Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI)

CSI Identification

Schools identified for CSI meet one or more of the following criteria:

The DPI makes CSI identifications every three years. LEAs receive ESSA Accountability Reports via SAFE. There is a district summary and a report for each individual school. For more details consult this Guide to the ESSA Accountability Report.

Schools may have two CSI identifications if they meet both low graduation rate and low performance thresholds. If schools identified for CSI also meet criteria for other identifications, the CSI identification supersedes.

Grants

For CSI funding information, visit the Grants to Support Identified Schools page. For more grant opportunities, visit DPI’s Competitive Grant Inventory.

Resources and Supports

Visit the Resources and Supports for Continuous Improvement page for links to tools, technical assistance, and more information.

School Responsibilities

Required improvement activities, to be monitored by the DPI:

• Consult and involve stakeholders in planning: at minimum, schools must engage teachers (including those for general and special education and English learners), school administrators, other school staff, students (if age-appropriate), and families (must include representatives of specific student groups present in the school).
• Complete a comprehensive needs assessment and root cause analysis. Root causes should be grounded in data and focused on educator practices contributing to the issues that led to identification.
• Review resource allocation for inequities, to be addressed in the improvement plan. This may include review at the LEA level. Inequities should be addressed in the improvement plan.
• With stakeholders, develop a comprehensive improvement plan that modifies practices, policies, and/or professional development to address the issues that led to the CSI identification. This may be a new plan or modified existing plan. Changes can be strategically phased over multiple years for sustainability.

  • The plan must include evidence of the required activities above,

  • The plan must be informed by indicators in the ESSA State Plan (e.g., data included in the ESSA Accountability Report), and

  • The plan must include one or more evidence-based improvement strategy that meet ESSA Tiers of Evidence 1, 2, or 3. Strategies should address identified root cause(s) that are grounded in data and focused on educator practices contributing to the issues that led to identification.
  • To support successful implementation, the plan should include the following:
    • A theory of action to reach a strategic goal
    • Action steps, timelines, and responsibilities
    • Professional learning and coaching support
    • Regular collection and analysis of data to monitor implementation and impact
• Implement the improvement plan. This includes collecting educator practice data and student outcome data for analysis and adjusting action steps and future plans accordingly.
• Improve outcomes, meeting CSI Exit Criteria 1 and 2 (see below).
• Ensure sustainable systems and procedures are in place for continued improvement, meeting CSI Exit Criterion 3 (see below).

Exit

At minimum, schools remain identified until the end of the second year. A school making satisfactory progress will exit by the end of the fourth year. If a school has multiple CSI identifications, it must meet exit requirements for each. If a school does not exit within the required timeframe, more rigorous interventions and supports apply, as defined in the ESSA State Plan (see page 53). A graphic of the timeline for exit is available on the Federal Accountability (ESSA) webpage.

The Office of Educational Accountability produces annual Progress-to-Exit Reports with information about each identified school's status in relation to the exit criteria. These reports are made available in SAFE.

Exit Criterion 1: The school must not be eligible for identification in the current year.

Exit Criterion 2: The school must make sustained and sustainable improvement toward the statewide long-term goals.

Exit Criterion 3: The school must demonstrate evidence of systems, structures, and/or procedures that ensure sustained and sustainable high-quality improvement planning and practices are in place.

DPI consultants determine progress to exit for Exit Criterion 3, based on submitted materials and evidence from monitoring.

DPI’s Office of Educational Accountability calculates progress to exit for Exit Criteria 1 and 2. More exit details are available in the guidance document “Exiting an ESSA Identification.”

LEA and DPI Responsibilities