1 Colo. Code Regs. § 301-1-5.0
Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 22, November 25, 2024
Section 1 CCR 301-1-5.0 - District and Institute Accountability Processes: Accreditation Ratings5.1 The Department shall assign Districts and Institute to the following Accreditation categories: (1) Accredited with Distinction, meaning the District or Institute meets or exceeds the statewide targets or targets annually set by the District or the Institute or exceeds statewide attainment on the Performance Indicators and is required to adopt and implement a Performance Plan as described in section 22-11-303, C.R.S.;(2) Accredited, meaning the District or Institute meets statewide attainment on the Performance Indicators and is required to adopt and implement a Performance Plan as described in section 22-11-303, C.R.S.;(3) Accredited with Improvement Plan, meaning the District or Institute is required to adopt and implement an Improvement Plan as provided in section 22-11-304, C.R.S.;(4) Accredited with Priority Improvement Plan, meaning the District or Institute is required to adopt and implement a Priority Improvement Plan as provided in section 22-11-305, C.R.S.;(5) Accredited with Turnaround Plan, meaning the District or the Institute is required to adopt, with the Commissioner's approval, and implement a Turnaround Plan as provided in section 22-11-306, C.R.S.;(6) Insufficient State Data, meaning the District or Institute is required to adopt and implement the plan type it was previously assigned because it did not have sufficient data to either: (A) publicly report data, including data for each Performance Indicator, while protecting the privacy of students; or(B) adequately represent the District's or Institute's total student population because it reflects scores from less than 25 percent of students in tested grades. If the District or Institute was previously assigned to a Priority Improvement or Turnaround Plan and was on Performance Watch, the District or Institute will remain on Performance Watch but will exclude the current year from the calculation of the five (5) years of low performance described in section 22-11-207(4)(a), C.R.S.; or5.2 By no later than August 31st of each year, the Department shall provide an initial assignment to each District and the Institute into one of the Accreditation categories listed above.5.3 In determining an initial accreditation category for each District and the Institute, the Department shall apply the following criteria: (1) The District's or Institute's level of attainment of the statewide targets on the Performance Indicators, calculated in accordance with section 3.0 of these rules. (A) The Department shall determine whether the District or Institute exceeds, meets, approaches or does not meet statewide targets for each Performance Indicator.(B) If a Local Board or the Institute board chooses not to endorse a high school diploma as described in section 22-7-1009(2), C.R.S., the District or Institute will not be penalized for such choice when it is assigned to an Accreditation category.(C) In evaluating the level of attainment on student dropout and graduation rates, the Department, to the extent practicable, shall ensure that Districts and the Institute are not penalized for re-engaging students and ensuring that all students successfully graduate;(2) The District's or the Institute's level of attainment of the Performance Indicators compared with statewide attainment of the Performance Indicators;(3) The District's or Institute's compliance with the other requirements specified in its Accreditation Contract;(4) The percentage of students enrolled in the District or Institute who are not tested on the Statewide Assessments; and(5) The District's or Institute's failure to administer Statewide Assessments in a standardized and secure manner so that resulting assessment scores are reflective of independent student performance. The Commissioner shall determine whether a District or Institute has failed to administer statewide assessment results in a standardized and secure manner so that resulting assessment scores are reflective of independent student performance and whether the failure was pervasive and egregious enough to warrant a change in the District's or Institute's Accreditation rating. If the District or Institute otherwise would have been assigned to Accredited with Distinction, Accredited with Performance Plan, or Accredited with an Improvement Plan, it instead may be assigned to Accredited with Priority Improvement Plan. If the District or Institute otherwise would have been assigned to Accredited with Priority Improvement Plan, it instead may be assigned to Accredited with Turnaround Plan.5.4 When applying the criteria above to determine an initial Accreditation category for each District and the Institute, the Department shall place the greatest emphasis on attainment of the Performance Indicators. When evaluating attainment of the Performance Indicators, the Department shall place the greatest emphasis on student longitudinal academic growth and postsecondary and workforce readiness.5.5 To accommodate the special circumstances of those Districts that include only a single Public School, the Commissioner may elect to apply the criteria for evaluating the performance of Public Schools, as described in section 8.02 of these rules, when evaluating such a District.5.6 On or before the date that the Department notifies each District or the Institute of its initial Accreditation category, the Department shall also provide the data used by the Department to conduct its analysis of the District's or Institute's performance.5.7 If a District or the Institute disagrees with the Department's initial Accreditation assignment, the District or Institute may submit to the Department a request for reconsideration. Such request must be submitted within eight weeks of receiving notice of the Department's initial Accreditation assignment. Such request must include an assurance that the District or Institute has complied with requirements for assessment participation policies under section 22-7-1013(8)(c), C.R.S. For the 2022-23 school year, a District or the Institute may only submit a request to reconsider if the District's or Institute's student participation rate on 2021-22 Statewide Assessments was at least 90 percent.5.8 Upon receiving a request to reconsider, the Department shall take the following information into account in determining the District's or Institute's final accreditation rating: (1) When available, achievement data from a nationally-normed assessment other than a Statewide Assessment and from a grade or subject that is not tested on a Statewide Assessment, if the Department has determined that the supplemental data is valid and reliable and derived from assessments that are aligned with the state standards adopted pursuant to section 22-7-1005, C.R.S. Such data must be representative of the applicable population, meaning that ninety-five (95) percent or more of the applicable population was tested. The Department shall separately account for the performance of each Student Group when evaluating