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| On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 into law. The law calls for sweeping changes in public education. Among these is a new federal requirement that all states and school districts in receipt of Title 1 assistance must, by 2003, issue annual "report cards" to parents. The purpose of this report card is to give parents information about their child's school in terms of academic achievement and the professional qualifications of its teachers. By making this information available each year, parents will learn how their school is doing, what its goals are, and what they can do to work more effectively with their teachers and administrators. In addition to sharing good news, the report card helps parents make informed decisions about what to do in the event that their school is determined to be in "need of improvement", based on annual test results, such as the Massachusetts Comprehensive Achievement System (MCAS).
Attached is our schools' "report cards." The information contained is divided into three parts:
Part I provides information about the qualifications of the teachers on our faculty. The information is divided into two parts: (1) the percentage of teachers who are certified or licensed to teach in Massachusetts and (2) the percentage of classes taught by teachers who are highly qualified in core academic areas such as mathematics, science, reading, history, English language arts, etc. Both pieces of information are intended to help you understand the backgrounds and preparation of the teachers who are working with your child. As you will see, most, if not all teachers in the school are certified, and most, if not all are highly qualified. Those who are not are either working on a waiver granted by the Massachusetts Department of Education, or are long-term or permanent substitutes. While qualified to teach within Massachusetts, certain teachers are now in the process of demonstrating subject matter competency through additional coursework. No Child Left Behind requires that all teachers be highly qualified by the end of the 2005-2006 school year, and, thus, what you will see in the percentages are indications of how far our school has to go in order to comply with this deadline. No Child Left Behind requires that test results for reading and mathematics be reported annually. The information contained in Part II summarizes how we did on the last round of MCAS examinations. The data is broken down by grade level, subject area, and the performances of different subgroups or learning populations in the school, such as limited English proficient students or students with disabilities. This information is similar to what you received about your child's MCAS scores in November. Now these data have been added together to provide a snapshot of how the students in our school have performed as a whole. Part III provides information about how well our school is doing relative to others in the district and to its performance in past years. The "Proficiency Index" (PI) scores for Mathematics and English Language Arts are part of Massachusetts' School Performance Rating system. This system has been set up to comply with the accountability provisions of No Child Left Behind, which require, among other things, that each school make adequate yearly progress (AYP) toward meeting a national goal of all students being "proficient" in mathematics and English by the year 2013-2014. The Proficiency scores and AYP ratings in the student achievement data are meant to signal whether or not our school is on target to meet this goal, or whether it has fallen behind and is "in need of improvement." The information describing our school's performance shows that we have made AYP for mathematics/reading for 2 consecutive years. Therefore, we are not "in need of improvement". As suggested earlier, the information provided in our report card is designed to give you an update on how well we are doing as we move toward meeting the state and national achievement goals and qualification standards for teachers. But, it is also designed to alert you that you have certain choices available in the event that the school is "in need of improvement". If it should be the case that our school were in need of improvement, the new federal law allows you to enroll your child in another school in the district that is performing satisfactorily. Also, if our school were in need of improvement for three consecutive years, you will be eligible to request additional or supplemental educational services. Such services will allow your child to be tutored after school or participate in classes aimed at boosting academic achievement in mathematics, reading and language arts. This report card is intended to make certain you are informed of your rights within the new federal law, and to give you the information you need to inquire about transferring your child or getting additional help after school. This school report card is designed to help you be an informed consumer. To be fully informed, however, you will also need to judge our school's performance relative to all the schools in the school district, especially if you are contemplating choosing a different school for your child. A complete district report card for our school system is also now available for you to review. It may be found at the Superintendent's Office, at our school's office, in our Town Library, or on our district's website at www.plymouthschools.com. In closing, please know that we are prepared to help you further should you have more questions about what this report card means and how you can use it to help you and your child grow stronger academically. |
| Please, click on the links below to view the school's report card:
Federal Furnace Elementary School Indian Brook Elementary School Nathaniel Morton Elementary School Plymouth Community Intermediate School |