The purpose of this memorandum is to provide information regarding the 2005-2006 School Improvement notification and appeal process.
Step 1 Notification:
A) Superintendents and school board presidents are notified by certified mail of proposed School Improvement status for school(s) in the district. Superintendents are required to make the school board president aware of the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) notification of School Improvement status.
B) Superintendents are required to notify school principal(s) of proposed School Improvement status for the principal's school
Step 2 Appeal Process:
Required documentation supporting a district’s appeal for school(s) in the district may be filed in one of two ways.
Electronic Filing
1. ALL documents should be emailed to ade.ayp@arkansas.gov. It is important that the subject line reads as follows: AYP, followed by district name, followed by district LEA#.
Non-Electronic Filing
1. ALL documents should be mailed to Janinne Riggs, Arkansas Department of Education, #4 Capitol Mall, Rm. 406B, LR, AR 77201
Please choose either electronic or non-electronic filing for sending all required documents. Do not send some documents by email and others by mail.
All documents submitted for all schools in a district should be sent in a single filing; either electronic or non-electronic. Large districts filing electronic appeals may require more than one email depending on the number of attachments. In this case, the emails should be sent consecutively.
Documents to be sent to the ADE include:
1. Superintendent Certification
2. Appeal form(s)
3. Justification memorandum(s)
Documents to be sent to NORMES are:
1. Data Corrections
After reviewing the proposed School Improvement Status reports for the schools, if the district wishes to appeal any of the proposed school improvement status reports, the following steps must be taken:
A) Filing the Superintendent’s Certification (attached):
1. Complete Superintendent Certification
2. Include the name and LEA# of all school(s) submitting an appeal.
3. Send to ADE as a part of the district's filing.
B) Completing the Appeal Form (attached):
1. Complete a separate form for each school for which an appeal is being submitted.
2. Send to ADE as a part of the district's filing.
C) Preparing Justification Memorandum:
1. Complete a separate memo for each school for which an appeal is being submitted. The justification memorandum is an explanation of why the corrections should be made. (For example, this may be due to student having taken a course assessment but is retaking that course.)
2. Send to ADE as a part of the district's filing.
D) Correcting Inaccurate Student Data (directions attached):
If the appeal is based on inaccurate student data, corrected datasets will need to be submitted. Directions for accessing, correcting and submitting data files are attached. In order to provide accurate results, the correction sheets must follow the protocol and contain all the required information as indicated in the directions.
NOTE: Preliminary data corrections that were submitted correctly and before the July 14th deadline have been applied. Schools that did not submit corrections, or that feel further corrections are needed, should submit corrected data files.
E) Timeline
All appeals including all required documentation must be submitted no later than 4:30 PM at the close of business on the 30th calendar day from receipt of the superintendent/school board president notification.
An appeal panel will review all appeals. Appeals will be addressed in the following priority:
1. Schools in School Improvement
2. Schools in Alert
3. Schools that are Meeting Standards