California's System of Support

California is in the midst of implementing a new public school accountability system based on the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), which overhauled public school finance and accountability. A key part of California’s new approach is a refocused system of support for local educational agencies (LEAs) (school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education [COEs]), which is based on a three-level framework:

• Support for All LEAs and Schools (Level 1): Various state and local agencies provide an array of resources and voluntary assistance that all LEAs may use to improve student performance at the LEA and school level and narrow disparities among student groups across the LCFF priorities, including recognition for success and the ability to share promising practices.
• Differentiated Assistance (Level 2): County superintendents, the California Department of Education (CDE), charter authorizers, and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE) provide differentiated assistance for LEAs, in the form of individually designed assistance, to address identified performance issues.
• Intensive Intervention (Level 3): The State Superintendent of Public Instruction or, for charter schools, the charter authorizer may require more intensive interventions for LEAs with persistent performance issues over a specified time period.

Each of the three levels represents a type of assistance available or provided to LEAs, not a status or label applied to LEAs.

The goal for support at all levels is to assist LEAs and their schools to meet the needs of each student served, with a focus on building capacity to sustain improvement and effectively address inequities in student opportunities and outcomes.

Yes. Support under the LCFF is intended to be tailored to locally identified needs, rather than imposed as a one-size-fits-all solution. Table 1 below identifies several key changes in California’s approach to supporting LEAs and schools to improve.

Table 1. Shifts in California's Approach to Improvement

State law, as amended by the 2018 Budget Act, creates a structure with specifically defined roles and responsibilities that is intended to ensure that a base-level of support is available statewide and that relevant expertise can be leveraged regardless of where a school district is located.

The 2018 Budget Act clarified the roles and responsibilities and provided ongoing funding for the agencies responsible for providing differentiated assistance to school districts, specifically COEs and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence.

The 2018 Budget Act also established and provided funding for new roles with specific responsibilities aimed at developing the capacity of agencies responsible for providing differentiated assistance and ensuring access to a broad range expertise within the system of support. These include geographic lead agencies, special education resource leads, and expert leads that can be funded through specific provisions included in the annual budget. These agencies will work closely with the California Department of Education and California Collaborative for Educational Excellence. These investments ensure there are people or roles within the system whose duties specifically include supporting coordination and communication to connect LEAs to relevant resources or expertise.

As noted above, various state and local agencies provide an array of resources and voluntary assistance that all LEAs may use to improve student performance at the LEA and school level and narrow disparities among student groups across the LCFF priorities, including recognition of success and the ability to share promising practices.

Support providers play a critical role in helping LEAs access resources that are responsive to their local needs and adapt those resources to fit the local context. Accordingly, work to further develop Support for All is focused on the “supports” that are used or referenced by assistance providers when working with LEAs and ensuring those supports are relevant, targeted, and reliable in responding to a locally identified need in order to assist in effective implementation of the state priorities and improved outcomes for all students.

California provides numerous resources and supports that are available to all LEAs and schools. These include curriculum frameworks, practice guides, assistance from regional lead agencies, professional learning opportunities, individual coaching, grants, and resource clearinghouses that have been created through various state and federal programs.

More detailed information about Support for All is provided in a June 2017 Information Memorandum (DOC).

Differentiated assistance, as it is commonly termed, is targeted technical assistance under California’s public school accountability system as part of the LCFF legislation. Differentiated Assistance is designed to assist LEAs to address underlying causes that led to low student outcomes while strengthening the LEA’s overall ability to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies and programs, adjusting as appropriate. Differentiated assistance is provided to school districts (districts), COEs, and charter schools.

Differentiated assistance is not a status or label that LEAs enter or exit, but a type of support rooted in continuous improvement.

Related EC sections are as follows: EC 52071 (Districts), EC 52071.5 (COEs), and EC 47607.3 (Charters).

As noted, California’s public school accountability system is designed to reinforce the expectation that everyone can improve while also ensuring additional support is provided to LEAs that are struggling. It also includes an intentional focus on providing assistance in a manner that builds the capacity of the LEA receiving assistance in order to ensure improved outcomes and success for all students.

Differentiated assistance is therefore intended not only to help the LEA address the underlying causes that led to its eligibility for assistance, but also to strengthen the LEA’s overall ability to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies and programs and make adjustments as appropriate for the benefit of all students. This approach equips the LEA to improve in areas that were not the focus of differentiated assistance and increases the likelihood that improvements will be sustained when the differentiated assistance ends.

Eligibility for differentiated assistance is based on performance criteria set by the SBE, which are described below. Although this system continues to evolve, the criteria are currently based on performance within the LCFF state priorities, measured through both the state indicators and local indicators that are reported annually in the California School Dashboard (Dashboard).

