Parent Right to Know Information as Required by The Elementary and Secondary Education Assistance (ESEA) [Section 1112(e)(1)(A)] and the Every Student Succeeds Act [Section 1112(e)(1)(A)]

Dear Parent(s)/Legal Guardian(s):

Your child attends Toby Farms Intermediate School, which receives Federal Title I funds to assist students in meeting state achievement standards.  Throughout the school year, we will be providing you with important information about this law and your child’s education.  This letter lets you know about your right to request information about the qualifications of the classroom staff working with your child. 

At Toby Farms Intermediate School, we are very proud of our teachers and feel they are ready for the coming school year and are prepared to give your child a high-quality education. As a Title I school, we must meet federal regulations related to teacher qualifications as defined in ESEA. These regulations allow you to learn more about your child’s teachers’ training and credentials. We are happy to provide this information to you. At any time, you may ask:

Whether the teacher met state qualifications and certification requirements for the grade level and subject he/she is teaching,
Whether the teacher received an emergency or conditional certificate through which state qualifications were waived, and
What undergraduate or graduate degrees the teacher holds, including graduate certificates and additional degrees, and major(s) or area(s) of concentration.

You may also ask whether your child receives help from a paraprofessional.  If your child receives this assistance, we can provide you with information about the paraprofessional’s qualifications. 

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) which was signed into law in December 2015 and reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1956 (ESEA) includes additionally right to know requests.  At any time, parents and family members can request:

Information on policies regarding student participation in assessments and procedures for opting out, and
Information on required assessments that include:subject matter tested, purpose of the test, source of the requirement (if applicable), amount of time it takes students to complete the test, and time and format of disseminating results.

Our staff is committed to helping your child develop the academic knowledge and critical thinking he/she needs to succeed in school and beyond. That commitment includes making sure that all of our teachers and paraprofessionals meet applicable Pennsylvania state requirements.    

If you have any questions about your child’s assignment to a teacher or paraprofessional, please contact LaMonte Popley at Toby Farms Intermediate School 610-447-3815 or email me at Lpopley@chesteruplandsd.org.

Sincerely,

LaMonte Popley

Padres derecho a conocer la información requerida por la escuela primaria y secundaria Education Act (ESEA) [sección 1112(e)(1)(A)] y cada estudiante tiene éxito ley [sección 1112(e)(1)(A)]

Estimado Padre Legal / tutor:

Su hijo asiste a Toby Farms Intermediate School, que recibe Federal título financia para ayudar a los estudiantes en el cumplimiento de normas estatales de desempeño. Durante el año escolar, nos se se le proporciona información importante sobre esta ley y la educación de su hijo. Esta carta le permite saber acerca de su derecho a solicitar información sobre las calificaciones del personal de aula trabajan con su hijo.

En Toby Farms Intermediate School, estamos muy orgullosos de nuestros maestros y sienten que están listos para el próximo año escolar y están dispuestos a darle a su hijo una educación de alta calidad. Como una escuela de título I, debemos satisfacer las regulaciones federales relacionadas con las cualificaciones de un maestro como se define en ESEA. Estas regulaciones le permiten obtener más información sobre formación y credenciales de los maestros de su hijo. Estamos encantados de proporcionar esta información a usted. En cualquier momento, usted puede preguntar:

• Si el maestro cumple estado calificaciones y requisitos de certificación para el grado y el tema está enseñando,
• Si el profesor recibió un certificado de emergencia o condicional a través del cual fueron renunciados la calificación de estado, y
• Qué licenciatura o postgrado el profesor sostiene, incluyendo certificados de postgrado y grados adicionales y major(s) o áreas de concentración.

También puede preguntar si su hijo recibe ayuda de un paraprofesional. Si su niño recibe esta ayuda, podemos proporcionarle información sobre calificaciones de paraprofesionales.

El cada estudiante logra la ley (ESSA) que fue firmada en ley en diciembre de 2015 y reautoriza la ley primaria y secundaria Educación de 1956 (ESEA) incluye además derecho a conocer las peticiones. En cualquier momento, los padres y miembros de la familia pueden solicitar:

• Información sobre las políticas relativas a la participación de los estudiantes en las evaluaciones y procedimientos para optar hacia fuera, y
• Información sobre las evaluaciones necesarias que incluyen
  • materia de prueba,
  • propósito de la prueba,
  • fuente de la obligación (si corresponde),
  • cantidad de tiempo que tardan los alumnos para completar la prueba, y
  • tiempo y el formato de difusión de resultados.

Nuestro personal está comprometido a ayudar a su niño a desarrollar el conocimiento académico y el pensamiento crítico que necesita para tener éxito en la escuela y más allá. Ese compromiso incluye asegurarse de que todos nuestros profesores y paraprofesionales cumplen requisitos de estado de Pennsylvania aplicables.

