The U.S. Department of Education reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) with the Every Student Succeeds Act. As a part of the reauthorization, the Ohio Department of Education re-evaluated student performance data in Ohio’s districts and schools to update its lists of districts and schools that need state support to improve student performance.
School support categories include Priority, Focus, Warning and Watch schools. District support categories include Independent, Watch, Moderate Support, Intensive Support and Academic Distress Commission districts. Each category of support schools and districts receives a distinct package of supports from the Ohio Department of Education that corresponds to improvement needs. Ohio calls this its “differentiated accountability” system.