For over two decades, states have run accountability systems, reported on student outcomes, assigned school ratings, and identified lists of schools needing improvement. These lists, and the names of schools on them, may be published in the newspaper, discussed at school board meetings, and passed around in parent groups. But naming schools that need extra help is just the first step. The benefits of school accountability hinge on states using these systems to identify student needs, provide services and interventions, and address resource equity gaps to better support students.
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) gave states flexibility in designing school accountability systems, while retaining a set of “equity guardrails” to ensure states focus resources on low-performing schools and marginalized students. ESSA requires states to identify at least the lowest-performing 5% of Title I schools and high schools where fewer than two-thirds of students graduate on time to receive comprehensive support. States must also identify schools with one or more underperforming groups of students to receive targeted support.
Improving these schools and implementing evidence-based interventions requires extra funding. In previous work in our When Equity Is Optional series, we found that low-performing schools in different states had very different odds of being identified—and that students in those schools, therefore, had very different odds of receiving the additional services and resources they needed. For example, only identified schools are eligible to receive additional federal Title I funds set aside for school improvement (also known as the “7% Title I set-aside”).
In this analysis, we analyzed per-pupil spending in identified and non-identified schools across nine states—at the time of school identification and in the school year following that—to help determine the extent to which low-performing schools have access to resources to help them improve. We believe accountability results should be reflected in policymakers’ funding decisions and identified schools should receive additional resources.