both assessment results and participation rates;(2) When available, growth analysis of the type of achievement data described in subparagraph (1) above;(3) Analysis of the length of time for which the District or Institute has been unable to meet the statewide targets on the Performance Indicators;(4) The progress the District or Institute is making in improving its performance and in approaching achievement of the statewide targets and the degree to which the District or Institute is not achieving the statewide targets (e.g., quality of the district's most recent Unified Improvement Plan);(5) When available, measures of postsecondary and workforce readiness other than the measures described in section 3.06 of these rules when the data used for such measures is representative of at least ninety-five (95) percent of the applicable student population, as determined by the Department. This may include the percentages of students enrolled in a high school who, based on attainment of course credits or demonstrated competencies, are on schedule to graduate within four, five, six, or seven years;(6) Where applicable, the performance of students enrolled in the District's or Institute's alternative education campuses that have received a designation pursuant to section 22-7-604.5, C.R.S. The performance of these students shall be evaluated based on the following: (A) Whether removing the data for students enrolled in the campus(es) from the calculations of the District's or Institute's attainment of the Performance Indicators would otherwise cause the District or Institute to receive a higher Accreditation rating; and(B) Whether the campus(es) either: (I) Has/have been assigned by the State Board to implement a School Performance Plan on the alternative education campus school performance frameworks; or(II) No longer serve(s) students.(C) Whether, if the District or Institute serves only Alternative Education Campus(es), the calculations of the District's or Institute's attainment of the Performance Indicators on the Alternative Education Campus School Performance Framework would allow the District or Institute to receive a higher Accreditation rating;(7) If the District or Institute has participation rates below eighty-five (85) percent on the Statewide Assessments, data showing how the students who participated in the Statewide Assessments are not representative of the District's or Institute's total population;(8) If the District or Institute was lowered one Accreditation-level rating due to low student participation in Statewide Assessments, information concerning whether the District or Institute historically has attained ninety-five (95) percent participation rates, inadvertent test misadministration occurred, or the District or Institute has a particularly small student population; Whether the District or Institute authorized a Public School with a Priority Improvement or Turnaround Plan type assignment and that Public School was closed or not reauthorized by the District or Institute; and(9) The extent to which the District or Institute has been subject to an event that has caused significant disruption during the school year, including but not limited to acts of violence, the death of students or staff, or natural disasters such as fire, flood, earthquake, avalanche or tornado.5.9 When evaluating the information described above, the Department may accommodate systems with small student populations by allowing exceptions to the participation rate requirements described in section 5.08 of these rules and may allow the District or Institute to submit data for multiple years. For the 2022-23 school year, the request to reconsider process will include a simplified approval process if a District or the Institute has shown sufficiently improved performance on 2021-22 Statewide Assessments.5.10 By no later than December 30th of each school year, the Department shall determine a final Accreditation category for each District and the Institute and shall notify the District or Institute of the Accreditation category to which it has been assigned.5.11 If a District or the Institute receives a final Accreditation category assignment of Accredited with Priority Improvement Plan or Accredited with Turnaround Plan, it has the right to appeal the Department's determination before the State Board. (1) Within ten (10) days of receiving notification of the Department's final Accreditation category assignment, the District or Institute shall provide written notice to the State Board Office that the District or Institute wishes to appeal the Accreditation category assignment.(2) Within ten (10) days of receiving the notice of appeal, the State Board Office shall provide a scheduling notification to the District or Institute in writing. The scheduling notification shall provide the date of the next regularly scheduled State Board meeting. After conferring with the District or the Institute, the State Board Office shall include in the scheduling notification the filing deadlines for the appeal. The deadlines set forth below in this section 5.11 of these rules may be modified by agreement between the Department and the District or Institute with approval of the State Board Office.(3) Within fifteen (15) days of receipt of the scheduling notification, the District or Institute shall file a position statement setting forth the specific grounds for the assertion that the District or Institute should not be placed in the category of Accredited with Priority Improvement Plan or Accredited with Turnaround Plan. The District or the Institute shall provide a copy of the position statement to the Department.(4) Within fifteen (15) days of the date the position statement is filed with the State Board, the Department may file a Response to the position statement and provide a copy of the position statement to the District or Institute.(5) The District or Institute shall file all relevant documents pertaining to the placement of the District or Institute in the category of Accredited with Priority Improvement Plan or Accredited with Turnaround Plan, which may include:(A) Written documents issued by the Department placing the District or Institute in the category of Accredited with Priority Improvement Plan or Accredited with Turnaround Plan;(B) Written correspondence between the District or Institute and the Department concerning Accreditation; and(C) Any other documents, reports, correspondence and other written or electronic materials related to the matters at issue.(6) The State Board shall hold a hearing on the matter at the earliest possible regularly scheduled board meeting.(7) The State Board shall issue a written order regarding the District's or Institute's final Accreditation category within thirty (30) days of the date of the hearing and provide a copy to the Local Board or Institute board and the Department.42 CR 17, September 10, 2019, effective 9/30/201943 CR 21, November 10, 2020, effective 11/30/202043 CR 13, July 10, 2020, effective 7/30/202044 CR 07, April 10, 2021, effective 4/30/202144 CR 17, September 10, 2021, effective 9/30/202145 CR 14, July 25, 2022, effective 8/14/2022