Request to Amend Accountability Plan – Indiana – NCLB Policy Letters to States
May 9, 2005
The Honorable Suellen K. Reed
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Indiana Department of Education
State House, Room 229
200 West Washington Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2798
Dear Superintendent Reed:
I am writing in response to Indiana’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 Indiana submitted to the Department on April 13, 2005. A list of the changes is attached to this letter. I am pleased to fully approve Indiana’s amended plan, which we will post on the Department’s website.
If, over time, Indiana makes changes to the accountability plan that has been approved, Indiana 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 Indiana’s accountability plan is not also an approval of Indiana’s standards and assessment system. As Indiana makes changes in its standards and assessments to meet requirements under NCLB, Indiana 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 Indiana’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 am confident that Indiana 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 Indiana in its efforts to implement other aspects of NCLB, please do not hesitate to call.
Sincerely,
Raymond Simon
cc: Governor Mitch Daniels
Attachment
Amendments to the Indiana Accountability Plan
This statement is a summary of the amendment. For complete details, please refer to the Indiana Accountability plan on the Department’s website: www.ed.govhttps://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/stateplans03/index.html.
Reliable AYP determinations (Element 9.1):
Revision: Indiana will apply a confidence interval of 75% to safe harbor calculations.
District identification for improvement (Element 1.2):
Revision: Indiana will identify districts for improvement only when they do not make AYP in the same subject or other academic indicator in all three grade spans (i.e., elementary, middle, and high schools) for two consecutive years. In implementing this provision, States should 1) monitor districts that have not made AYP in one grade span but have not been identified for improvement to ensure they are making the necessary curricular and instructional changes to improve achievement, and 2) take steps to ensure supplemental services are available to eligible students from a variety of providers throughout the state (including in districts that have not been identified for improvement but that have schools that have been in improvement for more than one year).
