School Improvement Notice
August 1, 2016
Dear Parents,
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) requires public schools to notify parents in all Title 1 served buildings that you may request information regarding the professional qualifications of your child’s classroom teachers. In Alexander School District, only the elementary school falls in the Title 1 served category.
If you have any questions, you may call Melissa Guffey at 740-698-8831
Parent Involvement Policy
Alexander Local District Wide Parental Involvement Policy
The Alexander Local School District agrees to implement the following statutory requirements:
The school district will put into operation programs, activities and procedures for the involvement of parents in all of its schools with Title I, Part A programs, consistent with Section 1118 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Those programs, activities and procedures will be planned and operated with meaningful consultation with parents of participating children.
Consistent with Section 1118, the school district will work with its schools to ensure that the required school-level parental involvement policies meet the requirements of Section 1118(b) of the ESEA, and each include, as a component, a school-parent compact consistent with Section 1118(d) of the ESEA.
The school district will incorporate this district-wide parental involvement policy into its LEA plan developed under Section 1112 of the ESEA.
In carrying out the Title I, Part A parental involvement requirements, to the extent practicable, the school district and its schools will provide full opportunities for the participation of parents with limited English proficiency, parents with disabilities, and parents of migratory children, including providing information and school reports required under Section 1111 of the ESEA in an understandable and uniform format and, including alternative formats upon request and, to the extent practicable, in a language parents understand.
The school district will involve the parents of children served in Title I, Part A schools in decisions about how the 1 percent of Title I, Part A funds reserved for parental involvement is spent, and will ensure that not less than 95 percent of the 1 percent reserved goes directly to the schools.
The school district will be governed by the following statutory definition of parental involvement, and expects that its Title I schools will carry out programs, activities and procedures in accordance with this definition:
Parental involvement means the participation of parents in regular, two-way and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities, including ensuring—
(A) that parents play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning;
(B) that parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education at school;
(C) that parents are full partners in their child’s education and are included, as appropriate, in decision-making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child; and
(D) the carrying out of other activities, such as those described in Section 1118 of the ESEA.
The school district will inform parents and parental organizations of the purpose and existence of the Parental Information and Resource Center in the State.
PART II. DESCRIPTION OF HOW DISTRICT WILL IMPLEMENT REQUIRED DISTRICT WIDE PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT POLICY COMPONENTS (Sample Template)
1. The Alexander Local School District will involve parents in the joint development of its district wide parental involvement plan under Section 1112 of the ESEA:
2. The Alexander Local School District will involve parents in the process of school review and improvement under Section 1116 of the ESEA:
3. The Alexander Local School District will provide the necessary coordination, technical assistance, and other support to assist Title I, Part A schools in planning and implementing effective parental involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance:
4. The Alexander Local School District will coordinate and integrate parental involvement strategies in Part A with parental involvement strategies under the appropriate programs
5. The Alexander Local School District will take the following actions to conduct, with the involvement of parents, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of this parental involvement policy in improving the quality of its Title I, Part A schools. The evaluation will include identifying barriers to greater participation by parents in parental involvement activities (with particular attention to parents who are economically disadvantaged, are disabled, have limited English proficiency, have limited literacy, or are of any racial or ethnic minority background). The school district will use the findings of the evaluation about its parental involvement policy and activities to design strategies for more effective parental involvement, and to revise (if necessary and with the involvement of parents) its parental involvement policies.
1. The Alexander Local School District will build the schools’ and parents’ capacity for strong parental involvement, in order to ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school involved, parents, and the community to improve student academic achievement, through the following activities specifically described below:
A. The school district will, with the assistance of its Title I, Part A schools, provide assistance to parents of children served by the school district or school, as appropriate, in understanding topics such as the following, by undertaking the actions described in this paragraph.
the state’s academic content standards
the state’s student academic achievement standards
the state and local academic assessments including alternate assessments
the requirements of Part A
how to monitor their child’s progress
how to work with educators
B. The school district will, with the assistance of its schools, provide materials and training to help parents work with their children to improve their children’s academic achievement, such as literacy training, and using technology, as appropriate, to foster parental involvement.
C. The school district will, with the assistance of its schools and parents, educate its teachers, pupil services personnel, principals and other staff, in how to reach out to, communicate with and work with parents as equal partners in the value and utility of contributions of parents, and in how to implement and coordinate parent programs and build ties between parents and schools.
D. The school district will, to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parental involvement programs with other appropriate programs and conduct other activities, such as parent resource centers, that encourage and support parents in more fully participating in the education of their children.
E. The school district will ensure that information related to the school and parent programs, meetings and other activities is sent to the parents of participating children in an understandable and uniform format, including alternative formats upon request, and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand:
Professional Development Plan
Alexander Local School District’s Professional Development Plan
Professional Development includes activities that:
- Improve and increase teachers’ knowledge of the academic subjects the teachers teach and enable them to become highly qualified
- Are an integral part of broad school-wide and district-wide educational improvement plans
- Give teachers, principals, and administrators the knowledge and skills to provide students with the opportunity to meet challenging state academic content standards and student academic achievement standards
- Improve classroom management skills
- Are high quality, sustained, intensive, and classroom focused in order to have a positive and lasting impact on classroom instruction and the teacher’s performance in the classroom
- Support the recruiting, hiring , and training of highly qualified teachers
- Advance teacher understanding of effective instructional strategies that are based on scientifically based research
- Are aligned with and directly related to state academic content standards, student achievement, and student assessment
- Are developed with participation of teachers, principals, parents, and other administrators
- To the extent appropriate, provide training for teachers and principals in the use of technology so that it is effectively used in the classroom
- As a whole, are regularly evaluated for their impact on increased teacher effectiveness and improved student academic achievement
- Provide instruction in methods of teaching children with special needs
- Include instruction in the use of data and assessments to inform and instruct classroom practice
Professional Development Activities must:
- Focus on skills and knowledge needed to support higher levels of student achievement
- Align with the goals of the district’s Comprehensive Continuous Improvement Plan
- Be sustained and ongoing, with follow up to ensure the knowledge and skills that were acquired were then implemented in the classroom