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SACRAMENTO — The State Board of Education today unanimously adopted a series of corrective actions submitted by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell aimed at improving the academic success of 97 school districts identified by the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law as in need of immediate intervention and assistance.

"The State Board of Education's action directs these educational agencies to reexamine their procedures and improve their practices in order to lead to improved student achievement," O'Connell said.

The recommendations were the result of a cooperative effort of O'Connell, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Secretary of Education David Long.

Each of the 97 local educational agencies, which include 96 school districts and one county office of education, have advanced to federal Title I Program Improvement (PI) Year 3 status based upon failure to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for at least five years and are now subject to corrective action and technical assistance.

Each district will be required to fully implement the State Board’s standards-aligned curriculum, which includes instructional materials and associated professional development. Each district must revise its local plan and submit it for State Board review in July. Recognizing the current fiscal climate, the Board is requesting a legislative appropriation of exiting federal funds already set aside for this purpose.

In addition, the Board voted to provide technical assistance to all 97 school districts based on their level of need. Forty-four districts will be required to contract with a state-approved technical assistance team that will assess the district’s capacity around fiscal and human resources, academic program and governance, especially in serving English learners and students with disabilities. Based on this analysis, teams will make recommendations to local boards, which may seek relief from the State Board.

The Coachella Valley Unified School District was assigned the Riverside County Office of Education as a trustee, to work along with the District Assistance and Intervention Team. The trustee was assigned based on the district’s acceptance of a $1.9 million federal grant to help meet the NCLB targets with the understanding that failure to do so could lead to the assignment of a trustee.

The other districts will be expected to target the reasons that caused them to advance to Program Improvement’s Corrective Action stage.

How these actions interact with the overall state budget crisis remains an open question. O’Connell thanked the Board for accepting his recommendations, but cautioned them on setting tight timelines in the absence of a clear budgetary direction.

“Despite this difficult budget climate, I applaud the Board’s commitment to help these districts strengthen their core curriculum and serve the needs of all students, especially English learners and students with disabilities,” O’Connell said.

For Item 21: No Child Left Behind Act of 2001: Recommendations Related to California's Assignment of Corrective Actions for Local Educational Agencies in Program Improvement Corrective Action, please go to: State Board of Education Item 21 (DOC; 155KB; 19pp.).

For the full SBE agenda please go to: Agenda--March 12-14, 2008 - State Board of Education.