Updated Williams Resources

2. Identification and Outreach

Assembly Bill (AB) 599 (Chapter 668, Statutes of 2021) revised Section 1240 and requires the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to identify the list of Williams-monitored schools (including charter schools) beginning with the 2021-22 fiscal year, again in 2022-23 fiscal year, and then every three fiscal years thereafter, during the same fiscal year that schools are identified for comprehensive support and improvement or additional targeted support and improvement pursuant to Every Student Succeeds Act (Public Law 114-95) or identified as low performing under the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (Public Law 89-10). The list of schools will be compiled as follows:

• All schools (excluding Dashboard Alternative School Status (DASS) schools) identified for comprehensive support and improvement and additional targeted support and improvement pursuant to the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (Public Law 114-95).
• All schools where 15 percent or more of the teachers are holders of any authorization that is a lesser certification than a preliminary or clear California teacher credential.²
• The list of schools excludes alternative schools defined in Section 52052(d) and other schools accepted for participation in the DASS program.

Lists shall be used for inspections beginning the following fiscal year. Lists are anticipated to be established near the beginning of the calendar year for use beginning in Fall of the following fiscal year. The County Superintendent or designee should reach out to all county-identified local educational agencies (LEAs) once a list is released from the California Department of Education.

Resources:
2.1 Williams Case 2022 – AB 599 – Why, Who, How, When
2.2 CDE Williams Case Schools Identified for Monitoring Office Hours 4.16.22

² AB 1505 offered flexibility to teachers in non-core / non-college prep courses to be fully credentialed beginning 2025. As a result, if no other identifying criteria are met, it is possible that a school will not be identified on the list having more than 15% of teachers not certified with a preliminary or clear.

3. Orientation/Training: Communication with Districts/Charter Administrator and School Site Regarding Expectations

At the beginning of the process, the county superintendent, or designee, should meet with LEA and site representatives to inform them of the Williams legislative requirements and emphasize that this is a collaborative process that follows a self-study/validation format. Through training or another form of orientation, the county office of education staff will inform LEA and school site staff about the information and documentation that will be required during the review and provide a timeline of events and an overview of the visitation process. The County Superintendent will request an LEA liaison and a site liaison to be appointed. All communications and requests will flow to an identified county liaison.

The County Liaison and LEA/Site Liaisons should provide orientation/training(s) for the
following district/school representatives:

• District or Charter School “Williams” liaison,
• District or Charter School SARC designee
• District or Charter School Curriculum designee
• District or Charter School Facilities designee
• Site Administrator
• Site Liaison
• Site Facilities designee

Resources:
3.1_School/LEA Checklist 2022
3.2_Site Inspection Protocol_2022
3.3_SARC_Data_Verification_Tool.pdf

4. Documentation Collection and Review

Documentation Collection and Review should be discussed via orientation/training. The school(s)/LEA(s) will be informed of all the requirements and documentation that they need to complete prior to a county office team visit to the school. For the Facilities and Instructional Materials Reviews, LEAs are requested to have all documentation completed and submitted to the County Office Liaison in a timely fashion. The classroom visits are intended to evaluate and validate what the school site has already determined.

The school(s)/LEA(s) should maintain a copy of the following documents for the administrative record. The County Superintendent will also maintain a copy of these documents from which they will prepare required reports.

A. General Documentation:

A. Facilities Documentation:

C. Instructional Materials Documentation:
C1. Board Adoption

C2. Instructional Materials Sufficiency: Documentation needed from school/LEA to determine if sufficient quantities of approved standards-aligned materials have been purchased (and re-supplied) in each of the four core areas (English language arts (ELA), English language Development (ELD), Math, Science and Social Studies), and at middle and high school levels for world language and health courses.

C3. Science Laboratory Sufficiency: Documentation needed from school/LEA to determine availability of sufficient 9-12 science laboratory equipment in locally identified 9-12 science lab courses as appropriate. There are sufficient quantities of science lab equipment for identified courses so that each enrolled pupil has sufficient lab equipment available to use in class. This statement assumes that working in lab groups is acceptable.

5. VALIDATION VISITS

Once the county superintendent has received the required documentation, the county office team will develop a schedule for school visits in the county consisting of 75 percent announced visits and 25 percent unannounced. The county superintendent should provide the calendar for the announced visits to each school district and affected school site. The actual visits to the school site will be used to clarify any questions and to observe the condition of school repair and maintenance and the sufficiency of the instructional materials.

Please note: Section 1240 requires that the visits only cause minimal disruption to the operation of the school and that all individuals conducting the visits be fingerprinted, per current law requirements. The statute allows the county superintendents to conduct their reviews of instructional materials and facilities in single or multiple visits upon consideration of factors such as: cost-effectiveness, disruption to the school site, deadline, and availability of qualified reviewers.

