Requirements for School Improvement Plans
What is the submission window for school improvement plans to the Indiana Department of Education?
All public and state-accredited non-public schools are required to complete the development of a three-year strategic and continuous school improvement plan (SIP), and to annually review these plans (IC 20-31-5-1), (IC 20-31-5-4). Whether developing a new plan or updating an existing plan, schools must assess their progress and make necessary changes to ensure continuous improvement.
Schools may submit school improvement plans to the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) beginning the first Friday of June. All school improvement plans must be submitted to IDOE no later than the first Friday of October of the school year.
Schools required to submit a school improvement plan (SIP) and comprehensive needs assessment (CNA)
In order to be accorded full accreditation status, public schools and state-accredited non-public schools must develop a strategic and continuous school improvement plan, every three years. A charter school may use the charter agreement, entered into with its authorizer, as its school improvement plan unless the school has been designated as Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and receives federal funds through the Title I program. In this case, a charter school must complete a Comprehensive Needs Assessment (CNA) and School Improvement Plan (SIP) using the consolidated CNA/SIP template provided by IDOE.
Schools identified as Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI), Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI), or Additional Targeted Support and Improvement (ATSI), must complete a Comprehensive Needs Assessment (CNA) and School Improvement Plan (SIP) annually.
Public schools and state-accredited non-public schools that are not identified as CSI, TSI, or ATSI should review and update their SIP.
Required Plan Components
Required components of a school improvement plan include:
- Objectives for continuous improvement in, at minimum, the areas of attendance rate, ILEARN proficiency rates, and graduation rates (secondary schools only) for the school to achieve over a three year period and how the school expects to meet these objectives.
- Specific areas identified by the school where improvement is needed immediately, and how the school will address these areas.
- A list of the statutes and rules the school wishes to have suspended from operation for the school (if any).
- Description of the curriculum and the location where the curriculum is available for public inspection.
- Description and name of the assessments that will be used by the school in addition to ILEARN.
- Provision outlining how the school will address the learning needs of all students, including exceptional learners.
- Provision for courses that allow all students to become eligible to receive an academic honors diploma (secondary only).
- Provision to encourage all students to earn an academic honors diploma or complete the Core 40 curriculum (secondary only).
- Provision to maximize parental participation in the school.
- Provision to maintain a safe and disciplined learning environment for all students and teachers.
- Provision for the coordination of technology initiatives.
- Provision for implementing career awareness and career development education curriculum.
- Methods to improve cultural competency of teachers, administrators, staff, parents and students, including the identification of all racial, ethnic, language-minority, cultural, exceptional learning, and socioeconomic groups represented in the school’s student population; culturally appropriate strategies for increasing educational opportunities and educational performance for represented groups that are incorporated in the school’s plan; and areas identified as requiring additional professional development to increase cultural competency in the school.
- A professional development program that includes: a narrative of student learning data; strategies, programs and services to address student learning needs; activities to implement such strategies; and an evaluation of the impact of such strategies.
- Assurance that the professional development program complies with the board’s core principles for professional development.
The following additional information may be included in the school improvement plan:
- Proposed interventions based on school improvement goals.
- A narrative description of the school, community, and educational programs.
- A statement of mission, vision, and beliefs.
- Data, including graphs, from the annual performance report or other performance indicators.
- Other information about educational programming and the learning environment.
- Information about how the school’s curriculum and instructional strategies support the achievement of Indiana’s academic standards.
- Analysis of student achievement based on ILEARN and other assessments used.
Description of the State Template
A consolidated Comprehensive Needs Assessment/School Improvement Plan (CNA/SIP) template was developed by IDOE in accordance with requirements in Indiana’s Consolidated State Plan under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The components of the state CNA/SIP template fulfill all requirements under ESSA and Indiana law. Additionally, there are components in the SIP portion of the template that satisfy the requirement of schools with Title I Schoolwide Programs.
The consolidated template is divided into two sections:
Section A
Comprehensive Needs Assessment to identify areas where improvement is required immediately and to identify root cause(s) for prioritized gaps.
Section B
School Improvement Plan for the required state components and optional components.
School improvement Plan to develop improvement and professional development plans.
Comprehensive Needs Assessment (CNA) and School Improvement Plan (SIP) Template
Schools Required to Use the State Template
Use of this template is only required for schools that have been designated as underperforming (CSI, TSI, ATSI) based on ESSA criteria. The synopsis below further clarifies requirements regarding template use.
Who is required to complete the Comprehensive Needs Assessment (CAN) portion of the template (Sections A)?
Schools identified as CSI.
Schools classified as TSI or ATSI MUST complete a CNA but are not required to use the state template to do so. They must, however, attach evidence of their comprehensive needs assessment to the template. For this reason, most TSI (ATSI) schools use the entire template.
Who is required to complete the School Improvement Plan (SIP) portion of the template (Sections B)?
Schools classified as CSI.
Schools classified as TSI or ATSI.
Additional documents
The building or corporation exclusive representative must signify support for the professional development portion of the strategic and continuous school improvement plans. Corporation officials should decide if this agreement will be signified at the building or corporation level. Based on this decision, the following documents are available for download and completion.