Additional Targeted Support and Improvement (ATSI)

ATSI Identification

For a school to be identified for ATSI, a student group at the school must be performing in the bottom 5% of schools receiving Title I, Part A funds. If multiple student groups meet the criterion, the school will receive multiple ATSI identifications. Student group performance is determined based on indicators defined in the ESSA State Plan, intended to support achieving state long-term goals. Identifications are based on the following groups:

The DPI makes ATSI 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.

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 LEA:

• 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).
• 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 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 must address each student group for which the school has an identification, 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 ATSI Exit Criteria 1 and 2 (see below).
• Ensure sustainable, high-quality improvement practices, targeting the identified student groups, are in place for continued improvement, meeting ATSI Exit Criterion 3 (see below).

Exit

A school making satisfactory progress will exit by the end of the sixth year. If a school has multiple ATSI identifications, it must meet exit requirements for each. If a school does not exit an ATSI identification within six years, the school is identified for Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI). 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. To meet this criterion, the student group must have a summary score that is above the ATSI identification threshold in both the current year and the year of initial identification. (New thresholds are determined for each identification cycle.)

Exit Criterion 2: The school must make sustained and sustainable improvement toward the statewide long-term goals. To meet this criterion, the student group’s performance score on each applicable long-term goal must either show improvement in both of the two most recent intervals OR exceed the identification-year score in both of the most recent two years for which enough data are available. (Long-term goal indicators include ELA points-based proficiency rate, mathematics points-based proficiency rate, four-year graduation rate, seven-year graduation rate, and (if English Learners are the student group) the rate of English Learners who are on-track to English language proficiency.)

Exit Criterion 3: The school must demonstrate evidence that sustained and sustainable high-quality improvement planning and practices, targeting the identified subgroup(s), are in place. 

Districts determine progress to exit on Exit Criterion 3. 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

Resources and Supports

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