The CDE Template
Dissemination
Enforcement
District-level report

Compliance is complicated. It's not as simple as filling in a form. It means satisfying both NCLB and the California Education Code. And since the two bodies of law differ, it requires care and caution in figuring out the right course.

Here's our guide to compliance, based on five years of experience and our ongoing discussions with state and federal officials. If you want our help reviewing whether your accountability reporting program is legally compliant, just ask. We'll be glad to assess your program.

Are we compliant if we fill in the SARC template provided by the California Department of Education?

No. Federal law states that you'll still need to distribute your accountability reports to all parents, staff, school sites, and public agencies. You'll have to make the SARC template "understandable" —a key requirement of NCLB. And if more than 15% of your students in any school are in homes where a language other than English is spoken, then your SARCs must be provided in that home language as well. Your school board must also review and approve your SARCs annually.

Can we satisfy the dissemination requirement solely by posting our SARC online?

Not according to NCLB. The U.S. Dept. of Education clarified this in September 2003 when it issued guidelines to state education leaders. Those guidelines stated that:

"Because not all parents and members of the public have access to the Internet, posting report cards on the Internet alone is not a sufficient means for disseminating ... report cards ."

The guideline stresses that publishing the annual report must include printing it and putting it in parents' hands. NCLB requires that the district exercise active responsibility for dissemination. This is entirely different from the more passive view of compliance that would allow districts to post it online, and require parents to find it.

The California Dept. of Education policy requires that you notify all parents of the availability of an annual accountability report. So one simple way to satisfy both the federal and California requirement is to print and distribute summary SARCs that let parents know that more complete annual reports are available. But unless you print and distribute some shortened version of your SARCs, it's hard to meet both the federal and California standards.

Who is enforcing these legal requirements?

The U.S. Dept. of Education and two units within the CDE monitor and enforce these requirements. The CDE relies on Coordinated Compliance Review (CCR) field audits to see if schools' SARCs are done correctly. The CCR protocol was revised for the 2003–2004 school year to include the NCLB requirements of dissemination, understandability, and language equity. And it now includes the requirement that a district-level accountability report also be published. To contact this unit's manager, Ann Just, email her at ajust@cde.ca.gov.

The CDE's Office of Policy and Evaluation also monitors districts. This is the same unit that creates the template and assists district staff when they seek guidance. When districts fail to produce SARCs or produce SARCs that don't meet the CDE's standards, this unit notifies the superintendent. If the problem isn't corrected, it may take additional action. To contact the unit, you can email your inquiry to sarc@cde.ca.gov.

The U.S. Dept. of Education is staffing an enforcement unit in its Washington, D.C. headquarters. For further information, contact the Region IX representative of the U.S. Dept. of Education, Mary Jane Pearson, at maryjane_pearson@ed.gov . You can reach her by phone, as well: 415 556-4120. Their address is: U.S. Dept. of Education, 50 U.N. Plaza, Suite 205, San Francisco, CA 94102.

Do we have to create a district accountability report as well?

This is an area where state and federal law don't agree. NCLB clearly called for this district-level accountability report. And the guidelines (PDF file) clarified the requirement even further. Many state departments of education are now producing this report, in addition to their school-level reports.

But the CDE's Office of Policy and Evaluation set a policy that allows districts to present some district data inside their school-level reports. This would enable the school-level accountability report, in effect, to serve both purposes. CDE officials believe this satisfies the federal standard.

But the CDE's own Coordinated Compliance Review (PDF file) protocol includes a review of the district accountability report. Indeed, this year's CCR manual calls for review teams to find a district's annual report, review it for content, and verify that parents have seen it and understand it. This appears on page 174 of the CCR manual. It appears that the CCR policy, as of February 2004, sides with NCLB and federal law on this matter.