August 15, 2008

Dear Parent or Guardian,

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, each state is required to assess all school districts to determine if each district has made adequate yearly progress (AYP) toward meeting the academic testing standards and additional measures set by the state. AYP decisions are based on the results of state testing in communication arts and math and the district’s attendance rate and graduation rate. If the district has not made AYP for two consecutive years in any one of the four areas, it is considered “in need of improvement.”

Based on the results of this year’s academic testing in communication arts and math and the district’s attendance rate and graduation rate, the Lathrop R-II school district did not make adequate yearly progress for the following reasons:

The AYP requirement for the testing in communication arts and math is a percentage of students that are to test in the upper two levels, proficient and advanced, on the MAP test.  Each year the percentage requirement increases, with the federal guidelines of NCLB requiring that ALL students, 100%, test in the upper two levels by 2014.  This year the percentage to be met was 51 in communication arts and 45 in math.  NCLB requires the AYP be met by not only all students as one group, but then breaks the results down into subgroups that individually must also meet the percentage requirement.  The subgroup must consist of at least 30 or more students.  There are nine subgroups: Asian/Pacific Isl., Black, Hispanic, American Indian, White, Other/Non-Response, Free/Reduced lunch, IEP (Special needs), and LEP (English as a second language).  These requirements must be met at the individual building level and at the district level.  As a district, not at the building level, Lathrop R-II did not meet the required percentage this year in the subgroup of Free/Reduced lunch.  Last year it was not met at the district level in the sub-group of IEP.

Because this is the second year of this designation, the district is considered to be in Level 2 of District Improvement. We will continue to implement the plan for improvement which was developed last year. One important component of this plan is parent involvement in the implementation of the plan.

You can also help by increasing your understanding of the assessment, understanding the importance of good attendance and graduating from school, visiting schools and becoming a volunteer, and engaging in reading and math strategies at home.

Information about No Child Left Behind and what parents can do to improve student achievement can be found at: http://www.ed.gov/parents/landing.jhtml.

Please contact the superintendent or building level administrator with any questions.

Sincerely,

Dr. Chris Blackburn