With the adoption of the Arkansas Comprehensive Testing, Assessment, and Accountability Program (ACTAAP) in June of 1999, Arkansas began the process of moving to a single educational accountability system based on multiple indicators. At that time ACTAAP envisioned that, in order to meet federal mandates, a temporary school improvement model would be established beginning with the 2000-2001 school year. Based on this transition plan, the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) initially reported no schools in school improvement since the new model has not been in place for a sufficient time to measure at least two consecutive years of adequate yearly progress on the benchmark examinations. The ADE also emphasized that this lack of identification of schools should not be interpreted to mean that all of the state’s schools are meeting the academic goals of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) or of Arkansas’ ACTAAP.
Subsequent discussions with the United States Department of Education revealed that, in order to fully comply with the NCLB legislation, the ADE could not rely exclusively on the transition model but should continue to identify schools in improvement under the old model until the new ACTAAP provisions are fully implemented. Therefore the ADE will soon announce those schools that will be placed in school improvement.
Depending on individual school designations, supplemental services to children and/or intra-district school choice provisions may be required and will begin no later than the second semester of the current school year.
ACTAAP, which encompasses the reform initiatives Smart Start and Smart Step, when fully implemented in 2003-04, will be compliant with the provisions of NCLB. Until then, the ADE looks forward to working with federal education officials in implementing a fair, acceptable transition process.