Taylor County School District Title I Information

McKinney-Vento Homeless Liaison
Joyce Kennon
Attendance Officer
Student Record Coordinator
(478)862-3314

***************************************************************

Public School Choice Data  FY 2011-12
 
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) requires a local educational agency (LEA) to provide an opportunity for all students enrolled in a school that is in year one of Needs Improvement the opportunity to enroll in a school not designated for Needs Improvement.  Taylor County does not have a school eligible to participate in the public school choice provision of NCLB.  Therefore, Taylor County High Schools sent letters requesting agreements to surrounding counties to transfer eligible students. The surrounding school districts were not able to honor our requests for Public School Choice.

***************************************************************

Dear Parent(s)/Guardian(s) of students enrolled in Taylor County High School:

The Elementary and Secondary Education Assistance Act of 1965, (ESEA) requires that parents/guardians who have children attending schools identified as needing improvement to be notified of the school’s academic achievement.  This letter is intended to provide additional information concerning the options available to your child under ESEA.  Adequate yearly progress (AYP) is one of the cornerstones of the ESEA Act.  It is a measure of year-to-year student achievement on statewide tests.  Title I schools that do not meet the State standard for AYP in the same subject for two or more consecutive years are placed in Needs Improvement (NI). In compliance with the requirement of ESEA, all students enrolled in a school that is in year one of NI has or have the opportunity to enroll in a school not designated as NI. This transfer option is known as Public School Choice (PSC). However, at this time your child cannot be transferred to another school to receive Public School Choice for the following reasons:

• Taylor County School District has only one school and that is the school that your child is currently attending.
• Taylor County School District has attempted to enter into a Cooperative Agreement with the following districts; Talbot County, Upson County, Crawford County, Peach County, Macon County, Schley County, and Marion County, however, at this time Talbot County, Upson County, Crawford County, Peach County, Macon County, Schley County, and Marion County are unable to accept students as transfers.

In spite of the progress made by our students, Taylor County High School has been included on a list of schools in Georgia identified as not making Adequate Yearly Progress.  Taylor County High School is identified as a Needs Improvement Year (NI-4) school under ESEA.  As a result, the school is developing a plan for continuation that will focus on the academic achievement of all students, and in accordance with ESEA, specifically addressing the reason why the school is identified as NI. An important part of the success plan for Taylor County High School is parent participation and support in developing activities to improve student achievement. We hope that as a parent, you will become involved in our school improvement initiatives as we continue to monitor student achievement and set high expectations.  If you are interested in participating in developing our school improvement initiatives, contact Clarence Mathis or Freddie Harmon at 478-862-3314 or 478-862-5224.

***************************************************************

What is the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act?
The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act is a federal law guiding reforms in the nation’s public schools. It went into effect on January 8, 2002. One goal of NCLB is to ensure that all children are performing on grade level by 2014. This education act helps students and parents.
Students
NCLB aims to ensure that every student receives a high- quality education by focusing on accountability and standards. Some of its goals are to: • challenge and motivate students;
• provide highly qualified teachers, who use proven teaching methods; and
• ensure a safe, drug-free learning environment.
Parents
Schools are required to provide school report cards so that you can learn how well your child’s school is performing. You can also learn how well your child is performing for his or her grade level and how you can help your child build important learning skills at home.

Just what is AYP?
Adequate Yearly Progress is one of the cornerstones of the No Child Left Behind Act. It is an annual measure of student participation and achievement on statewide assessments and other indicators. Every school, school system, and the state as a whole must achieve performance goals within time frames specified in law. Schools must meet standards in three areas: test participation; academic performance; and a “second indicator.”
Georgia education officials use test results, assessment participation rates, attendance rates and graduation rates to determine which schools did not make AYP. It is a complicated formula.
Each school is judged as a whole and by each of its student groups - also referred to as subpopulations or subgroups. Schools that show enough progress from one year to the next will meet AYP. Not meeting standards in only one category labels a school or system as “Needs Improvement.” When measured by AYP standards, the majority of our schools show significant improvement year to year.

What tests count toward AYP in Georgia?
The tests used to measure academic performance are: • Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) scores in
math and reading/English language arts for elementary and middle schools; • Georgia High School Graduation Test (GHSGT) scores in math and language arts for high schools; and
• the Georgia Alternative Assessment (GAA) for severely cognitively impaired students.
Schools are required to test at least 95% of the students in the respective subgroups. At a minimum, the following percentage of students must pass the test for each subgroup during the school years 2007-08 through 2009-10:

66.7% on the CRCT in grades 3-8 for math,
73.3% on the CRCT for grades 3-8 in reading/language arts,
74.9% on the GHSGT in math,
and 87.7% on the GHSGT in English/language arts.
The percentage that must pass the tests increases every one to three years, with 100 percent of each subgroup required to pass by 2014.

What happens if my child’s school doesn’t make AYP?
There are no consequences the first year that a school does not make Adequate Yearly Progress.
Schools that do not make AYP in the same subject area and criteria for two or more consecutive years are given “Needs Improvement” status.
Needs Improvement (NI) schools are not “failing schools.”
NI status means that your school did not meet the standards in at least one of the 15 potential categories. Not meeting standards in only one category labels the school NI, even when all other categories meet or exceed standards.
For example, your school may have had a poor passing rate in math, but an adequate passing rate in reading and language arts. Or your school may have had too many
students in a subgroup not meet the goal, while the overall student body did.
NI schools have been identified as schools that need to improve in a specific area. They face increasing consequences for every year that they continue to not make AYP. School- level consequences include school choice, supplemental services/instructional extension and several types of plans.