2011-2012 Title I Participating Schools
For additional assistance, contact the Title I Office
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and School Assessments
When No Child Left Behind (NCLB) reauthorized Title I in 2001, it strengthened accountability
and introduced real consequences for schools and school systems that were failing
their students. In order to do this, schools and school systems needed clear goals
and tools to measure progress toward those goals. NCLB introduced Adequate Yearly
Progress (AYP) as the clear goal and defined School Assessments as the tool to measure
progress toward that goal.
School assessments measure students’ ability to meet statewide academic standards.
These standards are defined by the state and apply to all public school students
in the state. The standards define three levels of achievement: basic, proficient,
and advanced. State assessments are designed to measure a student’s current level
of achievement.
To determine whether progress occurs, one needs a starting point and an ending point.
The ending point is defined by law: All children will score ‘Proficient’ on state
assessments by the 2013-14 school year. The beginning point is also defined by law:
assessments from the 2001-02 school year.
The difference between the percentage of students scoring ‘Proficient’ or higher
and 100 percent is the amount of growth that schools and districts must achieve
by 2013-14. For instance, if the percentage of proficient students in 2001-02 was
15%, then a growth of 85% is required by 2013-14. (Goals are set for each subject;
this example assumes both subjects have the same levels of achievement) These 85
percentage points are spread out across the 12 years between 2001-02 and 2013-14.
Exactly how these points are distributed is up to each state. Some states spread
the points equally over the years, some do not. If the 85 percentage points were
spread evenly, each year the percentage of students who score proficient in reading
and math should be 7.08 percentage points higher than the previous year. When a
school’s student body does not show that amount of growth, the school did not make
AYP.
It doesn’t end there.
A school’s student body is also divided into subgroups and each subgroup must also
make AYP. These subgroups are: Students with Limited English Proficiency (LEP),
Students with Disabilities (SWD), major racial and ethnic groups (five are recognized),
and economically disadvantaged students (qualifying for Free Lunch). Each of these
groups must also make AYP. If only one group fails to make AYP (eight groups in
all), then the entire school fails to make AYP.
It doesn’t end there either.
In addition to the correct number of students scoring ‘Proficient’ on the state
assessments, 95% of the enrolled students must take the assessments. There are ways
of adjusting that percentage if subgroups are very small. States must also define
another academic indicator to be met. The most common one is attendance and it is
the one that Maryland uses
For additional assistance, contact the Title I Office
School Improvement
So much is said about ‘failing schools’ that it becomes helpful to look at just
what that means. Technically, it means that school has failed to make Adequate Yearly
Progress (AYP) for two years in a row (see ‘About AYP and School Assessments’).
If the school is a Title I school, it means a whole list of remedies is now available
to that school starting with Parent Choice Transfer Option (PCTO), Supplemental
Educational Services (SES) and leading all the way up to restructuring the entire
school if all else fails. But what does it mean to parents and students?
It can mean only 94% of the student body took the Maryland State Assessments (MSA)
or that a small number of students in one of the assessment subgroups (again see
‘About AYP and School Assessments’) failed to score ‘Proficient’ in one subject
area on the MSA. It can also mean the entire school is failing children in very
meaningful ways.
In the first year of improvement, a Title I school must offer PCTO (see ‘What is
Parent Choice Transfer Option?’). Schools also must develop a School Improvement
Plan (SIP) for improving the school and spend at least a defined minimum amount
on professional development for teachers.
Once a school’s improvement status changes, parents must be notified of the change.
The notice must contain six specific points:
- An explanation of what the new status means and how the school compares with other
schools in the district and state
- The reason(s) for the new status
- An explanation of what the school, district and state are doing to address the problems
in student achievement
- An explanation of how parent can get involved in addressing the academic issues
involved. (Research shows the single most important factor in a student’s academic
performance is correct parental involvement in the student’s academic life)
- An explanation of the parents’ option to transfer their child to another public
school
- Starting with three years ‘in improvement’, an explanation of the parents’ option
to obtain free tutoring (SES) for their children
After being placed ‘in improvement’, the school must develop (and the district must
approve) a School Improvement Plan (SIP) which contains the following elements:
- Consultation with parents, school staff, the school district and outside experts
- Strategies based on scientific research to strengthen core academic subjects
- Best policies and practices to improve core academic subjects for all students
- Professional development to improve teacher and administrator skills including a
mentoring plan
- Specific, annual measurable objectives
- Notice to parents (see above)
- Additional activities outside the normal school day or year
- Specific responsibilities for the school, the district, and the state to meet.