Recommended Visitation of Classrooms: COEs will randomly sample classrooms at a level to be considered statistically valid. All grade levels are to be visited; and for instructional materials in the case of year round schools with various schedule tracks, all tracks are to be visited. It is important that the visits occur when students are in the classroom, particularly for instructional materials.

The following visitation protocol percentages are minimums and more classes may be visited if necessary.

For K-8: 25 percent of the classrooms will be visited with the minimum threshold that each grade level will be visited as well as all  restrooms, ancillary support areas, multipurpose room (MPR), gym, auditorium, and cafeteria.

For 7-12: (Secondary Level) Since the visitation is focused on courses rather than classrooms, there are many more opportunities for visits. COE teams will visit 20 percent of all possible sections of courses in each required Williams subject area (see sample 5.1 Secondary Visitation Worksheet). With this method, not all of the courses offered in a required Williams subject area would necessarily be visited, but all required subject areas will be visited. The facilities review will also ensure that 20 percent of the classrooms are visited as well as other areas where students and staff are present (all restrooms, ancillary support areas, MPR, gym, auditorium, and cafeteria).

As the schedule of visits is being developed, please also consider the following:

1. Visit special designated classrooms such as special education classrooms and bilingual or sheltered classrooms.
2. For middle and high schools, visit Algebra I classes.
3. For middle and high schools, make sure that 20 percent of the classrooms are being visited to meet facility guidelines

6. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS³

A. Instructional Materials Deficiencies (Section 1240(i)(4)(C))
If the county superintendent determines that a school does not have sufficient textbooks or instructional materials, the county superintendent shall prepare a report that identifies and documents the areas or instances of noncompliance, provide a copy of the report to the school district, and provide the district with the opportunity to remedy the deficiency. If the deficiency is not remedied by the second month of the school year, the county superintendent shall request that the California Department of Education immediately purchase textbooks or instructional materials for the school. The funds necessary for the purchase are considered a loan to the school district to be repaid based upon an agreed-upon schedule with the SPI, or by deducting an amount from the district’s next principal apportionment or other apportionment of state funds.

B. Emergency or Urgent Facilities Conditions (Section 1240(c)(2)(G))
If a county superintendent discovers any facilities condition that “poses an emergency or urgent threat to the health or safety of pupils or staff”, we recommend that the county superintendent immediately notify the principal. The county superintendent may, among other things, do any of the following: 1) return to the school to verify repairs, 2) prepare a report within 30 days of visit documenting instances of emergency facility non-compliance if district does not provide evidence of successful repairs and may provide it to the district governing board, 3) post the report on the county’s website.

C. Quarterly Report Requirements (Section 1240(c)(2)(C))
Each quarter, the county superintendent reports the results of county office visits to Williams-monitored schools related to instructional materials and facilities conditions, as well as reviews of teacher misassignments and vacancies to the district board at a regularly scheduled meeting. County superintendents may report, at their option, uniform complaint data received from school districts. Quarterly reports should be submitted in October, January, April and July.

If no visits or reviews are conducted in a quarter, the quarterly report must report that fact.

6.2_Quarterly_Report_Template_ Four_Required_Areas_and_Optional_Reporting_UCP_…

D. Annual Report Requirements EC 1240(c)(2)(A)(iii)
The County Superintendent must submit an annual report at a regularly scheduled November board meeting that describes the state of schools in the county to the:

• Local governing board of each school district under the jurisdiction of the county
  superintendent;
• County board of education; and
• County board of supervisors.

The Annual Report must include the determinations for each school made by the county superintendent or designee using a standardized template regarding the following:

• Student access to sufficient standards-aligned instructional materials in four core subjects (ELA, English Language Development (ELD), mathematics, history/social science, and science), world language, health, and science laboratory equipment, as appropriate.
• Compliance with facilities maintenance requirements, including determination of the
  condition of facilities that “pose an emergency or urgent threat to the health or safety of pupils or staff” and facilities in “good repair.”
• Accuracy of data reported on annual School Accountability Report Card related to
  sufficiency of instructional materials and condition of facilities, including whether in
  “good repair.”
• Teacher misassignments and teacher vacancies.

6.3_Annual_Report_Template_for_Four_Required_Areas
6.4_Annual_Report_Template_Limited_Scope_Four_Required_Areas
6.5_Sample_Quarterly_Annual_Report_Summary_Tables

³ Section 1240 outlines the following requirements for reporting; however the language is specific to school districts and not charter schools.