Focus District, FocusSchool, Focus Charter Identification Technical Documentation

New York identified Focus schools based on the following factors as defined in the ESEA waiver guidance:

  • Title I schools with the lowest achievement of the subgroups in terms of proficiency on the statewide assessments that are part of the state’s differentiated recognition, accountability and support system.
  • Title I high schools with the lowest graduation rate for subgroups

New York has identified focus schools using a two-stage process. The state first identified focus districts and charters that have the lowest achieving subgroups for performance index (PI) and graduation rate (GR). The state will then provide the districts with a list of focus schools that have the lowest achieving groups in PI and graduation rate. The goal is to identify 10 percent (350) of Title I schools.

The criteria used to identify the Focus districts, Focus charter schools and Focus schools are described below:

A. District identification based on PI

  1. For each district, the combined 2010-11 Performance Index (PI) of ELA and Math for the elementary-middle (EM) and secondary levels for each subgroup for which it is accountable is determined. If a district has only EM level, then the combined PI will be only for the EM level and vice versa.
  2. The group’s combined 2009-10 and 2010-11 ELA and Math SGP is determined. If the SGP is above the combined 2009-10 and 2010-11 state average then the group is removed from those for which the district can be identified as a Focus District.

Example:

  • District A is accountable for Black, Hispanic and Economically Disadvantaged (ED) groups. The combined 2009-10 and 2010-11 ELA and Math SGP for Black students is 42, Hispanic students is 47, and ED students is 48. The state average SGP is 43, 47 and 47 respectively.
  • The ED group’s SGP is above the state average therefore the group’s PI will be removed from identification. District A can now be identified only for the Black and Hispanic groups.
  1. If the group’s 2006 4-year cohort graduation rate is above the state average, then the group is removed from those for which the district can be identified as a Focus District.

Example:

  • District B’s 2006 4-year graduation rate for Black students is 51, Asian students is 72 and White students is 87. The state average is 58, 83 and 84, respectively. The White group’s GR is above the state average and therefore the group will be removed for which the district can identified District B can now be identified only for the Black and Asian groups.
  1. The lowest performing racial/ethnic subgroup (American Indian, Asian, Black, Hispanic, White, and multi-racial) will be used to determine whether a district is identified for a racial/ethnic subgroup.

Example:

  • District A has combined 2010-11 Asian PI of 120, Black PI of 100, Hispanic PI of 110, and White PI of 130. The race/ethnicity PI for District A will be 100 (minimum PI amongst all the groups).
  1. Determine the statewide 5% count of districts for Students with Disabilities (SWD), Limited English Proficient (LEP), ED, race/ethnicity group based on PI. The counts are based on the total number of accountable groups – without removing any group for reasons stated in steps 2 and 3.

Example:

  • There are a total of 631 districts with an accountable SWD group either for EM or secondary level in the state. 5% of 631 is 32. This is the count of low-achieving districts that needs to be identified for PI for SWD group.
  1. For the SWD group sort the PI in descending order. From the bottom count the required number.

Example: Select the bottom 32 districts for the SWD group. These 32 districts are identified for their SWD group. If there is a tie in the PI representing the highest count, that is, if there are two districts with the same PI as the 32nd district, then include the 33rd district also in the count.

  1. Repeat step 6 for the LEP, ED and race/ethnicity groups.
  1. If any of the groups American Indian, Asian, Black, Hispanic, White, or multi-racial has a PI equal to or less than the 5% race/ethnicity group’s PI, then that group will be identified.

Example:

  • Statewide there are 705 districts with an accountable race/ethnicity group. 5% of 705 is 35. The race/ethnicity PI is sorted in descending order and the bottom 35 districts are selected. The race/ethnicity minimum PI for the 35th district is 111.
  • Any district that has a race or ethnicity group with a PI of 111 or less will be identified for that group. District C with Asian 112, Black 115, Hispanic 111 and White 110 will be identified for the Hispanic and White groups.

B. District identification based on Graduation Rate (GR)

  1. All the districts with their 2006 4-yr GR for each accountable group is listed. For the groups where the GR is above the state average the group is removed from consideration as a group for which the district can be identified as a Focus District.

Example:

  • District D has a 2006 4-year SWD GR of 47, Hispanic GR of 59 and LEP GR of 38. The state average is 44, 57 and 40, respectively.
  • The SWD and Hispanic graduation rates are above the state average and therefore the groups will be removed from identification. The district can only be identified for the LEP group.
  1. For districts that were not identified by the PI methodology, if the group’s 2006 5 year GR is above the state average, then the group will be removed from those for which the district can be identified for graduation rate.

