Title I Schoolwide Notifications

Parent’s Right to Know Notification

Through federal education law, parents have the right to request information on the professional qualifications of the teachers and paraprofessionals at our school. If you are interested in learning this information, please contact the school administration office at (701) 466-2461. Upon this request, you will receive a detailed explanation of the licensing, education, and experience of each of our teachers. You will also receive information regarding the names and qualifications of the paraprofessionals at our school.

Accessibility to Schoolwide Plan Notification

               Leeds Public School operated a Schoolwide Title I program. Our schoolwide plan is reviewed on an annual basis at the annual meeting each Spring. Teachers, administrators, parents, and others are part of the review process. The components of our schoolwide plan may be viewed on the school website www.leeds.k12.nd.us or by contacting the school office.

               Website Notification of Interactive Dashboard

North Dakota has an accountability system reported through Insights, more commonly referred to as the “Dashboard”. The Dashboard contains reports that display the performance of school districts, schools, and student groups on a set of state and local measures to assist in identifying strengths, challenges, and areas in need of additional support. North Dakota’s Insights website is designed to help communities across the state access important information about K-12 districts and school – including ours.

The North Dakota Dashboard features easy-to-read reports on multiple measures of school success, including test scores, graduation rates, English Learner progress and attendance. The Dashboard replaces the former School District Report Card and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) reports. Please note, data made available to the public masks or hides data for groups with fewer than 10 students to protect confidential information about individual students.

For questions concerning K-12 education data, please contact the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. Phone: (701) 328-2260.  You may also direct questions regarding our specific district data to Jeff Manley, Superintendent at (701) 466-2461.

Title I Plan

COMPREHENSIVE NEEDS ASSESSMENT

LEEDS PUBLIC SCHOOL

2023-2024

The Leeds Public School collects data ongoing throughout the school year.  We use this data to continually review and analyze the programs within our school.  This data review is considered a comprehensive needs assessment process. The chart below outlines the types of data collected and reviewed.

Data Type

Data Source

Demographic Data

·       Enrollment

·       Attendance and Truancy

·       Mobility

·       Grade Levels

·       Free & Reduced Meals

·       Special Needs

·       Gender

·       Referrals

Perception Data

·       Parent Survey

·       Student Survey

·       Staff Survey

·       Community Survey

·       Title I Survey

Student Achievement Data

·       FastBridge

·       NDSA

·       Curriculum Baseline Assessments in Reading & Math

·       Unit Assessments in Reading and Math

·       Classroom Grades and Report Cards

·       Student Writing samples

Program Data

·       Curriculum Implementation & Standards

·       Special Needs Services

·       Implementation of Professional Development

·       Participation in Professional Development

·       Parent/community volunteer data

·       Field Trips and Online Classes

The Leeds School host PLC and Continuous Improvement meetings throughout the year to review the above data with all school teaching staff.  The entire school teaching staff is involved in reviewing the data and surveys to address concerns and gather ideas to implement new strategies that will improve the education of all our students.

DEMOGRAPHIC DATA:

Trends in Demographics:

Our student enrollment has been stable to a slight decrease over the past 2 years. The number of free and reduced students has also been stable. The one EL student that attended last year does not attend our school as their family moved. The number of Special Education students and students receiving Section 504 services has increased since last year.

Actions to change:

We have increased minutes and paraprofessional assistance with our Special Education and Section 504 students in order to meet their needs.

PERCEPTION DATA:

Stakeholder surveys (community, parent, students, and staff) are released in the spring to gather perception data from all our stakeholders.  This information is used to make improvements to both our school improvement plan and our Title I plan.  Perception data is also obtained by the ND Student Engagement Surveys that is given to our 3 – 5 and 6 – 8 grade elementary students and 9 – 12 grade high school students.

The results of these surveys will help make informed improvement decisions going forward for Leeds School.

Trends in Perception:

Our stakeholder surveys from last year showed that most parents, students, and staff have a positive outlook on school operations. Two noticeable areas are: 1) That parents would like more communication from the school on grades and assignments and school activities, and 2) Students felt that teachers should give more opportunities to demonstrate knowledge. Our student engagement survey was given earlier this year. The results showed a high level of committed ratings for elementary and middle school students, but a much lower rating at the high school level.

Actions to change:

-We have focused on increased communication and awareness of communication by the school to parents. Our P/T conferences have been very well attended and families seem to notice the increased communication. Our school will be adopting a new school website and school app through a company called Apptegy, which will also increase our communication and exposure to families and the community.

