No Child Left Behind District Parent Notification
by Joylynn Wilson
August 5, 2010
Dear Parent/Guardian:
Since its inception in 2001, the Federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has established new educational standards that call for students to be proficient or advanced in the subject areas of mathematics and communication arts by the year 2014. In the state of Missouri, school districts are assessed annually on the gains they have made towards making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) on the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) tests in communication arts, mathematics, and the district’s attendance and graduation rates. If AYP is not achieved for two consecutive years in a school or a district, it is considered “in need of improvement.”
School districts are further required to demonstrate that achievement levels are being met annually for all students as well as subgroups of students including racial/ethnic groups, free or reduced lunch students, students who receive special education services, or students who qualify as English Language Learners. If a single subgroup of students does not meet or exceed the achievement levels set out by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), a school or district fails to make AYP.
Preliminary MAP data from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) indicate that the School District of University City did not make AYP because 4 subgroups in communication arts and 4 subgroups in mathematics did not meet the proficiency goals, and we did not meet our goal for graduation. We did however; meet the goals for attendance.
Because the overarching goal of NCLB is to have all students achieving at the proficient or advanced levels by 2014, the annual targets increase each year, making it more difficult for schools or districts to make AYP. Of the 24 school districts in St Louis County, all of them are designated as Districts in Improvement even though, some have received Distinction in Performance designations from DESE for their MAP scores.
University City has implemented a number of strategies to meet the NCLB requirements. They include, but are not limited to allocating material and human resources that focus on staff development to ensure state and national standards are addressed, requiring each impacted site to create individualized school improvement plans, and encouraging parents and other stakeholders to participate in one the District’s Destination U City Schools oversight committees which include early childhood, parent involvement, academic reform, and finance/bond issue oversight. The Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP), our accountability plan, has been revised to focus on the instructional core, which includes essential learning, assessment, student engagement and instructional leadership. We will be working alongside the DESE Instructional Improvement team to further discuss actions that can be taken to improve the academic achievement of all of our students.
There are additional actions that can be taken at home which will help us meet our goals for AYP. One way you can help is by understanding the MAP assessment. You can contact your child’s teacher or visit the www.dese.mo.gov website for more information. Promoting and encouraging regular attendance in school is another action that can be taken by parents as well as remaining informed regarding your child’s education through regular contact with teachers and monitoring assignments as well as regular visits to the school.
The School District of University City remains committed to educational excellence for all students. Because we have been designated as a district “in need of improvement” for a fourth year, the District is considered to be in District Improvement, Level 3, Corrective Action. This designation in compliance with NCLB, requires the District to inform parents and requires DESE to take measures that substantially and directly respond to academic issues that caused the District to be identified for improvement.
All of our elementary schools receive funding through the Title I program, which is intended to provide additional resources designed to meet the needs of those students who are economically disadvantaged. These schools are subject to additional sanctions as a result of NCLB. Brittany Woods and University City High School do not receive entitlement funding through Title I and therefore are not subject to direct sanctions, but are required by DESE to revise their school improvement plans to specifically address the actions they will take to address the needs of the subgroups that did not make AYP.
AYP is only one measure of a district’s performance and while we may not have met the annual target, we continue to consistently make academic gains. As always, I welcome your concerns and suggestions. If you have any questions regarding AYP or the School or District Improvement status, please call me at 290-4002 or Rebecca Soriano, Coordinator of State and Federal programs at 290-4049.
Sincerely,
Joylynn L. Wilson
Superintendent of Schools