More information on the Dashboard, including the state and local indicators, is available on the California School Dashboard Frequently Asked Questions Web page.

Eligibility for differentiated assistance is based on performance criteria set by the SBE. LEAs with at least one student group meeting the criteria in at least two priority areas are eligible for differentiated assistance.

The Differentiated assistance eligibility is posted in conjunction with the release of the California School Dashboard (Dashboard) as the “COE/District LCFF Assistance Status Spreadsheet” or “Charter School Assistance Status Spreadsheet.”

For those LEAs eligible to receive differentiated assistance, the LCFF Assistance files identifies how the LEA met the eligibility criteria (i.e., the student group[s] and relevant indicators).

For 2024, the release of the Dashboard and LCFF Assistance Status Spreadsheets is scheduled for December 1, 2024. The LCFF Assistance Status Spreadsheets are organized by county and LEA, and what type of assistance they are receiving. For those LEAs receiving differentiated assistance, it also identifies how the LEA met the eligibility criteria (i.e., the student group[s] and relevant indicators). A separate spreadsheet will be available for charter schools. More information about the LCFF Assistance Status Spreadsheets can be found on the LCFF Web page on the CDE website at Local Control Funding Formula.

Yes. Resources regarding the 2024 Dashboard and the State and Local Indicators can be found on the CDE Dashboard Communications Toolkit Web page and the Local Indicators Web page.

Yes. Every fall, LEAs have an opportunity to preview the Dashboard data before the public release. Information about preview opportunities is shared with the designated Dashboard Coordinator(s) at each LEA.

Statue describes what differentiated assistance may entail through four examples, all of which reflect the intent that agencies providing differentiated assistance work collaboratively with the LEA receiving assistance and that the assistance be flexible and context-specific.

Consistent with the intent under the LCFF that differentiated assistance be tailored to locally identified needs rather than imposed as a one-size-fits all solution, the approach to providing differentiated assistance has the following features:

• Support providers work alongside LEAs and their schools to identify key challenges and opportunities,
• A systemic approach tailored to locally identified needs and strengths connected to the LEA’s annual LCAP process,
• Engagement with local educators and communities as part of decision making, and/or
• LEAs retain control to select the improvement strategies and actions they will implement to address identified challenges and opportunities.

All COEs have committed to working with their districts and charter schools to facilitate a collaborative review of their Dashboard and other local data and a discussion of underlying causes of performance challenges. CDE is also committed to working with COEs on their continuous improvement process. COES and CDE have developed common tools and protocols for the facilitated process grounded in improvement science.

Beginning with the release of the 2023 Dashboard, differentiated assistance support will be provided to districts and COEs for a minimum of two years following identification of eligibility (EC 52071[c][1] and 52071.5 [b]). A year of support is the timeframe of “Dashboard to Dashboard.”

For charter schools, differentiated assistance support is provided for at least one year.

Yes. School Districts (EC 52071 [2][A–F]) and COEs (EC 52071.5 [c][1–6]) that do not certify their CALPADS data will become eligible for differentiated assistance. This provision does not apply to charter schools.

The eligibility for differentiated assistance based on this new criteria will begin with the release of the 2024 Dashboard. This eligibility is based on the CALPADS submission deadlines for the 2023–24 school year (Fall 1, Fall 2, and End-of-Year collections).

Differentiated assistance eligibility is determined annually. Once a district is identified as eligible in any given year (starting with the 2023 Dashboard), the support must be provided for a minimum of two years (EC 52071[c][1]).

If for example, a district is identified eligible for differentiated assistance with the 2023 Dashboard, assistance needs to be provided, at a minimum, until the release of the 2025 Dashboard. If that same district is again identified for differentiated assistance with the release of the 2024 Dashboard, support will be provided until the release of the 2026 Dashboard.

County offices of education will not be required to provide differentiated assistance to LEAs with schools eligible for CSI based on the 2023 Dashboard. Once California has determined when COEs will provide this support, this information will be communicated.

Based on the eligibility criteria (provided above) for differentiated assistance, charter schools do not have to be eligible for the same student group(s) and priority areas for two years or more years to become eligible for differentiated assistance.

Eligibility is not only determined annually through student group performance, but also by local indicators not being met for two or more years. Therefore, a charter school can become eligible through student group performance in one year, and local indicator performance in the following year.

No, eligibility for DA has no impact on the LCAP engagement requirements for charter schools. California Education Code (EC) Section 47606.5(d) requires that a charter school consult with teachers, principals, administrators, other school personnel, parents, and pupils in developing the LCAP.