Si tienes cualquier duda sobre la asignación de su hijo a un maestro o ayudante, por favor póngase en contacto con LaMonte Popley en Toby Farms Intermediate School en 610-447-3815 o envíeme un correo electrónico en LPOPLEY@CHESTERUPLANDSD.ORG. 

Atentamente,

LaMonte Popley del Director

THE CHESTER UPLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT
SCHOOL-STUDENT-PARENT COMPACT

Toby Farms School, and the parents of the students participating in activities, services, and programs funded by Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) agree that this compact outlines how the parents, the entire school staff, and the students will share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement and the means by which the school and parents will build and develop a partnership that will help children achieve the State’s high standards.

School Responsibilities 

Toby Farms School will:

1. Provide high-quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables the participating children to meet the State’s student academic achievement standards as follows:

-provide curriculum guidelines, performance profiles and individual student assessment results for each student.

-issue ongoing student progress information in the form of both written documentation and parent/teacher conferences.

-convene an annual meeting to explain the Title One Program.

-provide parents with information on all available programs.

-schedule a series of parent-teacher conferences at times that are both convenient and flexible.

-encourage the active participation of parents in the development, implementation, evaluation and revision of school policies and programs.

-establish and maintain open communication between parents and teachers.

-provide meaningful, appropriate and rigorous homework assignments.

-foster educational and social growth through the use of appropriate instructional strategies, materials and techniques.

-provide necessary assistance so that parents may assist in their child’s education.

-establish and maintain an environment that is conducive to learning.

2. Hold parent-teacher conferences (at least annually in elementary schools) during which this compact will be discussed as it relates to the individual child’s achievement. Specifically, those conferences will be held:

The initial parent-teacher conference will be held Tuesday, September 26, 2014.  Subsequent, formal conferences will be held Wednesday, November 19, 2008 and Wednesday, April 15, 2009. 3. Provide parents with frequent reports on their children’s progress. 

Specifically, the school will provide reports as follows:

Report cards will be distributed four times during the school year (November, February, April, and June). Additionally, interim reports will be mailed home three weeks prior to the close of each report period. 

4. Provide parents reasonable access to staff. Specifically, staff will be available for consultation with parents as follows:

Parents will have access to staff members during report card conferences; dates are as listed, and by appointment daily.

5. Provide parents opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child’s class, and to observe classroom activities, as follows:

Parents are encouraged to volunteer their time. They may do so by contacting the PTO the school's Title One Coordinator Anthony Singleton, or the Assist Principal. Classroom visitations must be scheduled in advance with the permission of the Assist Principal.

Parent Responsibilities

We, as parents, will support our children’s learning in the following ways: 

• Monitoring attendance.
• Ensuring that homework is completed in a timely and appropriate manner.
• Participating, as appropriate, in decisions relating to my child’s education.
• Promoting positive use of my child’s extracurricular time.
• Staying informed about my child’s education and communicating with the school by promptly reading all notices from the school or the school district either received by my child or by mail and responding, as appropriate. 
• Serving, to the extent possible, on policy advisory groups, such as being the Title I,

Part A parent representative on the school’s School Improvement Team, the Title I Policy Advisory Committee, the District wide Policy Advisory Council, the State’s Committee of Practitioners, the School Support Team or other school advisory or policy groups.]

Student Responsibilities (revise as appropriate to grade level)

We, as students, will share the responsibility to improve our academic achievement and

achieve the State’s high standards. Specifically, we will:

• Complete my homework every day and ask for help when I need it.
• Read at least 30 minutes every day outside of school time.
• Give to my parents or the adult who is responsible for my welfare all notices and information received by me from my school every day.
• Attend school regularly and on time.
• Come to school with all of the tools needed to be a productive student, pens, pencils, notebooks, textbooks, etc

TOBY FARMS SCHOOL PARENT INVOLVEMENT POLICY

Toby Farms School will:

1. Involve parents in the planning, review, and improvement of the school’s

parental involvement policy, in an organized, ongoing, and timely way.

 2. Involve parents in the joint development of any school wide program plan,

in an organized, ongoing, and timely way.

3. Hold an annual meeting to inform parents of the school’s participation in

Title I, Part A programs, and to explain the Title I, Part A requirements,

and the right of parents to be involved in Title I, Part A programs.  The

school will convene the meeting at a convenient time to parents, and will

offer a flexible number of additional parental involvement meetings, such

as in the morning or evening, so that as many parents as possible are able

to attend.  The school will invite to this meeting all parents of children

participating in Title I, Part A programs (participating students), and will

encourage them to attend.  

4. Provide information to parents of participating students in an

understandable and uniform format, including alternative formats upon

the request of parents with disabilities, and, to the extent practicable, in a

language that parents can understand. 

5. Provide to parents of participating children information in a timely

manner about Title I, Part A programs that includes a description and

explanation of the school’s curriculum, the forms of academic assessment

used to measure children’s progress, and the proficiency levels students are

expected to meet.

6. On the request of parents, provide opportunities for regular meetings for

parents to formulate suggestions, and to participate, as appropriate, in

decisions about the education of their children.  The school will respond to

any such suggestions as soon as practicably possible. 

