1 CCR 301-1-6.0 - District and Institute Accountability Processes: Contents of District and Institute Plans and Timelines for Adoption, Review, and Publication of Plans

6.1 Each Local Board and the Institute board shall adopt a plan for improving student performance, which plan shall align with the District's or Institute's final Accreditation rating. If assigned to Accredited with Distinction or Accredited, the Local Board or Institute board shall adopt a Performance Plan. If assigned to Accredited with Improvement Plan, the Local Board or Institute board shall adopt an Improvement Plan. If assigned to Accredited with Priority Improvement Plan, the Local Board or Institute board shall adopt a Priority Improvement Plan. If assigned to Accredited with Turnaround Plan, the Local Board or Institute board shall adopt a Turnaround Plan. If assigned to "Insufficient State Data," the Local Board or Institute shall adopt the plan type to which the Local Board or Institute was previously assigned.

6.2 Each District and Institute plan shall:

(1) Reflect on the targets that were set by the District or Institute in its prior plan;

(2) Set, reaffirm, or revise, as appropriate, ambitious but attainable targets that the District, including District public schools, or the Institute, including Institute charter schools, shall attain on the Performance Indicators. The targets shall be aligned with the statewide targets set by the State Board, as described in section 3.02 of these rules. These targets must include targets that the District, including the District public schools, or the Institute, including the Institute charter schools, shall attain in reducing the number of students who are identified, pursuant to section 22-7-1205, C.R.S., as having significant reading deficiencies and in ensuring that each student achieves grade-level expectations in reading;

(3) Identify positive and negative trends for District public schools as a group and individually or for Institute charter schools as a group and individually in the levels of attainment by the public schools as a group and individually on the Performance Indicators;

(4) Assess and prioritize the District's or Institute's most significant student performance challenges;

(5) Assess and prioritize the root causes of any low-performance for the District and for the individual District public schools or for the Institute and for the individual Institute charter schools that must be addressed to raise the levels of attainment on the Performance Indicators by the District public schools or the Institute charter schools and to improve school readiness in District public schools or Institute charter schools that serve students in preschool and kindergarten. For a District's Priority Improvement Plan or Turnaround Plan, if the District or Institute authorizes a public school that is operating under a Priority Improvement or Turnaround Plan and enrolls students in preschool, kindergarten, or any of grades one through three, the needs assessment shall include, but shall not be limited to, the early childhood learning needs assessment described in section 22-11-305(4), C.R.S;

(6) Identify specific, research-based strategies to address the District's or Institute's root causes of any low-performance, including strategies to address the needs of students enrolled in kindergarten and first, second, and third grade who are identified pursuant to section 22-7-1205, C.R.S., as having significant reading deficiencies.

For a District Turnaround Plan, such strategies shall, at a minimum, include one or more of the following:

(A) Employing a lead turnaround partner that uses research-based strategies and has a proven record of success working with schools under similar circumstances, which turnaround partner shall be immersed in all aspects of developing and collaboratively executing the Turnaround Plan and shall serve as a liaison to other school partners;

(B) Reorganizing the oversight and management structure within the District or the Institute to provide greater, more effective support for public schools;

(C) For a District, recognizing individual District public schools as innovation schools or clustering District public schools with similar governance or management structures into one or more innovation school zones and seeking designation as a District of innovation pursuant to Article 32.5 of Title 22;

(D) Hiring an entity that uses research-based strategies and has a proven record of success working with schools under similar circumstances to operate one or more District public schools or Institute charter schools pursuant to a contract with the Local Board or the Institute;

(E) For a District, converting one or more District public schools to charter schools;

(F) For the Institute, renegotiating and significantly restructuring an Institute charter school's charter contract;

(G) Closing District public schools or Institute charter schools; and

(H) Other actions of comparable or greater significance or effect;

(7) Identify the local, state and federal resources that the District or the Institute will use to implement the identified strategies with fidelity;

(8) Identify implementation benchmarks and interim measures that the District or the Institute will use to evaluate whether the identified strategies are carried out with fidelity and whether to adjust practice;

(9) For any Priority Improvement or Turnaround Plan that a District or the Institute adopts for the fourth year in which the District or Institute is on Performance Watch, include a general explanation for how the District or Institute may put into effect each of the actions described in section 22-11-209(2)(a)(I), C.R.S., for a District or section 22-11-209(2)(a)(II), C.R.S., for the Institute;

(10) For a District, beginning with plans adopted for the 2020-21 school year:

(A) Identify the core and supplemental reading curriculum used at each grade level including kindergarten (for each of the District public schools that includes a kindergarten educational program), which core and supplemental reading curriculum must be designed around teaching the foundational reading skills of phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, reading fluency including oral skills, and reading comprehension;

(B) Identify the targeted, evidence-based or scientifically based core and supplemental reading instructional programs and intervention reading instruction, services, and other supports, including those available through the multi-tiered systems of supports or a comparable intervention system that each District public school provides to students who are identified as having a significant reading deficiency or as reading below grade level;

(C) Identify the assessments that each District public school uses at each grade level to meet the requirements specified in section 22-7-1205(1), C.R.S.; and

(D) If the District public school receives and uses per-pupil intervention money, or money received through the early literacy grant program for professional development, the plan for providing the professional development, which development must be targeted, evidence based or scientifically based, and aligned with the instruction, services, and other supports provided to students who are identified as having a significant reading deficiency or as reading below grade level.