Note: A charter school that is using its LCAP as its School Plan for Student Achievement must also meet the requirements of EC Section 52062(a)

The “LCAP process” is an annual cycle that includes development of the LCAP and ongoing implementation of the actions and services included in the approved LCAP.

As part of developing the LCAP and annual update, every LEA is expected to review its data, including performance on state and local indicators in the Dashboard and the effectiveness of actions and services included in the LCAP, and engage with educational partners when developing and/or updating goals, actions, and services that are ultimately included in the locally approved LCAP.

This is reflected in the current LCAP template, which includes a plan summary with prompts requiring LEAs to reflect annually on strengths, areas of low performance, and performance gaps as reflected in the Dashboard and other local data. Ongoing implementation and progress monitoring throughout the year is expected to inform the development/update of the goals, actions, and services included in the LCAP for the following year.

DA provides support to LEAs to build their capacity to improve student outcomes through the LCAP process. "DA exists within the LCAP process. There is no statutory requirement for developing a new 'improvement plan'" separate from the LCAP (November 2017 SBE Meeting, Item 4, Attachment 1 [DOC]).

LEAs identified for DA continue to complete their LCAPs and annual updates. A key element of DA is the review of data and analysis of underlying causes, which all LEAs are expected to complete as part of developing an LCAP, with additional support from the COE.

As noted, school districts (districts) do not have to develop a new improvement plan as part of DA. Instead, the insights and conclusions gained from DA should be reflected in the district’s ongoing LCAP process, which requires stakeholder engagement.

District superintendents, or their designees, are responsible for engaging with their COEs and local educational partners in the DA process. COEs are required to provide DA to eligible districts. The initial step is a management consultation between the COE and district leadership. The district superintendent, or his or her designee, is responsible for determining who participates in the meetings with the COE staff.

Local educational partners have critical insights on strengths/weaknesses and underlying causes of low performance that will strengthen the DA process. COEs should offer to assist districts in thinking through how to engage local educational partners in the DA process and to integrate feedback into the district’s LCAP development process.

The insights and conclusions gained from DA should be reflected in the district’s LCAP process, which requires stakeholder engagement. Engaging educational partners in the decision-making process is a central principle of the LCFF. Districts should engage local educational partners before reaching definitive conclusions or settling on specific strategies. This is true regardless of whether a district elects to work primarily with a COE, a partner agency such as the CCEE, or another provider.

Yes. Starting in 2023-24, LEAs (charters, districts, and COEs) eligible for DA must provide a plan summary of the DA work underway as part of their LCAPs.

No. Differentiated assistance is intended to support districts and charters in building their capacity to improve student outcomes through the LCAP process, which includes deciding how to use resources provided through the LCFF and other state, local, and federal funding sources to meet the needs of students and the local community. As noted, COEs must provide differentiated assistance to eligible districts. Districts also have the choice of working with another agency or provider.

Yes, COEs receive state funding to support their eligible districts and charter schools.

For 2023–24, COEs providing differentiated assistance to districts will receive base funding of $300,000, regardless of the number of districts eligible for differentiated assistance in the county.

COEs will receive additional funding based on the specific districts and charter schools identified for differentiated assistance.

For districts, the amount is based on the size and number of districts identified for differentiated assistance. (EC2575.2[b]). For each year a school district is identified for differentiated assistance the following COE funding allowances will be calculated.

A three-year average of the allowances calculated based on the number and size of districts is allocated to the COE.

For each year a charter school is identified for differentiated assistance, an allowance of $100,000 multiplied by the number of charter schools in the county in will be calculated for the COE. For charter schools authorized by a COE, the $100,000 allowance will be allocated to the COE that is a geographic lead of the region. In FY 2023–24 the allowance will be a two-year total allowance average, and in FY 2024–25 and forward, the allowance will be a three-year total average allowance.

The funding is intended to develop their capacity to support their districts with improving the outcomes and educational experiences for students, which includes providing differentiated assistance. Additional information on COE funding is below.

Yes. Since LCFF’s enactment COEs have used the unrestricted funding through the LCFF COE formula to provide support to districts. For example, some COEs have realigned the professional learning opportunities they provide to their districts or supported job-alike meetings or networks for staff across districts within their county to support focus on LCFF priorities and/or student groups central to the LCAP and the new accountability system. Finally, COEs review and approve LCAPs for their districts and offer assistance throughout that process.

As California moves forward in implementing the System of Support, there are many opportunities for COEs and districts to work collaboratively to address locally identified needs, regardless of whether a district has been identified to receive differentiated assistance, through the LCAP development process. For example, the same protocols that COEs and districts use for differentiated assistance (investigation of data, analysis of underlying causes, etc.) can be incorporated into ongoing conversations and coaching around LCAP development.