-While not an unknown trend for many high school students to develop a less-engaged mindset towards school, it is not something that our school district is willing to accept. We have, and will continue to, stress active learning and engagement by our teachers. Rote learning as a continual method of instruction is not challenging. Our administrators will continue to reinforce our Marzano teaching model with our teaching staff and look to enhancing teaching strategies to meet the needs of our students.

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT DATA:

North Dakota State Assessment measures students' performance against the state’s challenging content and achievement standards in academic subjects.  Leeds School reviews the results to identify trends within our school and areas of need.

The NDSA data from 2022-23 showed that as a district our ELA scores slightly increased and our Math scores slightly decreased.

We are still in the process of implementing our new FastBridge assessment tool this year. Our data is incomplete so far this year. FastBridge was purchased 2023-2024 school year as our universal screener, diagnostic assessment, intervention placement, and progress monitoring tool. The past assessment results of NWEA MAP did get us off to a good start for the 2023-24 school year with data and we hope the transition to FastBridge allows us to make smoother transitions with student learning and progress monitoring for all students.

Teachers use a variety of assessments within their classrooms to monitor their students' progress. These assessments allow for adjustments in teaching plans for students that are not making growth.  They are also used to indicate intervention strategies needed.

Leeds Elementary teachers and Title I teacher analyze data and communicated throughout the school year. Assessment review helps keep teachers aware of student's needs and advancements.  The team identifies areas of student need and put together interventions for students that need to improve reading and math skills.  The teachers also work with the team to schedule meetings with teachers, specialists, and parents for any student that may be having emotional, behavioral, or learning issues.  This is helpful in getting the students services they need as soon as possible. 

Trends in Student Achievement Data

- The NDSA data from 2022-23 showed that as a district our ELA scores slightly increased and our Math scores slightly decreased.

-Classroom formative assessments by teachers have shown that students are meeting learning objectives based on ND State Standards.

-High percentages of students in all grades have ‘A’ & ‘B’ grades and are on the honor roll based on grade point averages.

Actions to change:

-We must implement our FastBridge assessment on a regular basis throughout the school year to better assess student learning.

-The FastBridge tool will also assist our MTSS program that we have implemented this year. The MTSS team created reading pathways for interventions for grades K – 12.  These interventions have started in the 2023 - 2024 school year. We have made some progress with MTSS this year but feel improvements will continue to be made.

PROGRAM DATA:

Leeds School created an MTSS leadership team and completed the NDMTSS Developing Pathways for Academics during the 2022-2023 school year.  Through this process the team created pathways for reading interventions that will be implemented in the 2023-2024 school year. 

FastBridge was purchased 2023-2024 school year as our universal screener, diagnostic assessment, intervention placement, and progress monitoring tool.

To address the ND DPI Science of Reading (SoR) initiative, Leeds Elementary School created SoR groups.  Students were leveled according to reading abilities/skills and worked in small reading intervention groups.  Three certified teachers went into every K – 3 grade classroom and worked with each group for 30 minutes per day concentrating on phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, and comprehension in an effort to increase the students’ literacy skills.

An elementary reading team was developed to address the needs for a new reading curriculum for grades K – 5th grade.  The team attended a curriculum fair where they were able to view multiple reading curriculums and narrowed their choices down to three.  The team then met with teachers in PLCs to go over the sample curriculums.  The team presented administration their choice of a new reading curriculum and Amplify CKLA was purchased to be implemented in the 2023-2024 school year.

LETRS professional development was offered to our elementary teachers to concentrate on our early childhood literacy knowledge.  Our kindergarten and first grade teachers took the LETRS I training during the 2022-2023 school year.  Their recommendation to administration was for all K – 3 grade teachers to take this training in the 2023-2024 school year to continue to make improvements in our literacy instruction.  Additionally, LETRS II training will be offered to individuals completing LETRS I training.

Trends in Programs

Continuing our school growth with the MTSS process and use of the FastBridge assessment is needed throughout the school year. Our school needs to keep advancing these programs and keep the training of staff up to date to ensure the use of these processes.

In collaboration with teachers during PLC’s at the beginning of the school year, administration was made aware of a lack of academic resources in some content areas throughout K-12.

Actions to change:

-We have assessed our Social Studies curriculum during the 2023-24 and are making curriculum and resource development a priority leading into the 2024-25 school year.

-Administration has developed a cycle (rotation) of curriculum review for future years to make sure resources are kept current, so as to provide teachers and students with high quality materials.

