A RESEARCH REPORT FROM EPIC

What Are They Planning? An Analysis of Round 4 Partnership Districts’ Improvement Goals and Plans

August 2024

In November 2022, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) identified the current round (Round 4) of Partnership schools and districts. By the spring of 2023, Partnership districts outlined new improvement goals and accountability measures, and by fall of 2023 they developed improvement plans to meet those goals. Throughout the 2023-24 school year, they began to implement those improvement plans. This report describes the goals and planning activities for Round 4 of Partnership schools and districts. We analyzed the targets that Round 4 Partnership districts and schools set, the accountability measures they selected, and the specific activities they planned to implement as part of their improvement efforts.

Key findings include:

1. Partnership districts adopted accountability measures that would require programmatic and operational changes in substantive areas of practice, rather than high-stakes measures that would significantly disrupt school staffing or governance. These measures align with a “continuous improvement” orientation embedded in the Partnership Model.
2. Partnership districts converged on the minimum allowable proficiency target; nearly all districts aimed for a 3 percentage point increase in proficiency by 36-months. These decisions were informed by a desire to set attainable targets in the face of accountability pressure, especially given that the minimum target would represent a large increase in proficiency rates in many cases.
3. Benchmark assessment-based growth targets varied more than proficiency targets. Most districts aimed for between 40% and 70% of their students to reach at least the 50th percentile for growth between the fall and spring testing periods by 36-months.
4. Partnership districts aimed for small improvements in attendance for their interim (18-month) targets, but large improvements for their outcome (36-month) targets, reflecting a “ramp up” in developing and implementing new attendance-related systems and practices.
5. Many Partnership districts planned to develop and adopt new academic, attendance, and human capital systems and strategies in the 2023-24 school year, aiming to fully implement them in subsequent school years.
6. Staffing and professional development were the most common types of activities in Partnership school improvement plans for both academic and non-academic goals. Other common activities include MTSS and curriculum changes for academics and family engagement for attendance.