House Bill 3499 enrolled in 2015, directs the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to develop and implement a statewide education plan for English Language Learners who are in our K-12 education system. The plan will address disparities experienced by English Language Learners in every indicator of academic success, from the historical practices leading to disproportionate outcomes for the students to the educational needs of the students from K-12 education, by examining and applying culturally appropriate best practices.
As part of the plan, HB 3499 requires the Oregon Department of Education to review key accountability data for English learners as it identifies districts for either Target or Transformation supports. This identification occurs every four years and if a district is selected, they become part of an HB3499 Cohort. The District Data Profiles, developed with
OAR 581-020-0609 to provide the information needed for an HB3499 Cohort identification. It is important to note that as the District Data Profiles were developed, the first year (2018-19 School Year) includes only districts that were in HB3499 Cohort 1 status. Starting with data from the 2019-20 SY, there are District Data profiles for all of our Oregon public school districts.
Reading District Data Profiles
The District Data Profiles have key demographics and metrics as related to our English learners at the district level.
On page one of the District Data Profiles, you will find key demographics such as the number of current, former, ever and never ELs at the elementry, middle, and high school levels. On the second half ot hte page you will find numbers of ELs for key characteristics such as, but not limited to, economically disadvantaged, students with disabilities, students with interrupted formal education, recent arrivers, migrant, homeless, mobile and long term.
The second page of the District Data Profiles is the determination page for the district for that particular year which could be either notable progress, some progress, or limited progress. The progress levels are determined both at the elementary and secondary levels where each level has seven key indicators that it pulls data from.
Typically, when a new cohort of HB3499 districts is being selected, if a district has the either elementary of secondary section showing a limited progress (that is that either section has a value of less than 50% of the weighted points as explained on page two of the District Data Profile), then the district is found to be in target status and the district would receive both funding and technical supports during the four years that the district is in a target status. Likewise, if the district has both the elementary and secondary sections with a value of less than 50% of the weighted points, then that district would be found to be in transformation status and receive both funding and technical supports during the four years that the district is in a transformation status.
Page three of the District Data Profile, provides the data for each indicator for both the elementary and secondary grades indicator ratings. Specifically, this page shows the grades where the data comes from the values, levels and ratings for each of the 14 indicators. The bottom part of this page also shows notes that define specific indicators, describes the business rules, and the suppression.
It is important to note that the ESSA Title I indicators and the HB3499 indicators are not all the same (some are, but not all). In addition, each of these has different student groups that were identified to make the thresholds for each of the indicators. While the CSI/TSI indicators are based on all students, the HB3499 indicators are based on ever Els. The Ever EL category includes all students that have ever been identified as being entitled to receive EL services. The one exception to both ESSA and HB3499 is that OTELP, for both metrics, is based on current ELs.
The ESSA Title I indicators are found on page 11 of:
Accountability Details Policy and Technical Manual 22-23.
The Oregon Department of Education provides the District Data Profiles on a yearly basis. This data then provides key information for districts regarding areas in need of support as well as areas for celebrations.
Districts can use this data in multiple ways to update their systems and practices towards moving towards notable progress. Some of the ways that districts can use this data includes, but is not limited to: a district community of practice, teacher-administrator teams reviews towards continuous improvement and updating of systems and practices, strategic identification of resource allocation, and a longitudinal comparison over time of both the elementary and secondary indicators.