September, 2011
Dear Parents:
We are dedicated to providing all students with the educational foundation necessary to succeed in school and in life. To ensure your child's success, we have set high standards that are reflected in what is taught in our classrooms. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires that adequate yearly progress (AYP) in language arts literacy and mathematics be measured annually for each school in New Jersey.
AYP is based primarily on the results of the New Jersey state assessments given to students in grades 3 through 8 and grade 11. Schools must meet the state's academic proficiency benchmarks, as well as other indicators such as test participation and attendance, to make AYP. These benchmarks increase on an incremental basis every three years.
Schools that do not make AYP for one year (Year 1) receive an Early Warning designation to alert them that students did not meet at least one of the AYP indicators. If a school does not make AYP for two or more consecutive years in the same content area (language arts literacy and mathematics) it is identified a school in need of improvement and certain sanctions must be applied.
Our Middle School has not made AYP for the second year on Language Arts Literacy. This is based on the failure of the school to meet four of the 40 criteria for achieving AYP. Our Elementary School did not meet AYP in Language Arts Literacy for the first time. It missed in three of the 40 criteria areas. We will continue our efforts to maintain exemplary achievement on all State Assessments in our regular and special education programs.
The school improvement requirement that apply to your child's school is to make supplemental educational services available to income-eligible students.
All schools in need of improvement that receive federal Title I funds must assemble a school improvement committee to develop a school improvement plan that identifies areas of need and programs and activities to help increase student achievement. Neither our Middle School nor Elementary School receives title I funds, however as a parents, you are encouraged to contact your child's school principal to provide input to the school improvement plan and see how you can become involved in helping the school address its achievement issues.
We want to continue serving your child, and we'll use all the resources available to us to help our students achieve. An important part of this effort involves parental involvement and support. The district and each school must develop and implement a parental involvement policy. We encourage you to become involved in this and other initiatives at your child's school by contacting your child's school principal.
We will continue to communicate with you throughout the year regarding the school improvement efforts underway and hope you will join us in supporting our students and teachers as we work toward reaching our goals for this year.
Under the NCLB Law any parent has the right to ask the school at which their child attends The Highly Qualified Status of their child's teacher. In the Dennis Township Public Schools all our teachers and instructional aides meet the requirements to be designated as Highly Qualified.
Sincerely,
George R. Papp
Superintendent of Schools
