Idaho Education Department Amends Accountability Plan, Seeks Input

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KLIX) – The Idaho Department of Education is seeking feedback about its new accountability plan.

The department said Monday that it has proposed several amendments to the plan, which aims to help at-risk students and recognize individual and group educational successes.

“It was a major accomplishment to establish this plan, get stakeholder buy-in and federal approval, then embark on this analysis and improvement effort,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra said in a statement. “But our work is not over. Now that we’ve had a chance to see our processes in practice, we can add elements and fine-tune elements to make the plan even stronger.”

She said while educator and parent feedback are essential, input from other stakeholders also are an important part of the process moving forward. After individuals review the plan, there are several ways to comment:

• Attend the public meeting at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22, at the State Department of Education, 650 West State Street.
• Participate in the webinar at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 23 (sign up here).
• Send comments to ESSA@sde.idaho.gov.

The US Department of Education approved Idaho’s Consolidated State Plan in March 2018. The plan itself explains it aims to “further empower educators and parents to engage in educational decisions about student achievement,” and that a new report card, as part of the plan, “allows for data to be summarized and visualized in ways most useful to parents and community members.”