TALLAPOOSA COUNTY SCHOOLS
LEA TITLE I PLAN
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
ACT OF 2001
The mission of the Tallapoosa County School District is to prepare our students to achieve college and workplace success.
Our Vision: “A School System Worthy of Our Children”
Development of Plan
A Federal Programs Advisory committee was formed in Tallapoosa County for the purpose of revising the consolidated application and participating in reviewing and revising policies and plans such as the Local Education Agency (LEA) Title I Plan to include the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 regulations. The committee met at intervals over a period of months reviewing pertinent information about the Title I Program and its direct relation to the other instructional programs in the Tallapoosa County School System to help students meet high state achievement and content standards.
The Advisory Committee is made up of representatives from all constituency groups including administrators, teachers, parents and community. The selected members are responsible for any decision-making (program or financial) regarding the Title I Plan and distributing any information needed to their constituency groups. Input from parents and community members is actively sought in order to ensure that student needs are identified and that all available community resources are being utilized. Committee representatives were selected because of their dedication and interest in the success of our students and school.
When Limited English Proficient parents are involved, an interpreter is available if needed and written communication may be translated into the needed native language when feasible. An important component of the planning process is identifying the needs of a diverse student body and making reasonable accommodations in order to serve the needs of homeless students, minority students, economically disadvantaged, special needs students, neglected, and delinquent students to meet state proficient and advanced levels of student academic achievement on state content standards.
The LEA Title I Plan will be reviewed and revised, as appropriate, on an annual basis by the system-wide Federal Programs Advisory Council.
Tallapoosa County Schools LEA Title I Plan is available for review at each Title I school site, the central office, and the Tallapoosa County Schools webpage. If a parent disagrees with any aspect or component of the Tallapoosa County LEA Title I Plan, that parent can contact the Federal Programs coordinator at the Central Office. These written concerns will then be forwarded to the State Department of Education (SDE) Federal Programs Director.
(A) High Quality Student Academic Achievement State Student Academic Assessments
Tallapoosa County participates in all state assessments- ACCESS for ELs, Alternate ACCESS for ELs, AAA, ACT Aspire Reading (3-8), ACT Aspire Science (grades 5 & 7), End of Year Courses in Algebra I and English 10, ACT Aspire (grade 10), ACT Plus Writing (grade 11), ACT WorkKeys (grade 12), and the Alabama High School Graduation Exam (AHSGE) for students who need it for graduation requirements. Additionally Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy (DIBELS), is an optional diagnostic assessment that may be used in grades K-2 to make instructional decisions. The ACT assessments are designed to provide indicators to school personnel on how “college and career-ready” students are for joining the work force with needed skills and/or attending institutes of higher education without having to participate in remedial classes and to enjoy success at this level.
Tallapoosa County also administers formative, interim benchmark assessments. One of these assessments is the Classworks Universal Screener. For the 2015-2016 school year schools will administer ASPIRE Periodic formative assessments. This assessment is closely aligned with ASPIRE and will indicate skill areas in need of improvement before students are tested in April.
The district administers the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to students in fourth and eighth grades in reading and/or math when selected by the State Department of Education. Student progress is reported to parents describing basic, proficient and advanced levels of achievement. Information from state assessments will be used to provide information to parents and students; assist in diagnosing teaching, and utilizing appropriate learning strategies; evaluate program effectiveness; determine and provide professional development; and revise program components if necessary.
Assessment results will be disaggregated by subgroup populations for the State, county, and each school and grade. The results will be used by classroom teachers and principals to identify instructional areas for improvement by grade, class, and individual student. The results of ACT Aspire will be shared with parents through the student report, at parent meetings at the beginning of each year and as needed after the first of the year, and through the school's schoolwide program.
