District Title I Program Improvement Notification Letter

December 2, 2014

Dear Parents/Guardians of Students in Santee School District:

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)/No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 requires all states to create their own high academic standards for what a child should know and be able to do for all grades in English Language Arts and Mathematics. Every school must improve each year until all students meet these standards. This yearly improvement in school performance, which includes the academic standards and other components, is called Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).

ESEA/NCLB also requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to annually review the performance of each Local Education Agency (LEA) that receives funds under Title 1, Part A. An LEA can be a school district or a county office of education. An LEA receiving Title 1, Part A, funds is identified for Program Improvement (PI) if it does not meet AYP goals for two consecutive years within specific areas, focused primarily on academic achievement in English Language Arts and Mathematics.

On March 7, 2014, the U.S. Department of Education approved California's testing waiver for certain statutory and regulatory requirements of Title 1, Part A of the ESEA. A one-year waiver was granted to California Department of Education (CDE), allowing flexibility in making Adequate Yearly Progress determination for schools and LEAs participating in the Smarter Balanced assessment field test. All Santee Schools participated in the field test last year. Results from the field test were not reported and the CDE did not produce an AYP report for elementary and middle schools given the waiver for this year. Therefore, the Program Improvement status for elementary and middles school districts will not change. Schools and districts will not advance in PI status or exit from PI status under the waiver. The Santee School District remains in Year 1 of PI and we will continue to implement the PI requirements associated with our current PI status.

In addition to the required Local Education Agency (LEA) Plan, school districts assigned as Program Improvement are required to write an addendum addressing how the district plans to use federal funding to improve student achievement. The District's LEA Plan and addendum is located on the District website at http://www.santeesd.net/page/112. In addition, the District continues to provide assistance to schools identified as program improvement, as well as professional development for teachers and administrators. We reserve at least ten percent of our annual Title 1 allocation for professional development.

The Santee School District Board of Education strongly believes in providing students in Santee with the very best Prekindergarten - grade 8 education. In 2012, the District completed a strategic planning process to set the District's mission, vision, and goals to ensure continuous improvement and to recast the District's vision for the next five years.

Parents can help their school and district by:

For more information please contact the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services, Dr. Stephanie Pierce, by phone at 619-258-2351 or email at [email protected].