The second of three items from the folks at IES that may have some interest among readers of this space.

New Data from NCES: School Pulse Panel Data from the U.S. Outlying Areas, November 2023 The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has released findings from the November 2023 School Pulse Panel survey from public schools in four U.S. Outlying Areas – American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These SPP data examine topics on attendance, supply chains, school lunch programs, and school improvement plans during the 2023-24 school year as reported by school staff in 100 public schools in these four U.S. Outlying Areas (OAs). Key Findings Attendance and Absenteeism In November 2023, public school leaders in the OAs reported their average daily attendance rate was 87 percent. When asked how concerned they were about issues related to student and staff absences as of November of this school year, 44 percent of OA public schools reported being “extremely concerned” about the ability to obtain substitute teachers, which was higher than the percentages that reported being “extremely concerned” about student, teacher, or non-teaching staff absences. Supply-Chain Related Procurement Challenges & School Lunch Programs There was a 14-point decrease in the percentage of OA public schools reporting any supply chain-related procurement challenges for the 2023-24 school year compared to the 2022-23 school year (75 versus 61 percent). Ninety-seven percent of OA public schools reported participating in United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) meal programs for the 2023-24 school year, which was also the percentage that reported doing so last school year. Of these schools, some of the challenges they reported in operating their school meal programs for the 2023-24 school year were: School food service staff shortages (19 percent), Challenges serving specific types of food that were planned (12 percent), and Decreased student participation compared to last year (10 percent). School Improvement Plans (SIP) The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA), requires that states identify a school for comprehensive support and improvement (CSI) if it is a Title I school in the lowest 5 percent of Title I schools based on the state’s accountability system, a public high school failing to graduate one third or more of its students, or a Title I school that was previously identified for additional targeted support and improvement (ATSI) and did not meet the statewide exit criteria for these plans. Among all OA public schools, 26 percent were identified for CSI. States identify a school for targeted or additional targeted support and improvement (TSI/ATSI) if it is a public school with one or more student subgroups that are “consistently underperforming” as defined by the state or if one or more student subgroups is performing as poorly as the lowest performing 5 percent of Title I schools identified for CSI.  Among all OA public schools, 24 percent were identified for TSI/ATSI. Among the 50 percent of OA schools identified for CSI or TSI/ATSI, some of the areas prioritized for improvement in their SIPs are related to: Curriculum, assessment, or instructional materials (CAIM) for English/language arts (83 percent), CAIM for math (80 percent), and CAIM for special populations (e.g., English learners and students with disabilities) (68 percent). These findings are part of an experimental data product from the School Pulse Panel. The data were collected between November 14 and 28 of 2023 from 100 participating public K-12 schools in the U.S. Outlying Areas. Experimental data products are innovative statistical products that may not meet all NCES quality standards but are of sufficient benefit to data users. NCES clearly identifies experimental data products upon their release. All data can be found on the School Pulse Panel dashboard at https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/spp/results.asp The Institute of Education Sciences, a part of the U.S. Department of Education, is the nation’s leading source for rigorous, independent education research, evaluation, statistics, and assessment.

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