Accountability documents
School Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA)
The School Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) is a detailed guide created by our school community. It describes how we plan to help students do better in school and achieve their academic goals. The SPSA explains what programs we have in place and how we will use our resources to support students who need extra help.
This plan includes:
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Goals to improve student success
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Research-based strategies and actions we will take
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A budget for the resources we need
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A way to check if we are meeting the school's needs.
Who develops the SPSA?
California Education Code (EC) Section 65000 requires that the School Site Council (SSC) develop the SPSA. The SSC is made up of 10 members: 5 from the school staff and 5 from parents, the community, or students. These members are elected by their peers, and the principal or someone they choose is the only member who isn't elected. The SSC's job is to look at the school's needs, make suggestions for the Title 1 program (which helps schools with additional resources), and work on the SPSA plan. Once the SSC agrees on the SPSA, it gets reviewed and approved by the Local Education Agency (LEA) during one of their regular meetings.
School Accountability Report Cards
Since November 1988, state law has required that schools receiving state funding are to prepare and distribute a School Accountability Report Card (SARC). The purpose of the report card is to provide parents/guardians with important information about each school. A SARC can be an effective way for a school to report on its progress in achieving goals. The public may also use a SARC to evaluate and compare schools on a variety of indicators.
Although there is great variation in the design of the school report cards, they generally begin with a profile that provides background information about the school and its students. The profile usually summarizes the school’s mission, goals, and accomplishments. State law requires that the SARC contains the following:
- Demographic data
- School safety and climate for learning information
- Academic data
- School completion rates
- Class sizes
- Teacher and staff information
- Curriculum and instruction descriptions
- Post secondary preparation information
- Fiscal and expenditure data
School report cards must be updated annually and published by February 1.