North Dakota’s Support for Low-Performing Schools is a two-year technical assistance (TA) project aimed at building upon the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction’s (NDDPI’s) current school renewal efforts to support continuous improvement in low-performing schools. NDDPI contracted Child Trends to further develop and strengthen the Department’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) State Plan through the North Dakota Fostering Improvement Results for School Transformation (ND FIRST) system of support.
Background
In North Dakota, low-performing schools engage in a continuous improvement process, receiving differentiated support from NDDPI and from regional education agencies as part of the state’s ESSA accountability system. The three stages of support in North Dakota’s accountability system are General Support, Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI), and Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI). However, some schools in the CSI stage have struggled to make improvements over the course of multiple years of support.
Senate Bill (SB) 2254, signed into law in April 2023, mandated a rigorous and robust intervention process to support North Dakota's consistently lowest-performing schools. This project, extending from October 2023 to September 2025, developed the ND FIRST system of support in response to SB 2254. Starting in the 2025-2026 school year, upon the successful conclusion of the project to develop ND FIRST, schools in their second cycle of CSI will enter the ND FIRST system of support, through which they will receive an additional layer of oversight and support not offered to schools under TSI or the first year of CSI. Throughout the multi-year process outlined in ND FIRST, schools will undergo continuous evaluations with the goals of tracking progress, adapting strategies, and eventually exiting ND FIRST based on success metrics co-developed between the school or district and NDDPI. As partners of NDDPI, Child Trends has provided TA to NDDPI leadership to support the design and dissemination of ND FIRST, as well as thought partnership to prepare for its implementation.
Intended impacts
The fundamental tenets of ND FIRST are to ensure that districts with low-performing schools:
Engage in purposeful school renewal processes
Address school- and district-level systemic improvement
Engage multiple stakeholders or “partners” in the school renewal process
This targeted TA project seeks to support NDDPI by building on North Dakota’s pre-existing framework for supporting underperforming schools, with a focus on developing necessary conditions to support the development and implementation of a rigorous intervention that results in sustainable and reliable change in underperforming CSI schools.
Timeline
This project, starting in October 2023 and ending September 2025, included three key phases:
- Phase I (October 2023 – April 2024): Began initial ND FIRST development, seeking input from public school staff, community members, and other relevant education partners across the state.
- Phase II (April 2024 – October 2024): Designed ND FIRST system of support and associated materials to share with ND FIRST advisory team and state superintendent.
- Phase III (October 2024 – September 2025): Finalize ND FIRST system of support and associated materials and share with CSI schools to prepare for ND FIRST implementation.
TA approach
Our TA approach is influenced by two core design principles: (1) a collaborative approach that builds on North Dakota’s cross-agency partnerships and existing capacities and resources, and (2) a comprehensive data gathering strategy and reporting plan that aligns with NDDPI’s ongoing commitment to continuous improvement.
Resources
- All ND FIRST resources co-developed by Child Trends and NDDPI can be found on NDDPI’s website.
Team members
Child Trends
NDDPI
- Amanda Peterson, Director of Educational Improvement and Support
- Rachel Tabler, Assistant Director of Educational Improvement and Support
Funder
North Dakota Department of Public Instruction