary, middle, and high school) for two consecutive years.
Definition of full academic year (Element 2.2)
Revision: Iowa will clarify its definition of full academic year for students with IEPs who participate in the alternate assessment. Since the Iowa Alternate Assessment is a collection of evidence over time, the specifications need to indicate the length of time over which evidence is collected, and what happens to the evidence.
Participation rate (Elements 3.1, 3,2b)
Request: Iowa will adopt the new flexibility regarding multi-year averaging of participation rate. Iowa will also adopt the new flexibility regarding students who cannot take an assessment during the entire testing window, including make-up dates, due to a significant medical emergency.
Transition from biennium to annual data (Elements 3.2 a, 3.2b)
Revision: Iowa will transition from using biennium data to using annual data for AYP decisions beginning with the 2004-05 school year.
Alternate assessment (Element 5.3)
Revision: Iowa will use the provisions of the final regulation in the Federal Register issued December 9, 2003, concerning the 1.0% cap for alternate assessments and alternate achievement standards.
Assessment and Accountability for LEP students (Element 5.4)
Revision: Iowa will include the flexibility that the Secretary’s letter of February 20, 2004 provides relative to limited English proficient students for assessment and accountability purposes.
