|
Letter to Parents - AYP
Dear Parents/Guardians, Washington’s schools and school district are dedicated to providing all students with the academic knowledge and critical thinking skills needed to succeed in school and beyond. Teachers have worked with school officials, parents, community leaders and state education officials to develop a set of high academic standards called Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRS)—basically a thorough list of skills and knowledge students should master as they progress through grade levels. These skills are being taught in more than 2,000 public schools, and our students take a test called the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL)—in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10—to see if they have mastered the academic standards that have been set. The 2002 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, commonly referred to as “No Child Left Behind,” expanded the federal government’s role in ensuring that every student succeeds academically. This law requires all schools, school districts and states to show that all students are meeting achievement targets in reading and mathematics. Each state’s achievement goals and how they are measured, have to be approved by the federal government this year, and the goals rise each year until 2014, when 100 percent of public school children are expected to be proficient in reading and mathematics. How is student achievement measured? The state of Washington has established three ways to measure student achievement in order to meet this federal mandate:
1) Performance of students on the WASL
2) The rate of unexcused absences for 1st through 8th graders
3) The graduation rate for high school students Individual schools, school districts, and the state as a whole are deemed to be making “adequate yearly progress”, (AYP) if they meet the targets that have been established in each of those three categories. Our district has been identified as one of those in the state not making AYP during the 2008-2009 school year. East Valley School District students did not make AYP in mathematics. Our East Valley School District special education students did not make AYP in reading. We take our achievement results seriously, and we will use all of the local, state, and federal resources available to us to help all of our students meet Washington’s Essential Academic Learning Requirements. Building and maintaining high-quality schools is a job for the entire community, and we need your assistance in reaching our academic achievement goals. We encourage you to become active participants in our district improvement efforts. Sincerely, Jan Beauchamp
Assistant Superintendent
Visit our News Archive
|