RATIONAL FOR GOALS:

Leeds School has recognized the need for data-driven instruction and a formal intervention system over the past few years. Being in a small school gives us the benefit of informal conversations about interventions, but there is a need for a more formal process to identify students.  Additionally, Leeds School realized the need to create an integrated data collection system that includes assessments such as state tests, universal screening, diagnostics, progress monitoring to inform decisions about tiered support placement.

Student academic growth in reading continues to be a concern as students continued to decline in the fall of 2022.  Due to distance learning and extended absences due to the pandemic, we projected this to be an issue with our students.

Leeds School continues to see the effects of the pandemic on our students social emotional and behavioral health.  More students are being diagnosed with anxiety and the need for more consistent counseling measures was identified.    

MEETING GOALS:

Leeds School created an MTSS leadership team and completed the NDMTSS Developing Pathways for Academics during the 2022-2023 school year.  Through this process the team created pathways for reading interventions that will be implemented in the 2023-2024 school year. 

In addition, the team identified a new assessment tool, FastBridge, that would provide a more comprehensive assessment plan.  This tool will help Leeds School use data to drive instruction and help establish a tiered level of support for students.  FastBridge was purchased 2023-2024 school year as our universal screener, diagnostic assessment, intervention placement, and progress monitoring tool.

Leeds School has a new part-time guidance counselor for the 2023-24 School year.  The need to provide our students with a more consistent guidance program was identified as there has been constant turnover in this position over the past several years. This has been a positive change, and the counselor has implemented SEL curriculum with elementary, middle school, and high school students that has been a need.

2023 - 2024 TITLE I GOALS

Goal #1: Data & Intervention

·       Implementation of MTSS across all grade level, K – 12

·       Implementation of new assessment tool, FastBridge,

·       Continue to develop assessment process to drive instruction and interventions

Goal #2: Behavioral/Social Emotional (PBIS/MTSS Behaviors)

·       Teach students about behavior expectations and strategies focusing on prevention not punishment.

Goal #3: Reading/ELA Achievement 

·       Continue our goal to increase reading/ELA achievement levels for all students.

·       Implementation of new reading curriculum  

Documentation of Coordination of Programs, Services, and Resources

Leeds Public School District

2023-2024

All programs within the Leeds Public School are coordinated and integrated together to help meet the intentions of the schoolwide plan. Below are specific examples of how various federal programs and other services and resources are integrated to help support our schoolwide goals and initiatives.

Preschool:  Leeds Public School offers a free preschool program to students who are 4 years of age.  They attend school full-days, 3 days per week.  They are taught by a licensed teacher. 

Transition program includes preschool students riding the bus with all the other students.  They attend physical education, music, recess, and lunch along with our regular elementary classes.  Preschool students are also invited to various elementary activities and celebrations throughout the year.

Students promoted from preschool will attend our kindergarten program which consists of full school days, 5 days a week.

Special Services: Leeds School contracts Lake Region Special Education to provide special education services to our students.  They provide services full days, Monday through Friday. Leeds School has a part-time guidance counselor to provide services to our students.  Leeds School also benefits from the following professionals who help enhance the education of all our students.

·       Speech and Language – Two afternoons per week

·       Social Worker – Wednesday, all day

·       Occupational and Physical Therapists – As needed

·       ELL Coordinator – As needed

Adult education, parenting programs, and other educational program information within our community is made available to our families. 

Homeless: The principal is the homeless liaison who coordinates with the social worker, guidance counselor, and local services regarding housing programs, financial assistance, counseling, etc. as needed.  The liaison will also ensure that homeless children and youth have the opportunity to succeed academically.  

Title I Program: Leeds teachers and staff take an active role in the schoolwide Title I program.  Leeds School has one full-time Title I teacher. The principal, teachers, and data team make sure all assessments are administered, and data compiled and reviewed.  The MTSS team works closely with teachers and Title I instructor in providing benchmark and progress monitoring data along with providing appropriate reading interventions.  The principal and Title I teacher are responsible for organizing Title I parent informational meetings and annual reports.

The Title I teacher provides whole class instruction and/or works alongside the classroom teachers to provide group work and create appropriate interventions for the students.  Additionally, the Title I instructor organizes pull-out interventions for those students with the greatest need.

Program Description

Title 1, Part D – Neglected and Delinquent Program

Leeds School does not have any students qualifying for these services at this time.  The principal is the Neglected and Delinquent Coordinator and works closely with Lake Region Special Education, Social Services, and other area resources within the area if any special assistance is needed for families.

Title II, Part A – Teacher and Principal Quality

Being a small school with less than 15 students per classroom, Leeds School utilizes these funds to pay for the salary for our Title 1 teacher and paraprofessionals.

