Academic Success Recreate | Bureau of Indian Education

On February 22, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) issued guidance inviting states and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) to request a waiver for the 2020-2021 school year of the accountability and school identification requirements in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). If BIE requests and receives this waiver it would not be required to implement and report the results of its accountability system, including calculating progress toward long-term goals and measurements of interim progress, or to annually meaningfully differentiate among its schools using data from the 2020-2021 school year. This flexibility would explicitly include waiving the requirement that the Academic Achievement indicator be adjusted to account for a participation rate below 95 percent. BIE would also not be required to identify schools for comprehensive support and improvement (CSI), targeted support and improvement (TSI), and additional targeted support and improvement (ATSI) based on data from the 2020-2021 school year. BIE would be required to continue to support previously identified schools in the 2021-2022 school year, resume school identification in the fall of 2022, and ensure transparency to parents and the public.

Attached is BIE’s draft accountability waiver template for 2020-2021 school year accountability and school identification requirements for Tribal and stakeholder comment. Please submit your comments to Dr. Tamarah Pfeiffer, Chief Academic Officer, at tamarah.pfeiffer@bie.edu. Comments will be accepted through 11:59 PM eastern time on Friday, April 16, 2021.

BIE Accountability Waiver

Bureau of Indian Education Agency Plan

The Bureau of Indian Education’s (BIE) Agency Plan serves as a roadmap for school improvement and support to lowest performing schools, and provides Tribes, parents, and other stakeholders with quality transparent information about how the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) will be implemented in BIE-funded schools, particularly standards, assessments, and accountability system (SAAS).

Below are the links to BIE's Executive Summary, approved Agency Plan, SAAS and waiver process.

Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI)

Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) Title I Schools* are schools that fall into one of the following two categories:

1. The Lowest 5-Percent of Academically Achieving Schools

CSI identified schools are those that are ranked according to three-year test averages in English Language Arts and Mathematics and are among the lowest performing schools that represent 5% of all schools eligible for identification. A school may exit CSI status if the school no longer meets the lowest 5% entrance criteria AND demonstrates an improvement in the overall state assessment score greater than or equal to 3% of the gap between the baseline state assessment score (the three-year average that led to the school’s identification) and 100. This 3% improvement must be demonstrated from the highest of the three state assessment scores used in the three-year average to the current state assessment score.

2. Low Graduation Rate High Schools

Low graduation rate high schools are those that are ranked according to three-year and four-year adjusted cohort graduation rates averaged and are less than or equal to 67%. A high school may exit Low Grad Rate status by attaining a four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate greater than 67%.

* All BIE-funded schools operate Title I schoolwide programs.