Listen to the article
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback.
Dive Brief:
- The number of schools identified as low-performing and in need of support and improvement under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title I, Part A, increased to 7.3% in 2022-23, up from 6.5% in 2019-20, according to a report released last week by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
- In 2022-23, more than 6,900 schools were identified for comprehensive support and improvement — or CSI — which is the most intensive level of school improvement and support under ESEA. That was up from over 5,700 schools designated as such in 2019-20. The top most common reasons schools were identified for CSI in 2022-23 were because of low academic performances, low graduation rates or both.
- While school turnaround efforts are complex, the analysis found several common factors that helped schools exit CSI status, including having effective leaders who support the use of data for progress monitoring and who promote staff collaboration and training.
Dive Insight:
Most of the increase in CSI schools between 2019-20 and 2022-23 was due to schools that were recategorized from needing additional targeted support and improvement, or ATSI, to needing CSI because they did not meet their state’s criteria to exit ATSI.
Of the schools identified in 2019-20 for CSI, 46% had exited that improvement status by 2022-23. Large and medium-sized schools had increased chances of exiting, while schools with a higher percentage of students from low-income families had lower chances of exiting.
Low-income Title I schools that do not exit ATSI status within the state’s designated time frame must be identified as a CSI school. To exit CSI status, schools must also meet criteria developed by their state.
Additionally, states determine the type of support provided for each school improvement category.
The GAO report notes that in 2019-20 and 2020-21, states could apply for waivers from accountability and school identification requirements due to the disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic. States with waivers could decide not to count 2019-20 and 2020-21 toward the state-determined number of years required to exit support and improvement.
Although there are variations in states’ approaches to identifying and supporting school improvements, the GAO analysis found that schools had increased odds of being labeled as a CSI school if they had higher student-teacher ratios or higher percentages of:
- Students living at or below the poverty line.
- Black, Hispanic or American Indian/Native Alaskan students.
- Students with disabilities or English learners.
GAO also found that suburban schools were less likely to be identified as CSI schools compared to urban schools, and large schools had lower odds than small schools. Schools that had a student-teacher ratio of five additional students for each teacher were linked with a 2% increase in the odds of a school being identified for CSI.
The study identified six key strategies for schools exiting CSI:
- Communicate mission and achieve buy-in.
- Change school culture and expectations.
- Foster staff collaboration.
- Use data to monitor progress and adjust instruction.
- Target professional development.
- Sustain improvements.
States has an estimated $1.29 billion of Title I funds in fiscal year 2024 to support schools identified for support and improvement. Schools that are identified must develop and enact plans to improve student outcomes.
The analysis is the third report in a series from GAO on school improvements requested by Congress through the annual appropriations process.
To conduct the most recent analysis, GAO researchers looked at federal data and the Urban Institute’s Model Estimates of Poverty in Schools. They also interviewed state-level education officials from Georgia, Ohio and Virginia, as well as educators from eight school districts, and 14 schools in those states.
The report research lasted from October 2024 to March 2026.
