In 2001, the California legislature amended the planning requirements for schools that participate in state and federal categorical programs funded through the Consolidated Application process, creating the Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA). Its stated purpose is to "improve the academic performance of all students to the level of the performance goals, as established by the Academic Performance Index." The Academic Performance Index (API) is a rating of schools based on their performance on state academic assessments. The requirements for monitoring these categorical programs are part of the same legislation. The SPSA planning process and local compliance monitoring are directly related.

This legislation established the following eight requirements for school plans:

1. School districts must assure "that school site councils have developed and approved a plan, to be known as the for schools participating in programs funded through the consolidated application process, and any other school program they choose to include"
2.  
   School plans must be developed "with the review, certification, and advice of any applicable school advisory committee"
3. Any plans required by programs funded through the Consolidated Application, the School and Library Improvement Block Grant, the Pupil Retention Block Grant, and NCLB Program Improvement must be consolidated into a single plan.
4. The content of the plan must be aligned with school goals for improving student achievement.
5. School goals must be based upon "an analysis of verifiable state data, including the Academic Performance Index...and the English Language Development test...and may include any data voluntarily developed by districts to measure student achievement..."
6. The plan must address how Consolidated Application funds will be used to "improve the academic performance of all students to the level of the performance goals, as established by the Academic Performance Index"
7. The plan must be "reviewed annually and updated, including proposed expenditures of funds allocated to the school through the Consolidated Application, by the school site council"
   
   Plans must be reviewed and approved by the governing board of the local educational agency "whenever there are material changes that affect the academic programs for students covered by programs" funded through the Consolidated Application.
   
   Excerpted from Guide to the Single Plan for Student Achievement, April 2006, pp. 1 -2, California Department of Education, CDE Press.
   
   For more information: CDE -Single Plan for Student Achievement 1
   
   1. http://www.cde.ca.gov/nclb/sr/le/singleplan.asp