OAR 581-022-2250: District Improvement Plans

(1) For the purposes of OAR 581-022-2250 the following definitions apply: (a) “Aligned with standards” means that the taught curriculum (what teachers teach), the learned curriculum (what students learn), and the assessed curriculum (what students are tested on) as identified through state and national academic standards do not deviate significantly one from another. This alignment includes four components: (A) Content match — topical coverage, or comprehensiveness and level of detail (B) Depth match — level of difficulty, or cognitive complexity (C) Emphasis match — the relative duration of the instruction about each topic/standard within a subject (D) Performance match — the type of performance required to demonstrate proficiency of the standard (b) “Data-driven” means the use of information available from a high quality data system to focus decisions regarding curriculum, instruction, staff assignment, and staff development to promote student achievement through a planned, systemic program improvement effort. (c) “Family and community engagement” means a system of shared responsibility in which schools and other community agencies and organizations are committed to engaging families in meaningful and culturally respectful ways while families are committed to actively supporting their children’s learning and development. (d) “High quality data system” means a method by which teachers and administrators have access to data needed for instructional and administrative decision-making, one that makes available to the public appropriate data content and displays and provides for regular updates to the data, maintenance and upgrading of the system, and training for key personnel on use and maintenance. The collection and use of data in such a system would include district-, school-, and student-level data describing but not limited to: (A) Instruction; (B) Accountability; (C) Demographics; (D) Achievement; and (E) Assessment. (e) “High quality instructional programs“ means that teachers teach knowledge and skills through the use of an appropriate variety of instructional strategies reflecting best practice and based on state/national standards and assessments that effectively measure what the standards require. Such instruction is not universal but is situational based on instructional context. (f) “Long-term professional development plans” means teacher training reflecting best practice as defined by national standards related to content, process, and context. Such training supports: (A) Continuing advancement of professional collaboration; (B) Ongoing, job-embedded experiences, (C) Standards-based instruction, and (D) Continual, guided reflection on school/student data a part of professional learning. (g) “Rigorous curriculum” means multiple courses of study any one of which will prepare students to successfully meet the Oregon diploma requirements. These courses are cognitively demanding and challenging to students as those students apply the fundamental concepts and skills from various disciplines to real world problems in complex and open ended situations. (h) “Safe educational environment” means a healthy, positive school climate free of drug use, gangs, violence, intimidation, fear, and shaming, ensuring the physical and emotional well-being and academic and social growth of every student. (i) “Service plans for students” means a system of planned services outlining student educational activities, supporting students in meeting expectations for one or more content areas and continuing to academically challenge students who have exceeded expectations in one or more content areas. (j) “Short-term professional development plans“ means a component of a long term professional development plan with a direct connection with one or more of the following–individual continuing professional development plans; board, district or school goals; state certification criteria; or other regulatory mandates. Such plans may be responsive to emerging needs not yet addressed in long-term professional development plans. (k) “Staff leadership development” means practices, policies, and procedures that create shared leadership opportunities and empower teacher participation in setting and achieving school goals and policies. (l) “Strong school library program” means a planned effort to ensure the instruction of students, school staff, and the broader learning community in library skills, information literacy, and educational technology; such a program promotes a rich array of literacy experiences supporting life-long reading; facilitates collaboration in lesson planning and instruction; ensures equitable access to library resources and licensed school librarians; and develops and manages current, plentiful, and diverse library collections of print and electronic resources that support classroom curricula and student interests. (2) Each school district shall conduct self-evaluations in order to develop and update their local district continuous improvement plans once every four years. Except as provided in subsection (3) of this rule, the department may not require school districts or schools to conduct self-evaluations or to update their local district continuous improvement plans more frequently than biennially. (3) Each school district shall: (a) Submit its local district continuous improvement plan to the Department of Education once every four years unless there are substantial changes. (b) Notify the Department and update its local district continuous improvement plan when there has been a substantial change. (c) Substantial change is defined as changes to: (A) School or district improvement status under state or federal law; (B) Student academic achievement; (C) Student demographics (including changes in excess of 10% in identified subgroups); (D) Instructional staffing (either counts of personnel or changes in individual staff); (E) Financial resources available to the district; or (F) The district’s goals for student achievement. (4) The self-evaluation process shall involve the public in the setting of local goals. The school district shall ensure that representatives from the demographic groups of their school population are invited to participate in the development of local district continuous improvement plans to achieve the goals. (5) As part of setting local goals, school districts shall undertake a communications process that involves parents, students, teachers, school employees and community representatives to explain and discuss the local goals and their relationship to programs in the continuous improvement plan. (6) At the request of the school district, department staff shall provide ongoing technical assistance in the development and implementation of the local district continuous improvement plan. (7) The local district continuous improvement plan shall include: (a) A rigorous curriculum aligned with state standards; (b) High-quality instructional programs; (c) Short-term and long-term professional development plans; (d) Programs and policies to achieve a safe educational environment; (e) A plan for family and community engagement; (f) Staff leadership development; (g) High-quality data systems; (h) Improvement planning that is data-driven; (i) Education service plans for students who have or have not exceeded all of the academic content standards; (j) A strong school library program; (k) A review of demographics, student performance, staff characteristics and student access to, and use of, educational opportunities; and (l) District efforts to achieve local efficiencies and efforts to make better use of resources. (8) Each school district shall annually review and report test results and progress on the district improvement plan to the community. (9) Each school district shall maintain copies of the school and district improvement plans as a public record. (10) Each school district shall submit the district improvement plan to the Department of Education when requested.