Request to Amend Accountability Plan – Wisconsin – NCLB Policy Letters to States
May 20, 2008
The Honorable Elizabeth Burmaster
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
P. O. Box 7841
125 South Webster Street
Madison, WI 53707
Dear Superintendent Burmaster:
I am writing in response to Wisconsin’s request to amend its State accountability plan under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). Following discussions between the Department and your staff, you made certain changes to Wisconsin’s accountability plan, which are now included in the amended State accountability plan that Wisconsin submitted to the Department on February 18, 2008. I am pleased to fully approve Wisconsin’s amended plan, which we will post on the Department’s website. A summary of the approved amendments is enclosed with this letter. As you know, any further requests to amend the Wisconsin accountability plan must be submitted to the Department for review and approval as required by section 1111(f)(2) of Title I.
Please also be aware that approval of Wisconsin’s accountability plan for Title I, including the amendments approved herein, 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 Wisconsin will continue to advance its efforts to hold schools and school districts accountable for the achievement of all students. If you need any additional assistance to implement the standards, assessments, and accountability provisions of NCLB, please do not hesitate to contact Abigail Potts (Abigail.Potts@ed.gov) or Sue Rigney (sue.rigney@ed.gov) of my staff.
Sincerely,
Kerri L. Briggs, Ph.D.
Enclosure
cc: Governor Jim Doyle
Michael Thompson
Amendments to the Wisconsin Accountability Plan
The following is a summary of the state’s amendment requests. Please refer to the Department’s website (www.ed.govhttps://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/stateplans03/index.html) for the complete Wisconsin accountability plan.
Acceptable amendments
We have reviewed your request to amend the Wisconsin accountability plan and have found that the following amendments are aligned with the statute and regulations.
Including students with disabilities in adequate yearly progress (AYP) (Element 5.3)
Revision: Wisconsin will include students who were formerly classified as students with disabilities in that subgroup for two additional years for purposes of calculating AYP.
Including limited English proficient students in adequate yearly progress (AYP) (Element 5.4)
Revision: Wisconsin will incorporate the final federal regulations regarding the assessment of recently arrived limited English proficient (LEP) students into its accountability workbook. Newly arrived LEP students will be given a one-time exemption from the reading/language arts assessment.
Minimum group size (Element 5.5)
Revision: Wisconsin will reduce the minimum group size for students with disabilities from 50 to 40. As a result, Wisconsin will have a uniform group size for all AYP groups.
Science Assessments (Element 6.1)
Revision: Wisconsin updated this section of its accountability plan to include the administration of the science assessment during the 2007-08 school year.