For the 2015-2016 Tallapoosa County Schools will administer the following state assessments:
ACT Aspire—Grades 3-8
ACT Aspire is a newly designed summative assessment system for grades 3-10 (eventually). This assessment is linked to college readiness, correlates with our courses of study and the common core standards. ACT Aspire assesses content in English, Mathematics, Reading, and eventually Science. ACT Aspire assesses students through open-ended questions, application of information, multiple choice, and has technology enhanced questions. This assessment will be administered in grades 3-8 this year. The assessment will show growth of students in grades 3-8 and will correlate closely with the high school assessments when completely implemented. The SDE and ACT will set scores to reflect three components—formative data to inform instruction; benchmark data to monitor progress; and summative data to evaluate cumulative growth.
ACT Aspire Science—Grades 5 and 7
ACT Aspire science assessments are based on research evidence about what students need to know and to be able to do in order to be on a trajectory toward success, whether they enter college or a workplace training program. ACT Aspire science assessments measure science practices in the context of science content. The reporting categories are identical to ACT College and Career Readiness Standards strands (e.g., Interpretation of Data, Scientific Investigation, and Evaluation of Models, Inferences, and Experimental Results).
ACT Aspire Grade 10
ACT Aspire provides an array of features and functions that can be used to assess the students’ level of comprehension and how it compares to students at the school/district level, state, and national level. ACT Aspire provides a standards-based system of assessments to monitor progress toward college and career readiness from grade 3 through early high school, connecting each grade level to the next level. It provides a statewide assessment, data management and reporting functions for all students, districts, schools, aggregated and disaggregated groups of learners, and the individual learner to provide for the alignment with theACT College Readiness Benchmarks It will also allow the school and district to align student outcome to the Domain and Cluster reporting categories of the Common Core State Standards. The test also provides a predictor to a student’s outcome on the ACT.
ACT Plus Writing—Grade 11
The ACT Plus Writing is administered to all Grade 11 students.The ACT is accepted by all four-year colleges and universities in the United States. It will enable the leaders in our schools and districts to track student performance with aggregate and standards-based reporting past high school classes. It will be used as an instructional improvement program to improve the college and career readiness of our students. The goal of this test is to raise college awareness and exposure among all students, rather than just self-selected, college-bound students now that it is administered statewide. The individual high school reports will assist school administrators, counselors and teachers as they help their students in preparing for their futures.Educators will know the students' educational strengths and weaknesses, areas of need, college plans, and career interests.Teachers and administrators will use the ACT Profile Report in intervention planning, curriculum review, course planning, collaboration, and professional development.
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ACT WorkKeys—Grade 12
All of the ACT assessments are indicators of growth or lack of growth in the area of college and career preparedness All Grade 12 students in Alabama public schools will be assessed with ACT WorkKeys in Spring 2014. ACT WorkKeys assessments are research-based measures of foundational work skills required for success across industries and occupations. They have been used for more than two decades by job seekers, employees, employers, students, educators, administrators, and workforce and economic developers. ACT WorkKeys assessments measure the cognitive and non-cognitive skills needed for success in the workforce.
All of the ACT assessments are indicators of growth or lack of growth in the area of college and career preparedness.
End-of-Course Tests—Grade 12
These assessments are to provide a comprehensive uniform assessment after completing core content subjects. The content areas assessed are English 10 and Algebra I. In future years the scores may be used as part of final grades in the content areas.
ACCESS for ELs
Access for EL students is administered to any student identified as limited English proficient. The assessment measures language acquisition proficiency. When a student scores 4.8 on the composite score they are considered language proficient and are no longer required to participate in this assessment. An Alternate ACCESS can be administered to EL students with severe cognitive disabilities and who also participate in AAA for special needs students.
Students with special educational needs participate in the State assessment program as directed by their IEP. Students either participate in state assessments with accommodations, without accommodations, or by completing the Alabama Alternate Assessment. Psychometrists conduct any other assessments needed for eligibility purposes.
Diagnosis, Teaching, and Learning
It is our belief that we in Tallapoosa County Schools have the desire for and encourage high expectations of both teachers and students. Reform efforts already in progress will be expanded to increase expertise to effect the needed changes that will allow us to utilize cross-program coordination, program integration, and student improvement in achieving high academic standards. Specific reform strategies are described in each individual schoolwide (CIP) plan, which includes Accelerated Reader, local curriculum pacing guides, strategic teaching, Alabama Reading Initiative, Reading Renaissance, AMSTI, and CLASSWORKS, in addition to the basal reading program.