7. Provide to each parent an individual student report about the performance

of their child on the State assessment in at least math, language arts and

reading.

8. Provide each parent timely notice when their child has been assigned or

has been taught for four (4) or more consecutive weeks by a teacher who is

not highly qualified within the meaning of the term in section 200.56 of the

Title I Final Regulations (67 Fed. Reg. 71710, December 2, 2002).

The Title I Parent and Family Engagement section of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Section 1116(b) requires each Title I school to develop a written parent and family engagement policy that describes the means for carrying out the requirements of Section 1116. The school must ensure that information related to school and parent programs, meetings, and other activities are sent to the parents of Title I children in a format and in a language the parents can understand. 

The Toby Farms Parent and Family Engagement Policy was: developed jointly with and agreed upon by parents and family members of Title I children; written in an understandable format and provided in a language parents can understand; distributed to all parents and family members of Title I children; made available to the local community; and updated to meet the changing needs of parents, family members, and the school.
The Toby Farms Parents and Family Members will be involved in the planning, review, and improvement of the school's Parent and Family Engagement Policy annually (ESSA, Section 1116(b)(1)).

The annual meeting will be convened at a convenient time: in which all parents and family members of participating children shall be invited and encouraged to attend; to inform parents of their schools’ participation as a Title I school; and to explain the requirements and the rights for parents to be involved (ESSA, Section 1116(c)(1)). Toby Farms will consistently engage families by offering a flexible number of meetings, in the morning, mid-day, and/or the evening (ESSA, Section 1116(c)(2)).

Toby Farms will involve parents, in an organized, ongoing, and timely way, in the planning, review, and improvement of the Title I program, including the planning, review, and improvement of the school’s parent and family engagement program (ESSA, Section 1116(c)(3)).

Toby Farms will provide parents of participating children with timely information about the Title I program through various means including meetings, mailings, and social media (ESSA, Section 1116(c)(4)(A)).

Toby Farms will provide parents of participating children with a description and explanation of the curriculum in use at the school, the forms of academic assessments used to measure student progress, and the achievement levels of the challenging state academic standards (ESSA, Section 1116(c)4)(B)).

Toby Farms will provide, if requested by parents, opportunities for regular meetings to formulate suggestions and to participate, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children, and respond to any such suggestions as soon as practicably possible (ESSA, Section 1116(c)(4)(C)).

Toby Farms will involve parents and family members in the joint development of the Schoolwide Program Plan under Section 1114 per ESSA (ESSA, Section 1116(5)).

Toby Farms will formulate a school-parent compact that will be jointly developed with parents and family members. The compact outlines how parents, the entire school staff, and students will share in the responsibility for improved student academic achievement and the means by which the school and the parents will build and develop partnerships to help children achieve the state’s high standards. The compact shall:

describe the school’s responsibility to provide high-quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables the children served under this part to meet the challenging state academic standards, and the ways in which each parent will be responsible for supporting their children’s learning; volunteering in their child’s classroom; and participating, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children and positive use of extracurricular time (ESSA, Section (d)(1)); address the importance of communication between teachers and parents on an ongoing basis through, at a minimum:parent-teacher conferences in elementary schools, at least annually, during which the compact shall be discussed as the compact relates to the individual child’s achievement; frequent reports to parents on their children’s progress;
reasonable access to staff, opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child’s class, and observation of classroom activities; ensuring regular, two-way, meaningful communication between family members and school staff, and, to the extent practicable, in a language that family members can understand (ESSA, Section 1116(d)(2)(A-D)).

Toby Farms will provide assistance to parents and family members in understanding the challenging state academic standards, state and local academic assessments, and how to monitor a child's progress and work with teachers to improve the achievement of their children (ESSA, Section 1116(6)(e)(1)).

Toby Farms will provide materials and training to help parents to work with their children to improve their children's achievement (ESSA, Section 1116(6)(e)(1)).

Toby Farms will educate teachers, specialized instructional support personnel, and other staff, with the assistance of parents, in the value and utility of contributions of parents and family members, and in how to reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents and family members as equal partners, implement and coordinate parent programs, and build ties between parents and family members and the school (ESSA, Section 1116(6)(e)(3)).

Toby Farms will, to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate, and integrate parent involvement programs and activities with other federal, state, and local programs including public preschool programs and conduct other activities, that encourage and support parents and family members in more fully participating in the education of their children (ESSA, Section 1116(6)(e)(4)).

Toby Farms will ensure that information related to school and parent programs, meetings, and other activities is sent to the parents and family members of participating children in a format and to the extent practicable, in a language the parents and family members can understand (ESSA, Section 1116(6)(e)(5)).

Toby Farms, to the extent practicable, will provide opportunities for the informed participation of parents and family members (including parents and family members who have limited English proficiency, parents and family members with disabilities, and parents and family members of migratory children) (ESSA, Section 1116(7)(f)).