Unified Improvement Planning - General Resources

UIP Guidance

• 2019-20 UIP Handbook (PDF) (Updated: September 11, 2019)
• UIP 101 Webinar (Updated Sept 2019) This webinar gives a helpful, comprehensive view of the Unified Improvement Plan.
  • View the webinar
  • View the slides (PPT)
• Statute and Policy Guidance References for UIP (PDF) (Updated: October 22nd, 2019)
• House Bill 18-1355 Fact Sheet (PDF) House Bill 8-1355 makes several modifications to Colorado’s accountability law, in particular to the Accountability Clock. The majority of these changes go into effect with the 2019 Performance Frameworks. 
• Accountability Clock: Year 4 Requirements (PDF) This document provides guidance and instructions for schools and districts in year four of the accountability clock.

• Early Learning Needs Assessment This website provides resources for conducting an early learning needs assessment as a part of the UIP process, as well as guidance for meeting expectations for k-3 serving schools with priority improvement/turnaround plans and their districts.

• Parent Notification and Public Hearing Requirements Fact Sheet (PDF) (Updated: August 29, 2019)
  • Parent Notification and Public Hearing Requirements Fact Sheet - Spanish (PDF)
• Student Course Participation and Achievement Report Guidance 
• Guidance for using School and District Performance Frameworks in Educator Evaluation (PDF) (Updated: August 19, 2014) In response to many questions about the use of School and District Performance Frameworks in educator evaluation, CDE has put together guidance to support districts by identifying several possible approaches for using SPF/DPF data in evaluations. This guidance is intended to highlight some of the benefits and concerns associated with some common approaches. Because this guidance was not available to support districts for the 2013-14 school year, districts are encouraged to use this as they plan for future school years.
• SAC Roles (PDF)  An excerpt from the CDE District Accountability Handbook that describes the roles for School Accountability Committees in unified improvement planning (including quarterly monitoring progress)
• UIP Process for New Schools (PDF) (Updated: January, 2018) The intent of this guidance is to help new schools "plan forward" for their improvement efforts - even with limited data.

Quality Criteria/Rubric

The Quality Criteria have been created to offer guidance on creating improvement plans that incorporate state and federal accountability requirements. The QC Rubric is used by CDE to evaluate Unified Improvement Plans.

Flexibility for UIP Completion and Submission

• 2020-21 Biennial and Combined UIP Eligibility (XLSX) This document includes biennial, combined, and enrollment based flexibilities for schools and districts. (Updated: Sept 11, 2020)
• Biennial Flexibility for the UIP (PDF) (Updated October 2018) Provides guidance on the eligibility criteria for the submission of the UIP on a biennial basis.
• UIP Process for Small Systems (PDF) (Updated: May 2018) The intent of this guidance is to provide guidelines for creating and updating Unified Improvement Plans (UIPs) that take into account some of the unique circumstances that schools and districts with smaller student populations (e.g., districts with less than 1,200 students, small schools in large districts) may encounter.