Changes to Federal Reporting Under ESSA

Changes to Federal Reporting Under ESSA

The Federal Programs Unit is developing guidance and technical support for LEAs to meet federal reporting requirements, including templates and processes for linking to the SEA Report and/or CDE’s website to fulfill components of the LEA Report. Online trainings will be offered in the fall to prepare LEAs for meeting federal reporting requirements.

CDE's Federal Programs Unit is also creating opportunities for stakeholder input on the State Educational Agency Report and how to create reports that are meaningful, useful, and relevant for families, communities, schools, districts and other stakeholders.

SEA and LEA Reports must be published and made widely accessible on a single webpage each year for the previous school year. USDE will release additional specifications for federal reporting to the Secretary via EDFacts and the CSPR. CDE will review those specifications to determine if they have an impact on CDE’s data collections.

Federal reporting requirements are changing under the Every Student Succeeds Act and Colorado Department of Education’s Federal Programs Unit is gearing up to be able to meet the new reporting requirements, including changes to the State and Local Educational Agency (SEA and LEA) Report requirements. Both the federal reporting to the Secretary through EDFacts and the Consolidated State Performance Report will also change under ESSA.

ESSA requires that SEA Reports are developed in consultation with parents. Both SEA and LEA Reports must be presented in an understandable and uniform format and to the extent practicable in a language that parents can understand. All reports must be published on a single web page.  

Primary differences in the reporting include:

• Elimination of any reporting on:
  • Title I accountability pertaining to Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP, under NCLB), Annual Measurable Objectives (AMOs), or priority and focus school identification (under the ESEA Flexibility Waiver).
  • Title II Highly Qualified (HQ) teachers.
  • Title III accountability pertaining to the Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives (AMAOs).
• Continuation, additions or changes of reporting on:
  • The state’s assessment system, including students tested or not tested on each state assessment and NAEP.
  • The state’s accountability systems under ESSA, including the indicators, goals, and measures used to meaningfully differentiate schools, based on the performance of all students and four students groups (i.e., English learners, students with disabilities, students experiencing poverty and students from each major race/ethnicity).
  • Academic achievement and growth of all students and various student groups, such as students with disabilities, English learners, students experiencing poverty, students from each major race/ethnicity, homeless students, gifted and talented students, students with parent in active duty military or foster children.
  • Linguistic proficiency of English learners, types of programs offered to English learners, number that attained English proficiency within 5 years, dually identified students, and number in EL program who were designated FEP within 5 years.
  • Graduation rates and postsecondary enrollment for all students and various student groups.
  • Methodology used to identify schools for comprehensive or targeted support and improvement, as well as the names and numbers of schools identified.
  • Professional qualifications and experience of educators and principals, as well as identification of districts/schools where minority or low-income students are being taught disproportionally by inexperienced, out-of-field, emergency or provisionally licensed, or ineffective teachers.
  • Per-pupil expenditures of federal, state, and local funds. [Due date extended by USDE to 12/31/18 for this item]
• Change in timeline
  • All state and LEA Reports must be published each school year based on data from the previous school year, beginning with 2017-18 data, with exception of per-pupil expenditures, which will be not be reported until 12/31/18. For example, by the end of the 2017-2018 school year, all reports must be published based on data from 2016-2017.

Past Webinars:

• View the LEA Public Reporting Webinar Recording

Resources: 

The U.S. Department of Education has developed a Parent Guide to State and Local Reports, which is helpful for explaining ESSA Reports with families, parents, and community members. 

For more information on the Federal Reporting Under ESSA, contact Nazanin Mohajeri-Nelson, director of the Office of ESEA Programs, at 303-866-6205 or mohajeri-nelson_n@cde.state.co.us.