COEs will receive these additional funds through continuous appropriations, as part of their LCFF.  Funds will be added to their LCFF state aid and paid in monthly increments per the Principal Apportionment (PA) payment. The PA payment schedule will be posted on the PA Web page at every certification period.

Pursuant to EC 2575.2(a)(2) single-district counties will receive a county base of $300,000 in 2023–24 (increased from 2022–23 allowance of $200,000).

If a school district from a single district county is identified for differentiated assistance, the district allowance based on the size of the district is allocated to the Geographic Lead Agency of the region in which the single district county is located based on the table above. Support can be provided by the Geographic Lead Agency or another COE.

In the case in which the COE is also the eligible charter school authorizer, it will receive $100,000 of funding based on the identification of its charter school for differentiated assistance. The COE shall then choose a designee to provide assistance to any charter school for whom the geographic lead agency’s county board of education is the authorizer.

Under the ESSA, the state must identify schools in need of additional assistance based on various criteria. This requirement goes into effect for the first time in 2018–19, so schools will be selected for the first time in January 2019 based on their 2018 Dashboard data (expected to be released in December 2018).

Additional FAQs and resources are under development to provide more information on the criteria and timelines for identifying schools in the different categories required under federal law—comprehensive support and improvement (CSI), additional targeted support and improvement (ATSI), and targeted support and improvement (TSI).

LEAs will be responsible for developing and/or approving school-level improvement plans for identified schools. As described in more detail below, California will use the existing LCAP and school level planning process to meet these federal requirements, with the state providing general resources and technical assistance to support LEAs.

Consistent with the System of Support’s focus on increasing the capacity of LEAs to meet the needs of all students, these resources will focus on building the capacity of LEAs to support their schools and differentiate those supports as appropriate based on data about opportunities and outcomes within the LCAP process. These resources will be available to all LEAs, i.e., they are Support for All (Level 1), and LEAs with identified schools will be responsible for using those resources to meet ESSA’s school improvement requirements.

ESSA’s school identification requirements intersect with Differentiated Assistance (Level 2) only when a school has been identified for CSI and has not met exit criteria within four years. In that circumstance, federal law requires more rigorous state-determined intervention. California’s more rigorous intervention is to identify the LEA to receive differentiated assistance based on the persistent low performance of one of its schools.

The ESSA requires the development of school improvement plans for school identified in each category, with the planning requirements differing somewhat for each category.

California will utilize an existing school planning process for LEAs and schools to address the federal school planning requirements. Legislation enacted this year redesignated what was formerly known as the Single Plan for Student Achievement to the School Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) and updated statute to ensure this plan and the stakeholder engagement process for its development address federal planning requirements. Additional information, including updated guidance and an updated template are forthcoming.

Additionally, for CSI schools, the SBE must ultimately sign-off on the plans developed by the LEAs for these schools. To address this requirement, the CDE will recommend adding a new prompt to the existing LCAP Plan Summary template that LEAs with CSI schools must complete. COEs would have to approve this section of the LCAP, applying criteria under development to ensure the response addresses all federal requirements, prior to final SBE approval of the plans. The SBE is expected to consider this proposed modification to the LCAP template at its January 2019 meeting. Additional information and future updates are available on the CDE ESSA Web page.

Effective January 1, 2019, state law provides that single school districts and charter schools may utilize the LCAP to serve as the School Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA), provided that the LCAP meets federal school planning requirements and relevant stakeholder requirements for LCAPs under state law.

Charter schools and single school districts may use the LCAP planning process to meet the planning requirements of the LCAP and the SPSA. In doing so, they may utilize the LCAP stakeholder engagement requirements. If they choose to continue to develop both an LCAP and a SPSA, then, in the development of their SPSA, they must establish a School Site Council (SSC) to meet the federal planning requirements. Charter schools and single school districts may also choose to utilize a committee, such as the SSC, that meets federal planning requirements in developing their LCAP.

The CDE will provide additional guidance related to this issue in January. Schools and LEAs should already have their planning documents in place for the 2018–19 school year. The guidance that CDE provides in January can be used to plan for the 2019–20 school year, the first year that California is implementing the new school planning requirements under ESSA.

A communications toolkit, which includes resources about the Dashboard, differentiated assistance, and the system of support is available on the CDE California School Dashboard and System of Support Web page. COEs can also support school districts in determining how to communicate with local stakeholders.

You can contact your local county office of education or the CDE's System of Support Office if you have any questions or concerns. Staff from these agencies respond quickly to any issues or concerns that arise.