July 28, 2016

To: Karen Stapf Walters and David Sapp, California State Board of Education
Fr: Rick Miller, CORE Districts
Re: CORE Districts Pilot to Support Continuous Improvement and School Accountability
We appreciate the opportunity to meet last week and discuss the benefits of the CORE
districts’ proposed research pilot to support California’s evolving accountability system.
As we discussed, the CORE districts have local accountability systems in place that are
more robust than those included in the initial state system now under development. To
support one coherent state and federal school accountability system, we are proposing
that CORE districts serve as a research pilot in California’s new accountability system.
CORE districts locally developed indicators can support and augment several aspects
of California’s evolving accountability system and California’s Every Student
Succeeding Act (ESSA) state plan. The pilot would ensure use of the state indictors as
a baseline and then CORE districts’ shared local indictors for further delineation .
Information from CORE districts about growth in student performance over time, high
school readiness of 8th graders, measures of students’ social and emotional skills, as
well as a school’s overall culture-climate will be useful in assessing these locally
developed indicators and informing short and long-term local, state and federal policy
decisions.
Currently, research pilots are used successfully by many school districts including Long
Beach Unified, one of the nine CORE districts. Long Beach grants flexibility to local
schools as research pilots for new instructional practices and resource allocations that
can help improve student outcomes. As a research pilot for the state, the CORE districts
will work closely with local schools and local educators to ensure the alignment and
integration of school site improvement plans with district local accountability plans and
the state’s new accountability system.
The CORE districts are supported by a shared data system that is aligned with new
state and federal accountability laws and the educational priorities set by the governor
and Legislature. The locally generated data in the CORE districts’ system is not
collected by or available through the state’s current data system.
Data evaluation for CORE districts is conducted by the independent, non-partisan
research center Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE). Usable information is

1107 9th Street, Ste. 500   Sacramento, CA 95814   916 596-2548   COREdistricts.org

 provided back to schools and classrooms to help improve teaching and learning and to
work within and across local districts to innovate, implement and scale strategies that
improve student outcomes. Local districts share data generated the CORE system with
parents and other stakeholders to inform the strategic allocation of resources locally and
to develop and implement local accountability plans.
Local indicators matter for both instruction and accountability. PACE research shows
that local indicators greatly influence which schools are identified in the bottom five
percent. Within the construct of California’s new accountability system and adopted
state indicators, CORE districts’ research pilot will allow policymakers in California and
nationally to test local indicators for accountability purposes. As a research pilot, we
would ensure our data system aligns with the approved state indicators. Then for
coherence, we would like to explore with the California State Board of Education and
California Department of Education how CORE districts’ can help support required state
reporting and identifying the bottom five percent. As a research pilot, CORE districts
also could support the state’s efforts to align the ESSA state plan and State Systemic
Improvement Plan to better support students with disabilities as well as assist in the
state efforts to fairly integrate alternative schools within the state’s new accountability
system.
We look forward to our continued conversations about how the CORE districts can
serve as a research pilot for state and federal purposes in California’s new school
accountability system. We are available to share data and resources with the staff of the
board and the California Department of Education as needed to determine next steps in
this proposed research pilot.

Cc:

Michael Kirst, California State Board of Education president
Mike Hanson, CORE Districts president and Fresno USD superintendent

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