If a school continues to fail to make AYP, the status of the school changes each
year and each year new remedies are mandated (see ‘Remedies for Failure’).
For additional assistance, contact the Title I Office
Frequently Asked Questions
Click the Questions in the categories below for Answers:
Title I Schools
Q:
What is a Title I school?
A:
Harford County Public Schools (HCPS) has 33 Elementary schools. Of this number,
6 are designated as Title I for 2010-2011.
The identification of a school for Title I status is based upon one thing and one
thing only—the poverty level of the families and students who reside in the attendance
area of the school. The designation as a Title I school has nothing to do with the
academic level of the students in the school. It is strictly and solely based on
the economics of the surrounding area.
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Q:
How are schools in Harford County selected to be Title I?
A:
The law requires each school system to use a standardized measure to determine
the poverty level of each school’s attendance zone. One of those options is the
free-lunch count. In HCPS Schools, the percentage of free-lunch students determines
whether or not a school is eligible to receive the added resources of Title I funding.
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Q:
How does that happen?
A:
Each year there are two critical dates that determine the school’s poverty
level. The first date is September 30th. That is the date on which the school’s
official enrollment is recorded. The second critical date is October 31st. That
is the date on which the free-lunch eligibility of all students in the school is
determined. Those two numbers, enrollment and free-lunch, are then used to calculate
a ratio or percentage known as the school’s Poverty Index. The two dates of September
30th and October 31st are established by regulations. The dates cannot be changed
and the same dates must be used for all of the schools in the school system.
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Q:
Can you provide an example of how a Poverty Index ratio is calculated?
A:
On September 30th a school’s enrollment has officially been recorded at 400
students. On the following October 31st (one month later), after all of the lunch
applications have been collected and recorded, that school has 300 students eligible
for free-lunch, 50 students eligible for reduced-lunch, and the remaining 50 students
ineligible for any lunch subsidy. The Poverty Index is then calculated by dividing
the free-lunch number (300) by the enrollment number (400). When you divide 300
by 400 the result is 75%. Therefore, this school’s Poverty Index is 75% (300 divided
by 400 equals 75%).
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Q:
What is Parent Choice Transfer Option (PCTO)?
A:
Once a Title I school has failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for
two years, that school must offer a program called Parent Choice Transfer Option
(PCTO).
This is a program to deliver school choice options to parents of all children attending
Title I schools that are “In Improvement”. Transportation will be provided free
by Harford County Public Schools consistent with existing policy. PCTO is the only
school choice or transfer program offered by the Title I office. For other transfer
or choice programs please contact the Student Placement Office, your child’s school,
or the City Schools Command Center.
Eligible Students –
All students zoned for (and attending) a Title I school that is in improvement are
eligible to apply for a transfer under the PCTO program regardless of income.
PCTO Schedule – Much of the PCTO schedule is controlled by the
state’s release of test data from the current Maryland School Assessments (MSA).
Information will be sent home telling parents what to expect over the summer and
when to expect it.
When MSA data is available, the application packets will be mailed to student addresses
on file with the school system. These applications will list the schools a parent
may choose. Test results will also be included for Reading and Math. These results
will show the percentage of students who have achieved Basic, Proficient, and Advanced
scores for the student’s current school, the school system as a whole, and all the
schools in the state. Scores will also be listed for each of the schools a parent
may choose.
Each application can be used for up to four (4) students from the same family. If
more than four students from one family are applying, simply complete a second form.
Return the application to the Title I Office using the envelope mailed with the
application.
Title I will contact each family with an offered seat for each child on the original
application. This offered seat may not be in the #1 school you specified on the
application. You will have about three days after being contacted to decide whether
you want to accept the offered seat(s). Please let the Title I office know as soon
as you decide so that all applications may be fully processed.
The Title I Office will provide you with specific instructions for completing the
transfer. These instructions are designed to make sure all seats set aside for PCTO
are used only for eligible families who have filled out the PCTO application and
have been processed through the Title I Office.
Send your child (ren) to their new school every day and help them succeed!!
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For additional assistance, contact the Title I Office