Level 4 schools

Level 3 schools give priorities to ideas from Commonwealth with plan to implement (starting in the fall)
4% of schools in Commonwealth can be designated (about 72 schools) Level 4 or 5 schools
within those 4%, looked at improvement trends within those schools
the least improving among the 72 schools are the Level 4 schools
2 chronically underperforming from history, too
ALL OTHER LABELS ARE NOW REMOVED AND DON'T COUNT ANY MORE
35: 20 elementary, 8 middle, 3 K-8, 4 high schools
they are in: Boston, Fall River, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, New Bedford, Springfield, Worcester
17,000 students; 9 in 10 free or reduced lunch, 1 in 4 ELL, 1 in 5 sped

Exit Criteria:
strong increase in student achievement over three years
improvement in CPI in aggregate and for high needs students
decrease instudents scoring at failing/warning
achieve and maintain a median student growth percentile of 40-60
...for all of those in BOTH ELA and math for BOTH aggregate and high needs students
and for high schools to meet 80% 4 year rate or 75% high year rate
STRONG increase means a projected increased based on similar schools past data
PLUS: progress in implementing school-level conditions for school effectiveness
evidence that district systems of support and intervention
have to have the conditions to sustain it over time, so that this isn't a short-term gain

if school meets all of the benchmarks, Commissioner can pull it out of Level 4
if school has met some, it can stay in Level 4
if school has made little or no progress, Commissioner takeover, but what exactly happens is not decided yet
"I've been advocating, let's wait and see what we learn first"