Section 53202 Of Article 2. Intervening In The Persistently Lowest-achieving Schools From California Education Code >> Division 4. >> Title 2. >> Part 28. >> Chapter 18. >> Article 2.
53202
. (a) For purposes of implementing the federal Race to the Top
program established by Sections 14005 and 14006 of Title XIV of the
federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law
111-5), the governing board of a school district, county
superintendent of schools, or the governing body of a charter school
or its equivalent, shall implement, for any school identified by the
Superintendent as persistently lowest-achieving pursuant to
subdivision (b) of Section 53200, unless the Superintendent and the
state board determines, to the extent allowable under federal law,
that the school has implemented a reform within the last two years
that conforms to the requirements of the interventions required by
the Race to the Top program and is showing significant progress, one
of the following four interventions for turning around persistently
lowest-achieving schools described in Appendix C of the Notice of
Final Priorities, Requirements, Definitions, Selection Criteria for
the Race to the Top program published in Volume 74 of Number 221 of
the Federal Register on November 18, 2009:
(1) The turnaround model.
(2) The restart model.
(3) School closure.
(4) The transformation model.
(b) Prior to the governing board meeting to select one of the four
interventions described in subdivision (a), the governing board of a
school district, county superintendent of schools, or the governing
body of a charter school or its equivalent, with one or more
persistently lowest-achieving schools shall hold at least two public
hearings to notify staff, parents, and the community of the
designation and to seek input from staff, parents, and the community
regarding the option or options most suitable for the applicable
school or schools in its jurisdiction. At least one of those public
hearings shall be held at a regularly scheduled meeting, if
applicable, and at least one of the public hearings shall be held on
the site of a school deemed persistently lowest-achieving.
(c) In addition to meeting the requirements specified in Appendix
C of the Notice of Final Priorities, Requirements, Definitions,
Selection Criteria for the Race to the Top program published in
Volume 74 of Number 221 of the Federal Register on November 18, 2009,
a persistently lowest-achieving school implementing the turnaround
or transformation model may participate in a school-to-school
partnership program by working with a mentor school that has
successfully transitioned from a low-achieving school to a
higher-achieving school.
(1) For purposes of this article, a mentor school is a school that
meets either of the following:
(A) The school has exited Program Improvement pursuant to the No
Child Left Behind Act.
(B) The school has increased, in the statewide rankings based on
the Academic Performance Index, by two or more deciles over the last
five years, using the most recent data available.
(2) The principal and, at the discretion of the principal, the
staff of a mentor school shall provide guidance to a persistently
lowest-achieving school to develop a reform plan for the school using
the required elements of the turnaround or transformation model, and
provide guidance and advice on how the mentor school was able to
transform the culture of the school from low-achieving to
higher-achieving and how that transformation could be replicated at
the school implementing a turnaround or transformation model.
(3) To the extent that federal funds are made available for this
purpose pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 53101, the mentor
school shall receive funds for serving as a mentor school. As a
condition for receipt of funds, the principal, and at the principal's
discretion, the staff, of a mentor school shall meet regularly with
the assigned persistently lowest-achieving school for a period of at
least three years.