Special Educators:
Lori Robinson
Diane Barnett
Literacy Interventionists:
Math Interventionists:
Specialists:
School to Home Coordinator: Jo-Ann Golden
School Based Clinician: Lisa Higgins
Speech: Lisa Durstin, Michelle Laferriere, Cathie Wheeler
English as Second Language (E.S.L.): Annie Gibavic
Lara White, Kandi Greaves, Armine Oganesyan, Theresa Young, Grace Hoffman: CNSU Content Coaches assigned to Burke Town School
Supplemental Educational Services Approved Provider
List for 2016-2017
3293 Burke Hollow Road
West Burke, Vermont 05871-8913
Phone: (802) 467-3385
Fax:
(802) 467-3323
January 4, 2016
Dear Parents / Guardians of
Burke Town School Students:
This is
our second notice you are receiving regarding the Supplemental Education
Services (SES) tutoring services. Please
read the following excerpt dated July 29, 2015 from Rebecca Holcombe, Vermont
Secretary of Education:
Under NCLB, this year, as in
preceding years, we are required to make annual determinations. In the short
run, once again, NCLB requires us to label nearly every school in the state as
“Needing Improvement.” Given our consistent and strong performance on national
and international assessments, I don’t know anyone who is spending too much
time worrying about these labels anymore. We know they distract us from our
important quality and equity goals. And, we know we can do
better. Our commitment is to creating high quality and intellectually rich
opportunities to learn, for each and every individual child. We have worked hard to advocate for appropriate uses of
assessments, and to mitigate wherever possible any inappropriate uses. In this
work, we are strengthened by our State Board of Education, which issued a
powerful resolution on appropriate and inappropriate
use of SBAC scores. In response, the Agency of Education requested a
waiver from using SBAC scores to make accountability determinations as mandated
by NCLB. The US ED granted this waiver for the current year, on the condition
that we continue to make annual determinations based on other data. In other words, this year’s
SBAC test data will NOT be used for any consequential purposes but we are still
required to report results and make determinations. This means only that we
will continue business as usual for another year, effectively holding course in
our shared status as “needing improvement.” This gives us a year to figure out
what we can and can’t learn from SBAC scores. To us, the primary benefit of the
scores is that they provide another data point for our conversation about the
statewide gaps in achievement that we see for children who live in poverty,
children with disabilities, children who are learning English, and children who
are affected by historic or structural discrimination or inequities.
As a
result of the US ED waiver conditions, our school is determined to be in “Corrective
Actions” based upon the 2014-2015 school year. BTS is required to set aside an
amount of our Title 1 grant funds to provide outside tutoring services for all BTS students who qualify for free or
reduced lunch (students don’t have to actually accept free or reduced
lunch, they need only be eligible).
BTS
offers our own tutoring at the school by certified teachers through our After
School Program at no extra charge to families.
Research shows that tutoring combined with enrichment activities produced
the best academic gains for students.
This is the combination offered through our After School Program and if
you are interested in tutoring for your child, we highly recommend the After
School Program tutoring. To request
After School tutoring, please contact my administrative assistant, Beth Amodeo.
For those interested in the outside tutoring, please refer to the
following information.
How Does My Child Qualify?
All children who are eligible for free or reduced lunch qualify for supplemental
tutoring services, regardless of whether they belong to a subgroup that
performed poorly. There is no obligation to enroll your child. Should demand for tutoring exceed the monies
we were required to set aside, priority will be given to the lowest performing
students.
How Do I Access These Services?
If you are interested in accessing
supplemental tutoring services, please contact the office to obtain a form
entitled Notification of Intent to Access
Supplemental Tutoring Services. If you intend to get supplemental tutoring
services for your child, please fill out the form and return it to the
school. The school must receive this
form no
later than January 29, 2016 for you to access funds to pay for
tutoring. Notices received after January
29th cannot be honored. Also,
if you have not already done so, please fill out the application for free and
reduced lunch that you received with the first day of school packet of
important papers, even if you have no intention of accepting free or reduced lunch,
and return it to the school. This is how
the district will determine whether your child meets the financial criteria to
receive supplemental tutoring services.
You will find a list of supplemental
tutoring service providers at the following address http://education.vermont.gov/documents/edu-ses-approved-provider-list-2015-2016.pdf
Figure 1. A hard copy can be supplied to you by
contacting the school office. You may
select from any providers on the list, although some do not provide services in
our area so keep that in mind. You must
record the provider contact information on the attached Notification of Intent to Access Supplemental Tutoring Services
form. The school will contact the
provider to draft a contract and arrange for billing and payment.
What Else Do I Need to Know?
Tutoring services must be provided by a person or entity listed on the Vermont’s Approved Providers of Supplemental
Educational Services For School Year 2015-2016 document. The district is not allowed to pay for the
services of tutors who do not appear on the list. We are also not allowed to recommend a
provider. Once
you notify us of your
choice of provider, we will do the work required to enroll your child with that
provider. Tutoring services must be
provided after or before school hours, during vacations, or on weekends. This tutoring cannot happen during the school day, and may not be able to
occur at the school. Parents are
responsible for providing transportation.
If you have any questions or concerns about
supplemental tutoring services please feel free to contact me at school and I
will work with you to find the answers.
Sincerely,
Stacy Rice
Principal
