Dear Parent/Guardian:

Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, states are required to designate schools for support and improvement based on both schoolwide (Comprehensive Support and Improvement) and student group (Additional Targeted Support and Improvement) performance on a range of academic and student success measures. These designations replace “Priority” and “Focus” school which were under No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

Agora is one of roughly 100 schools statewide designated for Comprehensive Support and Improvement. This is not a surprise to us, and for the past year we have been expecting this and have been preparing accordingly. This designation is based on data suggesting the need for additional supports to improve schoolwide performance in the following areas: academic proficiency on state assessments, academic growth, and graduation cohort rate.

This designation will mean additional resources for our school and provide an opportunity for our school to partner with stakeholders to identify our school community’s most pressing needs, select strategies to support those needs, and work together to implement the selected strategies. Knowing what our needs are, we have proactively incorporated many strategies in the Comprehensive Plan that was recently approved by our board and the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

If you would like more information, please feel free to contact Dr. Anne Butler at abutler@agora.org.