Academic Performance Outcomes
For Sites Receiving CalSTAT/SIG Technical Assistance

During the fi rst California State Improvement Grant (SIG1) and the first year of SIG2 (Feb 2005-Jan 2006), 523 school and district sites received approximately 1,700 days of technical assistance (TA) in a variety of research-based core message areas, predominantly in the areas of special and general education collaboration and literacy. This includes 17 exemplary Leadership Sites (see page 4 for more details) that are providing and receiving TA, as well as sites throughout CA who have requested TA support to improve their educational and instructional practices.

This report examines academic performance outcomes at the sites served. Recognizing that many factors are potentially infl uencing outcomes at the sites beyond TA provided through CalSTAT/SIG, it is important to ensure these school and district sites are keeping pace in making improvements, particularly as refl ected in API scores and ELA profi ciency for all students and students with disabilities as a subgroup.

In '05-06, the fi rst year of reporting, California's API Growth score for the students with disabilties subgroup was 519. The average of the CalSTAT/SIG TA sites was 534.

TA Sites Are Improving on Pace with Statewide Averages

In 2005-06, nearly 45% of all CA students, and nearly 20% of students with disabilities, tested profi cient or above in English-language arts (ELA). When averaging the overall percent profi cient of the various CalSTAT/SIG sites receiving TA, 49% of all students, and 23% of students with disabilities, were profi cient or above in ELA. Since 2002-03, statewide and among TA sites, the number of students gaining grade level profi ciency is 6 to 8 percentage points higher, including all students and students with disabilities as a subgroup.

The SIG is serving a wide range of sites that seek to improve outcomes for their students. The chart below shows sites that began 2001-02 with ELA profi ciency levels for their students with disabilities that were both lower and higher than average. Both groups of sites are showing continued improvement in ELA profi cency.

Nearly All Sites Will Need to Improve to Keep Pace With State Benchmarks

As part of NCLB, California has set Annual Measurable Objectives (AMOs) for ELA and Math Profi ciency. As one factor in meeting Annual Yearly Progress (AYP), the percent of students that are profi cient in ELA and Math at a school or district must be at or above the AMO benchmark for that year. There are slightly different AMOs for different types of schools and districts, but within a very close range. Also, the AMOs for ELA and Math are slightly different.

The requirement for meeting the AMO benchmark applies to all signifi cant subgroups of students; the percent of students with disabilities as a subgroup at a school or district that are profi cient should meet or exceed the AMO benchmark as well to meet AYP.

• As seen by the red line in the chart above, the AMO benchmarks (shown here for ELA) have been steady for several years, but will soon begin increasing substantially every year.
• Looking at the blue lines in the chart, which show the percent of all students and students with disabilities in California that are profi cient or above in ELA, it is clear that in order to meet AYP in the future, the ELA profi ciency of all students and students with disabilities must increase.

Nearly all schools and districts will need to fi nd ways of addressing how to support students in substantially increasing their ELA profi ciency in the coming years.

CalSTAT Leadership Sites Program

The Leadership Sites Program was developed after identifying the success of and need for site-to-site modeling and coaching. Each year high performing sites in CA are identifi ed through a competitive process. Sites are awarded for their exemplary programs rooted in research-based best practices in the areas of reading, positive behavioral supports, collaboration, transition, and family-school partnerships.

Leadership Sites share their work statewide at Regional Leadership Institutes and other conferences, and provide TA to other sites which visit the school or district to view the program in action. To continue improving their own programs and practices, Leadership Sites also receive TA and actively participate in a learning community through an annual Statewide Institute meeting and through online conferencing, chat rooms, and podcasts.

In 2006, CalSTAT interviewed the 17 sites and produced site profi les and an accompanying analysis exploring their common and unique characteristics. The intent is for other school and district sites to learn from the processes of change that the Leadership Sites have gone through. The complete report and executive summary entitled, They Are All Our Kids: CalSTAT Leadership Site Emerging Models and Practices as well as the compiled site profiles can be found at www.calstat.org in the Leadership Sites section. Key fi ndings include:

• "Inclusive Collaboration" describes the common approach of the sites, characterized by: active and ongoing SE/GE collaboration, datainformed decision-making, ongoing assessment, ability groupings combined with blended and team-taught classes, a focus on literacy, and a shared sense of accountability for all kids.
• Early implementation was small in scale and voluntary in nature, then grew to be adopted by more and more classrooms at a site and schools in a district. Full systems change at a site generally took 4-10 years.

This Academic Performance Outcomes report was developed by the CA SIG Evaluation Team: Cheryl "Li" Walter, Ph.D., Kelly Bucy, MPA, and Alan Wood on behalf of CalSTAT and CDE.

Funds for this project come in part from federal funds awarded as a State Program Improvement Grant to California (CFDA 84.323A) allowed in Part D of Public Law 108-446, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as amended in 2004. These dollars are considered local assistance funds and will assist individuals serving children birth to 22 years of age and their families.