The CIP Advisory Committee at each school will meet to review data and determine needs at the individual schools. The school committees have access to the system’s coordinators/directors (i.e. Federal Programs, Technology, Personnel, Exceptional Children, CSFO, and Curriculum) and the coordinators/directors will work closely with the schools to ensure cross program coordination and to address system-wide needs of ALL students (migratory, immigrant, limited-English proficient, students with disabilities, homeless, neglected/delinquent, and economically disadvantaged) to meet state proficient and advanced levels of student academic achievement on state content standards. Although most needs, goals, and activities are planned for both teachers and students at the local schools, others are addressed system-wide.
Tallapoosa County Schools, through our own commitments and with the help of the Federal Program Advisory Committee, ensures that measures will be taken to provide equitable participation for all students, personnel and programs operating under, or provided for, in this consolidated plan. Furthermore, all students will have an opportunity to achieve high academic standards.
Results of state assessments will be distributed and discussed at faculty meetings. Teachers will be responsible for placing results in student cumulative folders, notifying parents that results have been received, and conferencing with parents. Results are released by the Central Office to the local media for community awareness. Assessment results will be examined by each grade level, subject area, and sub-group. Grade distribution will be examined and addressed by the principal during each nine weeks. Each faculty member will be given copies of the State Courses of Study or have access to the State Courses of Study, local curriculum pacing guides, and Item Specifications for each state assessment. Teachers will be responsible for teaching all objectives from the above-mentioned documents. Teachers will also incorporate Common Core Standards, WIDA Standards, College and Career Ready Standards into the instruction in their classroom.
Distribution and analysis of system and student data of meeting adequate growth as defined in the state plan will include, but not be limited to:
Parents—State assessment results (ACT assessments, End-of-Course assessments, ACCESS --if applicable) will be distributed through conferences, parent meetings such as Open House, and workshops for interpreting test results. Letters will be sent home to parents notifying them of adequate growth when required by the SDE.
Administrators and Teachers—Will attend local and state workshops in preparation of interpreting test results, current information on courses-of-study and CCRS standards, and become familiar with textbooks considered for state and local adoption. Administrators and teachers will also use the School’s Problem Solving Team and Class Profiles data to determine areas of challenge and growth.
Public—The public will be informed through the School System Assessment Report to the Board, press releases, and report cards (when available) for each school and school system.
Revisions
One purpose of the LEA Title I Advisory Committee is to review and revise the components of the LEA plan to meet: 1) the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 regulations; and 2) the State student academic achievement standards. An advisory committee is also formed at each school for the purpose of monitoring and revising the Title 1Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP). This committee is made up of representatives from all grade levels, special education, the principal, parent and community representatives, and a student, if applicable. The selected members are responsible for any decision-making regarding the CIP and for distributing any information needed to their constituency groups including faculty, staff, and parents.
Identification of At-Risk Students
Services are provided to and for ALL students with an increased emphasis on helping the at-risk students (migratory, immigrant, limited-English proficient, students with disabilities, homeless, neglected/delinquent, and economically disadvantaged) achieve local and state goals of high growth/achievement. Measures used to achieve these goals and make revisions, when appropriate, is addressed by the LEA Advisory Committee and each school’s CIP committee. Although each schoolwide plan/CIP was written to meet the ten components of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, each varies in composition and strategies to meet the individual needs of each school and the students. CLASSWORKS, a curriculum based software program is available to all of the schools. The Universal Screener is administered three times a year (September, January-February, and May) to assist in identifying students who may be at risk for reading and mathematics or who have not mastered grade level specific content standards in the two core subjects. Students so identified have a variety of options available to aid them in mastering state content standards. Administrators have access to the Graduation Tracking System which is a tool provided in INOW that allows them to periodically develop a list of students based upon three risk factors—attendance, behavior, and coursework.