Frazier receives education award
PERRYOPOLIS – The Frazier School District’s use of academic intervention and cooperation from teachers at Perry Elementary School has enabled the district to earn a $5,000 award from the state for closing the achievement gap in Individualized Education Plan (IEP) reading among its third- through fifth-grade students. Perry Elementary School was one of 114 schools across the state, and the only one in Fayette County, to receive funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Education because they are a Distinguished Title 1 School.
Perry was selected to receive the award after making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for two or more consecutive years, along with being one of the top 25 performers in reading or math, based on the percentage of students that scored advanced or proficient in the All Students category on the 2008-2009 Pennsylvania State Standard Assessment (PSSA) test.
Additionally, 20 or more students that tested in one or more of 13 measured subgroups in the 2008-2009 PSSA were required to meet performance guidelines based on the number tested and percentage they gained on the test.
At Perry, elementary principal Ken Meadows said 24 students in the subgroup of reading that had IEP’s scored 25 percent proficient on the 2008 PSSA, which nearly doubled to 52.4 percent in 2009 and closed the gap. Meadows said the funding will be used to enhance Frazier’s Title 1 program across the district, as well as its Response to Intervention program and Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills program.
used to identify at-risk students and expand on (DIBELS), a set of procedures and measures used to monitor the development of early literacy and reading skills from kindergarten through sixth grade.
Meadows added the district currently uses DIBELS in first and second grades and plans to purchase the math program for third and fourth grades with a portion of the funding that will allow them to collect real time data on students.
“Teachers have palm pilots so they can assess each student individually. Where the kids are deficient we can make accurate interventions to try to attack their deficiency,” said Meadows.
With RTI, Meadows said the students receive remediation in reading in the afternoon depending on their deficiency.
Meadows said he and several teachers will travel to the Title 1 Improving Schools’ Performance Conference at Station Square in Pittsburgh on Jan. 31 to accept the award. Invitations were also extended to administrators and school board as well. Schools that received the award are also eligible to be chosen as one of two National Title 1 Distinguished Schools.
to be honored at the National Title 1 Conference in January in National Harbor, Md.