Title IV, Part B

Leeds School utilizes these funds to pay for the salary for our Title 1 teacher and paraprofessionals.

Title V

Leeds School utilizes these funds to pay for the salary for our Title 1 teacher and paraprofessionals.

Staff: Several certified paraprofessionals provide tutoring for eligible students and assist struggling students in reading and math both inside and outside of the classroom.  Their function is to provide further instruction and assistance to help these students be successful in the classroom.  Additionally, the school uses high school students as teacher assistants to support student learning in the classroom.

All teachers within Leeds School are highly qualified and have either a bachelor's or master's degree.  Additionally, all elementary teachers have completed the Science of Reading mandated training. Our K – 3 grade teachers have been enrolled in the LETERS training in an effort to help strengthen our reading program and Science of Reading initiative.  

Professional Development: Leeds School is a member of NESC which holds local in-services in the fall.  Leeds School participates in the Benson-Wells-Ramsey PLC Day in January.  This in-service hosts an educational speaker along with break-out sessions on various educational topics.  Additionally, it consists of PLC for specific areas, giving our teacher time to visit with others in their field. Teachers and staff members are required to attend these in-services as they are based on scientifically based methods to improve instruction.  This information is brought back to the Leeds classrooms to improve the education of our students. 

Leeds School sets aside professional development on a monthly basis. A typical monthly focus follows:

1st Wednesday of Month - Early out PD-FastBridge & MTSS updates or school safety training

2nd Wednesday of the month - Elementary PLC-assessment and student concerns

3rd Wednesday of the month - High School PLC-assessment and student concerns

4th Wednesday of the month – Cognia School Improvement Committee Meetings

Additionally, professional development is encouraged and reimbursement of classes up to $400 is provided to the teaching staff.  Leeds School also contracts professional development services from NESC and other organizations for on-site visits as needed.

Curriculum: Leeds Elementary School adopted a new reading curriculum, Amplify CKLA for the 2023-24 school year.  This basal program is for grades K – 6 which includes vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, and phonics combines with instruction and practice.  This program integrates grammar, writing, and spelling for a total language arts approach.  This program includes materials and strategies for students in all levels of reading: on grade level, advanced, or below grade level. 

To better align our reading program and better prepare our 6th graders for our JH/High School reading curriculum, we updated their reading curriculum to Study Sync which is a comprehensive ELA curriculum for grades 6 – 12. Study Sync integrates reading and writing with skill lessons to build foundational language skills along with reading, writing and research skills.

Additional reading supports come through Raz Plus and Reading A – Z. These programs graduate levels of difficulty to build students’ confidence while increasing comprehension and fluency.  The programs support classroom instruction in comprehension, vocabulary, and closed reading.  These programs are used within the classroom and Title I room for independent reading, group work, and intervention.

The elementary math serious for grades K – 6 is Eureka Math.  This curriculum sequences mathematical progressions over the grades.  Its focus is on key concepts that progress over time.  Students develop math knowledge, using the same models and problem-solving methods from grade to grade so math concepts stay the same year after year.  Eureka Math connects math to real world concepts and provides multi-step problems.  The series builds warm-ups and reviews into the lessons.  It has practice problems, homework problems, and assessments. 

Zearn Math aligns with our math curriculum and is used in our K – 5 classrooms.  This program has lessons and hands-on practice.  It has frequent checks for understanding, interactive visuals to keep lessons fun and entertaining.  The program provides feedback to students and has alternative interventions and enrichment opportunities for the students.

Schoolwide Reform Strategies

At Leeds School implemented during the 2022-23 school year, we implemented small group Reading reinforcement instruction in grades K-3. Reading groups were divided into three categories:

1 )Approaching  2) On Level  3) Beyond. This provided reading instruction and opportunities at a more individualized level.

In addition to the instructional support strategies and practices listed below, Leeds School uses Lexia to reinforce phonics and IXL to set individualized assessment questions and reinforcement.

