North Dakota’s Department of Public Instruction works with North Dakota’s public school system to plan a continuous
improvement approach ensuring that all students are successful at all levels of their public education. The report
below is being provided as a tool for North Dakota’s schools to meaningfully focus on specific areas identified for
improvement based upon school performance indicator results under the Accountability dashboards.
The following information is included to foster further collaboration between North Dakota’s public school system,
the Department of Public Instruction, parents, and other stakeholders across North Dakota to identify areas for
school improvement. Most importantly, this report outlines information about the qualifications of educators in
North Dakota’s public schools. NDDPI is committed to ensuring that all North Dakota students are served by qualified
teachers.
The following definitions can be used as a reference guide when viewing the report.
School Support Levels: NDDPI worked with stakeholders across the state to establish guidelines for ranking and
identifying schools based upon performance indicators in the state’s accountability wok plan approved by the U.S.
Department of Education under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
- General Support: All public schools participate in a continuous improvement process.
- Targeted Support: Schools are selected from a pool of consistently underperforming schools (lowest 10% of performance)
and low performance in any subgroup based on all indictors within the state’s accountability system.
- Comprehensive Support: Schools are selected based on the performance of the accountability indicators including the
lowest 5% of all Title I schools and all public high schools with less than 67% graduation rate using a 6-year cohort.
School Status Overview: Lists the number of Title I, Non-Title I, High Poverty, Low Poverty, High Minority, and Low
Minority schools.
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School Title I Status: A title I school is a school receiving federal funds for Title I students. The basic principle
of Title I is that schools with large concentrations of low-income students will receive supplemental funds to assist in
meeting student's educational goals.
- School Poverty Status: Poverty status is determined by using the percentage of students receiving free or reduced meal
services. These percentages are used to place each school into poverty quartiles. Schools with a poverty percentage less
than the quartile 1 number (25%) are categorized as Low Poverty, schools with a poverty percentage between the quartile
1 number (25%) and quartile 3 number (75%) are categorized as Neither High or Low Poverty, and schools with a poverty
percentage higher than the quartile 3 number (75%) are categorized as High Poverty.
- School Minority Status: Minority status is determined by using the percentage of students having racial or ethnic
origins in any group other than the majority group for the state. These percentages are used to place each school into
minority quartiles. Schools with a minority percentage less than the quartile 1 number (25%) are categorized as Low
Minority, schools with a minority percentage between the quartile 1 number (25%) and quartile 3 number (75%) are
categorized as Neither High or Low Minority, and schools with a minority percentage higher than the quartile 3 number
(75%) are categorized as High Minority.
Educator Qualifications by School Status: These include the number and percentage of inexperienced administrators and
the number and percentage of teachers who are inexperienced, teaching out of their certified field, teaching without
full certification, and the Ineffective Teaching Equivalent for the school.
Out-of-field Teacher: Teachers who have been assigned to teach a class for a subject outside of their primary area of
certification. North Dakota’s teacher certification system does not allow an educator to be assigned to teach a
class for which they are qualified. This data is reported to comply with the ESSA reporting regulations.
Inexperienced Teacher: Teachers having three or fewer years of teaching experience.
Ineffective Teaching: North Dakota’s stakeholders established a performance-based system for determining teacher
effectiveness. Teachers are appraised by school administrators across many areas in each school district’s
performance appraisal system. Performance appraisals include a rating system which identifies areas needed for
teacher improvement. Any performance area that is below minimum expectations is reported by schools for all of their
teaching staff. More information on how NDDPI calculates Ineffective Teaching Equivalent can be obtained by
contacting NDDPI or by reviewing North Dakota’s ESSA plan.
Enrollment Information: Student enrollment information, along with the number and certification of educators serving
the student body, is included in this report to further inform stakeholders.
Schools by School Support Status: Lists the number of schools receiving General Support only, those receiving
additional Targeted Support, and those receiving additional Comprehensive Support.
School Improvement Funding: This chart is at the district level only and lists the funds received by the district and
additional school improvement funding received by some schools under ESEA section 1003.
De-identified datasets are available for download at insights.nd.gov/Data.