As a parent, you play an important role in your child's education. The NCLB Act (Waiver) seeks to provide every student with a high quality education. It states that students are to be challenged to meet high standards, taught by highly qualified teachers using proven teaching methods and be able to learn in a safe, drug-free environment.

Parents have the right to know about their individual school's performance by viewing the district and state progress targets and performance reports. We have set high standards of what students should know and be able to do. The state has set specific standards for reading, math and science; and, standards-based assessments to measure progress, achievement, and an accountability system.

View Progress Targets & Performance Reports

Parents receive right to know letters regarding each teacher's qualifications. In New Jersey a teacher receives a certificate for teaching and also must obtain the status of Highly Qualified.

Parents may review the curriculum by visiting http://www.manchestertwp.org/departments/curriculum-guides.

The NCLB Act (Waiver) also states that your child has a right to attend a safe school. As you visit our schools you will see that we have security procedures in place.

Get involved in your child's education, attend meetings and share your thoughts, concerns and ideas. Help your child complete homework and make sure that he understands how important it is to do well in school. We suggest you become a member of the PTA, join a family involvement workshop, or contact us for specific activities at your school. Throughout the year your school will have opportunities for you to be involved. There will be exhilarating activities in the arts and sport activities. Classrooms will offer interesting activities to which you will be invited. Please contact your school.

If you have any questions about NCLB, you can visit this US Department of Education's web site: http://www.nochildleftbehind.gov, or call your school.

Under the Title I program, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) provides supplemental funding to local school districts to meet the needs of students in a school with a certain percentage of at-risk and low income students. The purpose of this funding is "to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high quality education and reach, at minimum, proficiency on challenging state academic achievement standards and state academic assessments,” according to the DOE.

DOE Website

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed by President Obama on December 10, 2015, and represents good news for our nation’s schools. This bipartisan measure reauthorizes the 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the nation’s national education law and longstanding commitment to equal opportunity for all students.

The new law builds on key areas of progress in recent years, made possible by the efforts of educators, communities, parents, and students across the country.

The previous version of the law, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, was enacted in 2002. NCLB represented a significant step forward for our nation’s children in many respects, particularly as it shined a light on where students were making progress and where they needed additional support, regardless of race, income, zip code, disability, home language, or background. The law was scheduled for revision in 2007, and, over time, NCLB’s prescriptive requirements became increasingly unworkable for schools and educators. Recognizing this fact, in 2010, the Obama administration joined a call from educators and families to create a better law that focused on the clear goal of fully preparing all students for success in college and careers.

ESSA Highlights

President Obama signs the Every Student Succeeds Act into law on December 10, 2015.

ESSA includes provisions that will help to ensure success for students and schools. Below are just a few. The law:

• Advances equity by upholding critical protections for America's disadvantaged and high-need students.
• Requires—for the first time—that all students in America be taught to high academic standards that will prepare them to succeed in college and careers.
• Ensures that vital information is provided to educators, families, students, and communities through annual statewide assessments that measure students' progress toward those high standards.
• Helps to support and grow local innovations—including evidence-based and place-based interventions developed by local leaders and educators—consistent with our Investing in Innovation and Promise Neighborhoods
• Sustains and expands this administration's historic investments in increasing access to high-quality preschool.
• Maintains an expectation that there will be accountability and action to effect positive change in our lowest-performing schools, where groups of students are not making progress, and where graduation rates are low over extended periods of time.

For more information, visit: ESSA Website ( http://www.ed.gov/esea)

Since ESSA has some distinct changes, please feel free to look at the following for more information:

http://www.state.nj.us/education/ESSA/guidance/njdoe/DistrictGuide.pdf

ww.state.nj.us/education/ESSA/guidance/fed/

A "Title I School'' is a school that is eligible to receive Title I funding. For an entire school to qualify for Title I funds, at least 40% of students must enroll in the free and reduced lunch program. Title I funds can be used to improve curriculum and programs, to increase staff, or for instructional activities, counseling and parental involvement. In the Manchester Township School District, the following schools receive Title I funding: Ridgeway Elementary School, Manchester Township Elementary School, Whiting Elementary School and the Manchester Township Middle School.

For more information, visit: NJ Title I Program (http://www.nj.gov/education/title1/)

Under NCLB, schools must make adequate yearly progress on state testing and focus on best teaching practices in order to continue receiving funds. In Manchester, we currently have four schools that receive Title I funding.

An important part of NCLB is the area that focuses on parental involvement and encourages districts to help parents be partners in their children’s education.

We encourage parents to keep aware of their right to know certain information about their child's records, school and teachers - see our "Right to Know'' letters on our Annual Notices page.

• We encourage our parents to keep informed about their school's performance on state testing and on the NCLB "status'' of their child's school by viewing the annual NJ School Performance Reports . This report card presents school-, district-, and state-level information in those areas mandated by NCLB, such as Adequate Yearly Progress; information on highly qualified teachers; attendance and dropout data; and assessment data that has incorporated all of the conditions mandated under NCLB for meeting federally approved proficiency levels.

• We encourage our parents to keep informed by attending Board of Education meetings, viewing our district and school websites, reviewing their children's teachers' class pages online and making sure they have an e-mail address registered with the district.

• We encourage our parents to get involved by joining your school's PTA, attending school events, assisting with school fundraising activities and engaging in conversations with fellow parents and school and district staff members. See our District Title I Parent Involvement Policy.

• We encourage our parents to communicate with your child's teacher and with your school and district administrative staff and to attend Back to School Night events (typically in September and October) and parent-teacher conferences (typically in November or by request), which can be found on the district's monthly calendar.

• Parents are encouraged to offer input and suggestions to the Board of Education and school and district administration on how the district can maintain a safe and healthy school environment. Every board meeting has an open public forum where any questions or suggestions can be addressed and our administrative team can be reached by phone or e-mail.

• Parents have the right to know about teacher qualifications. In New Jersey, a teacher receives a certificate for teaching and also must obtain the status of "highly qualified'' in their area. Each year in our annual notices, we post information about the status of our teaching staff. See our Highly Qualified Teacher Letter. This information is also available in the NCLB Report Card.