Example:

  • District E was not identified as a focus district for PI. It is accountable for the Black, LEP and ED groups.
  • The Black 2006 5-year GR is above the state average and therefore the group is removed from identification. The district can now be identified only for the LEP and ED groups.
  1. For districts that were not identified by the PI methodology, if the group’s gain in GR from the 2004 4 year graduation rate cohort to 2006 4 year graduation rate is 10 percent or more, then the group will be removed from those for which the district can be identified.

Example:

  • District F was not identified as a focus district for PI. It is accountable for the ED group. The group’s 2004 4 year GR was 20% and the 2006 4 year GR is 35%.
  • The group made a 15% gain and is therefore removed from those for which the district can be identified. The district is now not identifiable for any groups.
  1. For each district, the minimum GR for the race/ethnicity group is determined using the process described in Step 4
  1. Determine the statewide 5% district counts for Students with Disabilities (SWD), Limited English Proficient (LEP), ED, the race/ethnicity group based on GR. The counts are based on the total number of accountable groups – without removing any group for reasons stated in steps 9, 10 and 11 above.

Example: There are a total of 259 districts with an accountable SWD group for GR in the state. 5% of 259 is 13. This is the count of low achieving districts that needs to be identified for GR for SWD group.

  1. For the SWD group sort the GR in descending order. From the bottom count the required number.
  1. Repeat step 14 for the LEP, ED and race/ethnicity groups.
  1. If any of the groups American Indian, Asian, Black, Hispanic, White, or multi-racial has a GR equal to or less than the 5% race/ethnicity group’s GR, then that group will be identified.

Example:

  • Statewide there are 663 districts with an accountable race/ethnicity group. 5% of 663 is 33. The race/ethnicity GR is sorted in descending order and the bottom 33 districts are selected. The race/ethnicity minimum GR for the 33rd district is 54.
  • Any district that has a race or ethnicity group with a GR of 54 or less will be identified for that group. District G with Asian 53, Black 52, Hispanic 51 and White 59 will be identified for the Asian, Black and Hispanic groups.
  1. Districts are identified as Focus Districts if any group is identified either through the PI or GR methodology.
  1. Special Act Districts are identified only if they have priority schools.
  1. Districts with Priority schools automatically become Focus Districts.

C. Focus school identification

  1. All the schools are listed in the Focus districts. Priority and closing schools are then removed from the list.
  1. For each school, the non-proficient students for the identified groups are determined. If a student belongs to two or more groups then the student will be counted in each group of which they are a member.

Example: District H is identified for the Black and ED groups for PI. All the schools in the district are listed. For each school, the non-proficient students for Black and ED groups for elementary-middle and secondary levels are summed up. Thus a student who is Black but not ED will be counted once, a student who is ED but not Black will be counted once, and a student who is both Black and ED will be counted twice.

  1. Schools with non proficient student results of less than 15 or in which all identified groups have more than 60% of students proficient are removed.
  1. The cumulative count of non-proficient students for the district is determined.
  1. For each school, the non-graduate students for the identified groups are determined. If a student belongs to two groups then the student will be counted twice, three groups then counted thrice etc.

Example: District I is identified for the SWD and LEP groups for GR. All the schools in the district are listed. For each school, the non-graduate students for SWD and LEP groups are summed up.

  1. Schools with non graduate student results of less than 15 or in which all identified groups have a graduation rate of greater than 60 percent are removed.
  1. The cumulative count of non-graduate students for the district is determined
  1. The non-proficient and non-graduate students are summed up for each district.
  1. For the year 2010-11, there were a total of 4,707 schools in the state, out of which 3,500 were Title I. The goal is to identify at least 10% of state and Title I, which amounts to 471 and 350 schools, respectively.

For each identified district, the count of elementary-middle and high schools are determined. Priority and closing schools are removed from the count.

  1. For each district the number of schools to be identified for PI and GR is determined by taking the proportion of non-proficient and non-graduate students in the district.
  1. All Focus districts will have either non-proficient students or non-graduate students, or both. Focus districts that do not have any eligible schools following application of Steps 22 and 25 will be required to identify at least one Focus school of their choice.
  1. The count of schools that need to be identified for PI and GR are determined for each of the Focus districts.
  1. For each Focus district, the schools are rank ordered on count of non-graduate and non-proficient student results are ranked in descending order. Schools are selected in rank order until the required numbers of schools are identified.

Example:

District J has 6060 non proficient students and 134 non graduate students. The Statewide total for all identified focus districts is 182503 and 3041 students respectively. There are a total of 4707 schools (Title I & non Title I) in the state and the goal is to identify 10% as Focus schools (10% x 4707 = 471). The district J’s share is 16 schools (6060/182503 x 471 = 16) for non proficient students and 21 schools (134/3041 x 471 = 21) for non graduate students. However, the district only has a total of 10 Elementary-Middle (EM) schools and 1 High School (HS). Keeping in mind the capacity of districts to intervene, the state do not want to identify more than 85% of EM schools and 85% of HS schools. These are the caps.

