School Improvement Parent Notification Requirement
As required by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Tennessee must annually identify
schools for comprehensive support and improvement (CSI)/priority, targeted support and
improvement (TSI), and additional targeted support and improvement (ATSI). Under section
1111(d)(1)(A), federal law also requires states to notify all districts and in turn all districts to
notify all schools that are identified for students and student groups that are consistently
underperforming based on the state’s accountability indicators, which are:
 Student achievement
 Chronically out of school
 Student growth
 Ready graduate (high school only)
 English learner proficiency
 Graduation rate (high school only)
assessment (ELPA)
Federal law also requires districts and schools to partner with stakeholders – including school
leaders, teachers, parents, and community leaders – to develop and implement
improvement plans for their school to improve student outcomes based on these
accountability indicators.
All parent notifications should be sent out by Sept. 1 and a copy of the letter uploaded in the
school improvement plan to “Upload Documents.”
School Designation Overview
 Comprehensive Support & Improvement
- CSI schools are those in the bottom five percent of their school pool including
2017-18 data and all Priority schools plus all schools in the Achievement School
District regardless of performance. CSI schools are identified every three years.
 Priority Schools
- Priority schools are identified every three years and includes those that in 2018
fell in the bottom five percent of their school pool (i.e., K8 or HS) not including
2017-18 data. This designation also identifies those schools with graduation rates
less than 67 percent.
 Targeted Support & Improvement
- TSI schools exhibit low student group performance by falling in the bottom five
percent for any given student group (i.e. Black/Hispanic/Native American,
Economically Disadvantaged, English Learners, or Students with Disabilities) or
any given racial or ethnic group (i.e., Hispanic/Latino, Black or African American,
American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Asian, and
White). TSI schools are identified annually.
 Additional Targeted Support & Improvement:
- Schools identified for ATSI are Focus schools in which any student group success
rate is less than or equal to the highest success rate of any Priority school in their
school pool and where they do not earn a score of 3 or 4 for each indicator for
which that student group is eligible. ATSI schools are identified every three years
(starting in 2021).
By focusing on the performance of each individual student group within a school across all
indicators, Tennessee is better able to address equity and support schools and students.

 In order to help districts and schools fulfill this requirement, the department has provided
the sample parent letter below that can be tailored to local context.
Dear Parent or Guardian,
Each year the Tennessee Department of Education examines schools’ performance across
several different indicators to provide an overall look at how schools are serving the needs of
all students.
For 2019-20, the department of education included the following indicators in its analysis of
school accountability:
 Student achievement
 Chronic absenteeism
 Student growth
 Ready graduate (high school only)
 English learner proficiency exam
 Graduation rate (high school only)
(ELPA)

 More information on each of these indicators and the data used to define them can be found
in the 2019 Accountability Protocol. Under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA),
the department is required to use the school accountability results to identify those schools
with the lowest performance and the lowest performance across student groups (e.g.,
individual racial/ethnic student groups, students with disabilities, economically
disadvantaged, and English learners). These schools will receive additional supports from
the department.
We are writing to inform you that [School name] is identified for [Designation] as required by
ESSA and the U.S. Department of Education. [Insert designation criteria]
[School name- ATSI or TSI only] is identified for the following student groups:
 [List student group(s) and reason why]
Our school is working hard with the district and the Tennessee Department of Education to
increase student performance by [List specific activities/programs the school and district are
implementing to address student performance.]. We encourage you to help by participating
in the development and implementation of our school improvement plan and/or [list other
parent activities specific to the district and/or school.]
Sincerely,
[Signature]
[Position]