The Federal "No Child Left Behind" Act
Superintendents Prologue
Dear Parent or Guardian:
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 I assistance must, by 2003, issue annual “report cards” to parents. The purpose of the report card is to give parents information about their child’s school in terms of academic achievement and the professional qualifications of its teachers. 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 on this web page are the district’s report card and report cards for each of our 3 schools.
The information contained is divided into three parts.
Part I: Teacher Qualifications
Part II: School Achievement in Mathematics and
Part III: School Performance Ratings
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
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 schools 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
Sincerely,
Susan M. King, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Rockport Public Schools