Due to the small number of schools in district J and due to the cap, the district has to identify only 8 schools ( .85% x 10 = 8, rounded down) for non proficient students and 1 school (.85% x 1 = 1, rounded up) for non graduate students. The total number of schools to be identified by district J is 9 (8 + 1).

The schools in district J will first be rank ordered in descending order by count of non graduate students and the top school will be identified. The schools in the district will then be rank ordered in descending order by count of non proficient students and the top 8 schools will be selected (skipping the school selected for non graduate count). These 9 schools form the list of schools identified by count methodology.

  1. For each Focus district the schools are rank ordered on percent of non-graduate and non-proficient student results with the highest percent at the top. Starting at the top the required numbers of schools are identified.

The process mentioned in Step 32 is repeated, but the schools are rank ordered in descending order by percent of non graduate students and the top school is selected. The schools in the district will then be rank ordered in descending order by percent of non proficient students and the top 8 schools will be selected (skipping the school selected for non graduate count). These 9 schools form the list of schools identified by percent methodology.

  1. The district may choose to identify schools based on the list from Step 32 or Step 33. The district may also choose to identify schools not on the selected list with the permission of the Commissioner as substitutes for or in addition to schools on the selected list.

In most districts, the lists generated by both the count and percentage methods are similar. However in a few districts, there are instances where a small school is ranked higher under the percentage methodology than a large school and consequently the large school is not identified.

The rationale for allowing district to choose from a list based on counts or a list based on percentage is that districts need flexibility to decide whether it is more important to address larger schools which may be relatively higher performing in terms of percentage of proficient students or to address smaller schools in which the percentage of students who are not proficient is higher. For example, School A has an enrollment of 1,000 students of whom 400 are non-proficient in the subgroups for which the district is identified as a Focus District. School B has an enrollment of 400 students of whom 200 are non-proficient in the subgroups for which the district is identified as a Focus District. While School B has a greater percentage of non-proficient students, the District may wish to focus on School A since success in that school could result in more students in the district becoming proficient.

  1. For districts that have Priority schools, those schools that have a PI or graduation rate at or below the cut points of the Focus Districts are selected.

Cut Points of Focus Districts
PI for Grade 3-8 and high school ELA and math at or below this PI / Graduation Rate at or below this Percent
American Indian/ Pacific Islander / 112 / 54
Asian / 112 / 54
Black / 112 / 54
Hispanic / 112 / 54
White / 112 / 54
Multiracial / 112 / 54
Students with Disabilities / 70 / 26
Limited English Proficient / 77 / 28
Low-Income / 122 / 56
  1. Priority and closing schools are removed.
  1. Steps 21 to 25 are repeated for this set of schools.
  1. The combined 2009-10 and 2010-11 Student Growth Percentile (SGP) is determined for each of the school’s accountability subgroups.
  1. For the groups where the SGP is greater than the State average, the group’s PI is removed from consideration.
  1. For the groups where the 2006 4 year graduation rate is higher than the State average, the group’s PI and graduation rate is removed from consideration.

The groups are removed only if the group’s graduation rate is higher than the state average for the respective groups.

  1. If for a school that is selected only for the group(s) in graduation rate, the group’s 2006 5 Yr graduation rate is higher than the state average, the group is removed from consideration.

The groups are removed only if the group’s graduation rate is higher than the state average for the respective groups.

  1. If for a school that is selected only for the group(s) in graduation rate, the increase in group’s 2006 4 year graduation rate over the 2004 year graduation rate is 10 points of more, the group is removed from consideration.
  1. The schools that are remaining after the processes described in Steps 35 to 42 are identified. Districts may also choose to identify schools not on the selected list with the permission of the Commissioner as substitutes for or in addition to schools on the selected list.
  1. If a District with one or more Priority Schools has no eligible schools after Steps 36 to 42, then the District will not be required to identify a FocusSchool.

D. Focus charter identification

  1. Process identified in steps 1, 2, 3, 9, 10 and 11 will be used to list the eligible charter schools.
  2. Charter schools that have any accountable groups with a Performance Index or graduation rate at or below the cut points given in step 35 will be identified.
  1. The total of schools identified in steps 34, 44 and 46 constitute the Focus schools

Total number of Title I Schools in state / 3500
Total number of Focus districts identified for ELA and math and/or graduation rate / 84
Total number of districts with Priority schools identified / 18
Total number of Focus charters identified / 14
Total number of Title I schools in Focus districts and districts with Priority schools, excluding Priority, Transfer and closing schools / 1004
Total number of Title I Focus schools preliminarily identified / 424
Total number of Title I Focus charters identified / 12
Total number of non Title I Focus schools and Focus charters identified / 23
Total number of Focus schools and Focus charters identified / 459