ESEA FLEXIBILITY WAIVER PARENT NOTIFICATION
PRIORITY SCHOOL DESIGNATION
2015-16
Dear Parent(s)/Guardian(s):
On August 20, 2013, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) received waivers from ten requirements of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, as amended by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) of 2001. The state’s ultimate goal is to ensure that all students graduate college- and career-ready through the professional practice of effective teachers and leaders. ESEA/NCLB requires that parents or guardians who have children attending a Title I school be notified of the school’s academic achievement as well as the school’s designation under Pennsylvania’s ESEA Flexibility Waiver. This letter is intended to provide additional information concerning the options available to your child under Pennsylvania’s ESEA
Flexibility Waiver and to help you understand what the waiver will mean for you and your child.
Beginning with the 2013-2014 school year, PDE began transition from using Adequate Yearly
Progress (AYP) to determine a school’s designation, to using four Annual Measurable
Objectives (AMOs) to designate the Title I school as Reward – High Achievement, Reward –
High Progress, Priority or Focus schools. The four AMOs include measuring Test Participation
Rate; Graduation/Attendance Rate; Closing the Achievement Gap for All Students and Closing the Achievement Gap for the Historically Underperforming Students. In addition, all public schools in the state are receiving a School Performance Profile (SPP) score based on 100 points.
This score is considered the school’s academic performance score, and while not the criteria for determination of Reward, Priority or Focus status, it details student performance through scoring of multiple measures that define achievement. The School Performance Profile also includes supports to permit schools to access materials and resources to improve in defined areas related to achievement.
Despite the progress made by our students, Stonehurst Hills Elementary School, has been designated as a Priority School under Pennsylvania’s ESEA Flexibility Waiver for the 2015-16 school year. This designation was based on 2012/2013 test data and our school will keep this designation for three years.
Priority Schools are Title I schools that are among the lowest 5 percent of Title I schools in the state based aggregate Mathematics and Reading proficiency for PSSAs and/or Algebra
1/Literature for Keystone Exams and has demonstrated a lack of progress on those assessments over a number of years; or, schools designated under the School Improvement Grants (SIG) program.

While the staff and students at Stonehurst Hills Elementary School are working hard to improve student learning and we’ve made some gains, we know that in our school, some students are not meeting the performance standards in English Language Arts and Mathematics. Based on PSSA Reading scores
Stonehurst Hills Elementary School did not achieve the 2013-14 goal of 5-10% increase in the number of students scoring proficient or above. Likewise, based on PSSA Math scores Stonehurst Hills Elementary
School did not achieve the 2013-14 goal of 5-10% increase in the number of students scoring proficient or above. A specific performance concern is the fact that according to the 2013 School Performance
Diagnostic Summary there is moderate evidence that the 5 th grade did not improve in the percentage of students meeting proficiency.
Our school is also showing improvement and growth in specific areas. Stonehurst Hills Elementary
School met requirements for participation and attendance in 2014 as reflected by PSSA data. As per the
English and Language Arts PSSA results, there was an increase in the number of students scoring proficiency from 2014 to 2015 in grades 3 and 4. There was also an increase in the number of students scoring proficiency on the Math PSSA from 2014 to 2015 in grade 3.
As a Priority School, we will work collaboratively with parents/guardians, our community and our school district office to develop a school turnaround plan, which will implement interventions to respond to the specific needs of improving the performance of our low-performing student subgroups. One of our goals this year, as a Title I Focus School, is to continue in our efforts to engage families and the community in student learning to help all children succeed. You may have heard or be hearing about a process our school will continue to use to improve student achievement, called Response to Intervention and
Instruction or “RtII.”. RtII has proven successful in many Pennsylvania schools. It provides additional instruction -- or interventions -- to students who need help with math, reading, or behavior, based on their individual needs. Families also play an important role in RtII, helping to develop learning goals and plans for their child.
Additionally, we’ve increased our offerings of Safety Nets (or academic interventions) to students needing additional support. These include before and after school clubs and activities that promote proficiency in reading and math skills.
An important part of the success plan for Stonehurst Hills Elementary School is parent participation and support in developing activities to improve student achievement. We hope that, as a parent/guardian, you will become involved in our school improvement initiatives as we continue to monitor student achievement and set high expectations. If you are interested in participating in developing our school improvement initiatives, contact Aaronda Q. Beauford,
Principal at 610.626.9111 or abeauford@upperdarbysd.org.
Thank you for all that you do to support your child’s education.
Sincerely,
Aaronda Q. Beauford, M.Ed.
Principal