(11) Address any other issues raised by the Department through the Accreditation process described in sections 4.00 and 5.00 of these rules.

6.3 Beginning with the 2021-22 school year, if a District or the Institute receives an initial accreditation rating of Accredited with a Priority Improvement Plan or Accredited with a Turnaround Plan, the Local Board or the Institute board shall adopt the Priority Improvement Plan or Turnaround Plan and submit it to the Department by no later than October 15th, unless one of the following exceptions applies; if the District or the Institute submits a request for the Department to reconsider an initial accreditation rating, appeals the Department's accreditation rating before the State Board, or has not previously adopted a Priority Improvement Plan or Turnaround Plan, then the Local Board or the Institute Board shall adopt and submit its plan to the Department by no later than January 15th.

(1) For a Priority Improvement Plan, the Commissioner shall review the plan and may assign the State Review Panel to critically evaluate the plan, which may include one or more site visits, as described in section 22-11-208(3), C.R.S. The Commissioner may recommend modifications to the plan. If the Commissioner recommends modifications to the plan and the Local Board or Institute board revises the plan, the Local Board or Institute board shall submit such updated plan by a date negotiated between the District or Institute and the Department and no later than three months after receiving recommendations from the Commissioner. The Department shall post each plan on SchoolView within two weeks of receiving it.

(2) For a Turnaround Plan, the Commissioner shall review the plan and may assign the State Review Panel to critically evaluate the plan, which may include one or more site visits, as described in section 22-11-208(3), C.R.S. The Commissioner may suggest modifications to the plan. If the Commissioner suggests modifications to the plan, the Local Board or Institute board shall revise the plan and resubmit an updated plan for approval by a date negotiated between the District or Institute and the Department and no later than three months after receiving suggestions from the Commissioner. The Department shall post each plan on SchoolView within two weeks of receiving it.

6.4 Beginning with the 2021-22 school year, if a District or the Institute receives an initial accreditation rating of Accredited with Distinction, Accredited, or Accredited with Improvement Plan and is on Performance Watch, the Local Board or the Institute board shall adopt and submit such plan to the Department by no later than October 15th, unless the District or the Institute submits a request for the Department to reconsider an initial Accreditation rating, whereby the Local Board or the Institute Board shall adopt and submit its plan to the Department by no later than January 15th. The Commissioner may recommend modifications to the plan. If the Commissioner recommends modifications to the plan and the Local Board or Institute board revises the plan, the Local Board or Institute board shall submit such updated plan by a date negotiated between the District or Institute and the Department and no later than three months after receiving recommendations from the Commissioner. The Department shall post each plan on SchoolView within two weeks of receiving it.

6.5 Beginning with the 2021-22 school year, if a District or the Institute receives an initial accreditation rating of Accredited with Distinction, Accredited, or Accredited with Improvement Plan and is not on Performance Watch, the Local Board or the Institute board shall adopt and submit such plan to the Department by no later than October 15th unless the District or the Institute submits a request for the Department to reconsider an initial accreditation rating, whereby the Local Board or the Institute Board shall adopt and submit its plan to the Department by no later than January 15th. The Department shall post each plan on SchoolView within two weeks of receiving it.

6.6 Immediately after submitting a final plan to the Department, the Local Board or the Institute board shall begin to implement the plan.

6.7 So long as a District or the Institute maintains the status of Accredited or Accredited with Distinction, the Local Board or Institute board may adopt and submit a District Performance Plan every two years. This flexibility shall not apply to any district on Performance Watch. Regardless of whether a Performance Plan is submitted only every two years, each District must submit to the Department, annually, the information described in subsection 6.02(10) of these rules.

6.8 A District with 1,000 students or fewer may submit a single plan to satisfy both the District plan requirements and any public school plan requirements, so long as the plan meets all state and federal requirements for the District and public schools included in the plan. A District with more than 1,000 but fewer than 1,200 students may, upon request and at the Department's discretion, submit a single plan to satisfy the District plan requirements and any public school plan requirements, so long as the plan meets all state and federal requirements. A District that is authorized to submit a single plan and that, as described in section 6.07 of these rules, is also authorized to submit a two-year plan may submit a single plan to satisfy both District and public school requirements only if each of the public schools that is included in the plan also are authorized, as described in section 9.07 of these rules, to submit a two-year Performance Plan.

Notes

1 CCR 301-1-6.0

42 CR 17, September 10, 2019, effective 9/30/2019 43 CR 21, November 10, 2020, effective 11/30/2020 43 CR 13, July 10, 2020, effective 7/30/2020 44 CR 07, April 10, 2021, effective 4/30/2021 44 CR 17, September 10, 2021, effective 9/30/2021 45 CR 14, July 25, 2022, effective 8/14/2022