Additional Instructional Support

Supplemental instructional strategies, that are research-based, used in the Title I program:

Reviewing                                                                                       Word attack skills-Sonday

Reteaching-using Eureka Math Series                                     Master of math facts-Mad Minute Timed Math Drills

Comprehension-Jamestown Readers (McGraw-Hill)            Problem Solving-Eureka Math

Read Naturally, Reading A-Z                                                      Tara West developed strategies

Phonemic Instruction: Klein Method Early Reading Mastery

Scholastic Sight Word Readers

Evidence of Scientifically-Based Research Practices

Direct vocabulary instruction                                                    Small group learning-Jamestown Readers

Fluency instruction-Read Naturally                                         Number sense

Repeated oral reading                                                                 Use of manipulatives

NWEA for Math and Reading                                                    Science of Reading-based practices

LETRS trained staff

Leeds Public School District

Documentation of Annual Review Meeting 

On May 21, 2024, the Annual Spring Title I Review Meeting was held at 3:45 pm in the Leeds School Cafeteria. Presentations were made by our Superintendent Jeff Manley and our Title I Instructor Janel McGarvey. Almost all Pre-K – 6th grade Elementary staff were in attendance except for our 4th grade teacher who was unable to attend.

Agenda Items:

·      Information regarding the Comprehensive Needs Assessment and its pertinence to our school was distributed.

·      2023-2024 Schoolwide Goals were reviewed through discussion of provided handouts. An analysis was executed of the implementation, achievement, and productiveness of goals, as well as the incompletion to fullest extent of certain goals. 

·      We reviewed the Coordination of other Programs within Leeds School.

·      Findings from the parent and family engagement survey were shared.

·       We examined the academic data obtained through NDSA and Fast Bridge.

·      An update regarding our implementation of the MTSS structure was given.

·      Lauren Follman, our School Counselor, provided a synopsis on the implementation of goals in relation to behavioral/social emotional behavior (PBIS/MTSS Behaviors).

·      A discussion of instructional strategies within elementary classrooms and the Title program was conducted. We evaluated the implementation of CKLA, our new reading curriculum. Input was shared as to the effectiveness of the program, the results of assessments used within the program, and the weaknesses which will need to be addressed in the upcoming academic year.

·      A report on our school’s attendance was provided.

Meeting Minutes:

After a thorough discussion on the above items, it has been determined that the following changes will take place during the 2024-2025 school year regarding the schoolwide plan and its initiatives.

·      A goal of the 2023-2024 school year was the implementation of Fast Bridge, a new assessment tool for our school. We were able to conduct a pilot run of this program in the spring semester. Based on data obtained, our data analysis committee was able to determine there exists an overall performance weakness among our students within the realms of phonemic awareness and phonics instruction. Therefore, we will continue to identify programs to specifically zone in on this academic content area which can be implemented during our MTSS intervention time. Our goal is to find adequate supplemental resources to purchase and put in place for interventions. We also discussed groupings among students to best meet individual needs during our ongoing implementation of MTSS across all grade levels, K-12. Our goal within this realm is to make sure that our designated intervention time will bring about individualized improvement among our students within this realm of reading. Evidence as to whether this goal of improvement is being met will be obtained through the analysis of ongoing data collection through Fast Bridge.

·      To help our teaching staff better interpret student assessment results, we will focus on analyzing student scores and assessment data through monthly PLC meetings. Thus, our goal is to establish these meetings to interpret data and to use this information to further drive instruction and interventions within the 2024-2025 school year.

·      A goal of the 2023-2024 school year was to implement our new reading curriculum within the elementary. Based on discussion held during the annual Title I review meeting; we have determined that supplemental instruction needs to be put in place to support weaknesses evidenced through our Fast Bridge results. Fast Bridge indicated a general trend of some risk to high risk below the goal line within areas of phonemic awareness and phonics and fluency. Teachers agreed that CKLA provides a strong knowledge base but presents weaknesses in phoneme, grapheme, and phonics instruction. UFLI has been purchased with the goal of using this program to support our reading curriculum and provide additional phonemic awareness and phonics instruction. Additionally, our lower elementary staff has completed a year of LETRS training. This training appears to be beneficial to drive instruction so another goal would be to implement strategies learned through LETRS training within the classroom to increase reading/ELA achievement levels for all students. Some staff members have completed the full 2-year LETRS training while other staff will complete the final year during the 2024-2025 school year.

We will continue with our initiatives in the following areas:

·      A goal of the 2023-2024 school year was the implementation of Fast Bridge, a new assessment tool for our school. We were able to conduct a pilot run of this program in the spring semester. Based on this, we want to extend our goal of implementation into the 2024-2025 school year.

·      A goal of the 2023-2024 school year was to increase reading/ELA achievement levels for all students. This is an ongoing effort that should be put in place for the 2024-2025 school year as evidenced by assessment data.

·      We will continue to host reading and math parent participation events.

We will determine our effectiveness by:

·      Reviewing assessment data to help create the best learning environment for our students.

·      Using data to drive instruction and interventions.

·      Gathering parental and staff input on the programs being implemented.