Classroom Enhancement Package - Remediation:

The Superintendent of Public Instruction secured funding to help schools and school districts remediate students who have struggled to meet proficiency on the ISAT.

According to House Bill No. 672, Section 10:
"Of the moneys appropriated in Section 3 of this act, $5,000,000 shall be distributed to provide remedial coursework for students failing to achieve proficiency in the Idaho Standards Achievement Test and to fund the PLATO computerized remediation services to schools. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall determine the formulas and methodologies by which such funds are distributed, and the permissible uses, provided however, that the distribution of such funds shall be conditioned on a match of at least one dollar ($1.00) in local expenditures for every two dollars ($2.00) in distributed funds."

Distribution:

This distribution will be based on the Spring 2008 Idaho Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) results. Once the distribution amounts have been calculated, school districts and charter schools will be notified of the amount of the required match ($1 of discretionary funds expended for each $2 distributed) and sent a statement to be signed by the school district superintendent, charter school administrator, or board chair. This payment will be distributed after the statement is received by the SDE. School districts will receive between $46 and $138 per student, depending on the number of subjects in which a student failed to achieve proficiency on the ISAT. These estimates are based on $4.4 million used for ISAT Remediation funding and $600,000 used for PLATO. These are preliminary estimates. Because this is a fixed dollar appropriation, actual amounts may vary slightly from budgeted amounts.

  • Budget $46 per student if the student did not meet proficiency in one section of the Spring 2008 ISAT.
  • Budget $92 per student if the student did not meet proficiency in two sections of the Spring 2008 ISAT.
  • Budget $138 per student if the student did not meet proficiency in three sections of the Spring 2008 ISAT.

Please budget using the number of students from the Spring 2008 ISAT. A list of the number of students who qualify for this distribution will be posted on the Department's Web site shortly after ISAT scores are released.

Permissible Uses:

The Superintendent of Public Instruction's goal for the ISAT Remediation funding is to provide assistance for students who have struggled to meet proficiency on the ISAT. The Superintendent has identified those students as those who have failed to achieve proficiency on the Spring 2008 ISAT. Therefore, the State Department of Education is distributing the funds for ISAT Remediation based on the number of students in each school district who have failed to meet proficiency on the Spring 2008 ISAT.

ISAT Remediation funding MAY be used for the following, as they relate to remediation:

  • Transportation
  • Curriculum and curricular materials
  • Personnel

ISAT Remediation funding MAY NOT be used for professional development or staff training.

Monitoring Progress:

The Superintendent of Public Instruction made a commitment to the Legislature to track how the ISAT Remediation funding is spent and whether it is improving student achievement. The Superintendent's goal is to see the number of students needing remediation decrease.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction and staff of the State Department of Education understand school districts and charter schools already have a lot of information to report every year. To make the monitoring process of ISAT Remediation funds easier, the Department will make it possible for school districts and charter schools to submit information about ISAT Remediation funds through the CIP tool. Under the Student Achievement section, Goal 4, of the CIP tool, the Department will add an objective for ISAT Remediation where school districts and charter schools can enter information about their action/strategy plans for the ISAT Remediation funding.

Supplanting Funds:

School districts and charter schools may use the ISAT Remediation funding to supplant state funds, not federal funds, currently being spent to remediate students who did not meet proficiency on the ISAT.