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AYP Parent Letter YR3 Elementary

October 30, 2015

October 30, 2015

Dear Parent/Guardian,

Niobrara Public School (NPS) is dedicated to providing all students with a sound education that prepares them to succeed in school and in life.  We set high learning expectations for every child.  In fact, last year NPS reading and mathematics achievement increased at every grade level.  However, the state and federal governments judge schools based on the results of State NeSA tests for many student sub-groups.  Examples of student groups include English language learners and special education students.          

As a part of a federal law known as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, public schools, through NeSA test scores, are judged against multiple goals established by NCLB.  Last year, Niobrara Elementary was required to meet reading and math goals in multiple subgroups in order to be judged as meeting Adequate Yearly Progress or AYP.  If one of these subgroup goals is not met, the school is labeled as not meeting AYP.  In 2014-2015, Niobrara Elementary did not meet AYP.  This is due to NCLB goals being at 100% for all subgroups. Overall, Niobrara Elementary met many of the AYP criteria but not all.  However, for the last five years some of the student groups did not meet the goals in the areas of reading and mathematics.  As a result, Niobrara Elementary School has been labeled as a school in need of improvement, Year 3.  This places the building in corrective action status.

Names of the Title I schools that did and did not meet the AYP standards for 2014-2015 were released by the Nebraska Department of Education in the State of the Schools Report.  You can compare and contrast the proficiencies of all Nebraska schools, including all schools in Niobrara Public Schools, at the following website:  http://www.education.ne.gov/documents/SOSR.html.  The link to follow is “2014-2015 Report”.

Because of our corrective action status our school is required to develop a comprehensive corrective action plan.  As a part of our school’s plan we:

• Use DIBELS reading results to focus instruction to place student into interventions;
• Provide many literacy strategies throughout all subject areas.
• Semimonthly professional development to focus on student engagement and student accuracy of responses.

It takes two years to prove that our students are making adequate yearly progress and be removed from the School Improvement classification; therefore, our school will be designated as School Improvement for at least two years.  The law provides the option for students who live in our attendance area to choose and enroll in another school that did meet AYP.  If a choice is made to option to another school in the district transportation may be provided.  Only those schools that have met AYP are eligible for the school choice option. If you are interested in having your child attend another school, please contact our school office at 402-123-4567.

This identification also requires Niobrara Elementary School to provide Supplemental Educational Services (SES) to eligible students (students who qualify for the free and reduced lunch program).   Enclosed is a list of SES providers that have been approved by the State Department of Education that could provide tutoring services for your child.   Parents who choose to have their children participate in SES are asked to contact the Niobrara Elementary School office at (402) 857-3322 by December 30 to enroll.  A second enrollment window will be offered later in the school year.  Once notice has been received, we will make enrollment arrangements as quickly as possible and will notify parents upon approval.  Below is the link to a list of approved providers. http://www.education.ne.gov/federalprograms/Documents/Title%20IG%20School%20Improvement/sesproviders%2015-16%20Final.doc

Your support matters and we encourage you to attend school events such as parent/teacher conferences and curriculum nights.  Please contact us or check our website for information about our parent events.  We would also be eager to provide you any “at home” strategies to support reading and math learning. 

We invite you to contact the school if you have additional questions about any details.  We will continue to celebrate our school’s many successes as we continuously work to provide a quality education for all students.

Sincerely,

Margaret Sandoz

Superintendent