Avery County Schools Policy Policy Code: 3405

STUDENTS AT-RISK OF ACADEMIC FAILURE

It is the goal of the board that all students will make adequate academic progress each year and thereby acquire the skills necessary for secondary education and career success. To realize this goal, students who are at risk of academic failure and who are not successfully progressing toward grade promotion and graduation must be identified and provided additional assistance. The principal or designee is responsible for ensuring that teachers identify students at risk and that the school improvement team develops a plan to include successful transition between grade spans for such students in compliance with G.S. 115C-105.41.

A. IDENTIFICATION OF AND ASSISTANCE TO STUDENTS AT RISK

    The superintendent shall organize available resources to implement a multi-tiered
    system of support (MTSS) that uses data-driven problem-solving and research-
    based instructional practices for all students. The superintendent shall establish
    processes and standards for addressing concerns about student performance and
    for documenting student responses to research-based instruction and interventions
    within the MTSS. Using information about the student’s response to instruction
    and/or interventions and other student performance data, school personnel must
    identify students at risk of academic failure as early as reasonably may be done
    beginning in kindergarten. School administrators and teachers shall address the
    needs of students identified as at risk of academic failure through the supports
    available in the MTSS and/or other processes established by the superintendent.
    The parents or guardians of such students should be included, through oral or
    written communication or other means, in the implementation and review of
    academic and/or behavioral interventions for their children.

B. Transition Plans

    Transitions in the school environment can be stressful experiences that pose
    academic, social and emotional challenges for students. Addressing students’
    academic, social and emotional needs to create successful transitions provides
    students with a better chance of academic success. A comprehensive and
    coordinated transition plan will be implemented for students who are at risk of
    academic failure in order to facilitate their educational transitions between
    elementary school and middle school and between middle school and high school.

    The superintendent shall appoint a transition team to design, implement and
    evaluate a school system transition plan. This team will be comprised of
    stakeholders who can identify the needs of students at the different developmental
    levels and implement plans that produce positive results for students at risk of

Avery County Schools Policy Code: 3405 Page 1 of 2 academic failure. Such stakeholders may include principals, teachers, support staff and other school system employees, parents of students in the school system, and local business and community leaders such as civic group leaders, health department personnel, preschool and Head Start program personnel, faith community leaders, and personnel from local colleges, universities and community colleges. At each school, the school improvement team shall use the school system transition plan to design a school-based transition plan tailored to meet the specific needs of that school’s population. The transition plan may be included in the school improvement plan. See policy 3430, School Improvement Plan.

    The transition plans should be designed to encourage successful transitions that
    foster respect for individual differences, encourage understanding of the whole
    child, create a sense of trust and belonging, and reduce child and family anxiety
    about school. The plans must include an on-going evaluation process to verify
    that the outcomes established for the different transition levels are being
    accomplished and that these goals are updated as student data and environmental
    changes occur.

Legal References: G.S. 115C-105.41; State Board of Education Policy DROP-001

Cross References: School Improvement Plan (policy 3430)

Other Resources: NC DPI Memorandum to LEAs Re: Session Law 2015-46, (August 11, 2015), available at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/superintendents/messages/2015/08/education- plans-memo.pdf; NC DPI Multi-Tiered System of Support resource page, available at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/responsiveness/; Transition Planning for 21st Century Schools, N.C. State Board of Education/Department of Public Instruction, available at http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/docs/curriculum/home/transitions.pdf

Adopted: 5/9/11 Revised: 6/11/13; 12/10/13; 2/16/16; 4/28/17

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