Curriculum

Ohio Department of Education Website 

On this site, students can access tutorial resources, a practice assessment, and scoring rubrics for State Assessments.

Follow the instructions below to access: 

• Click on the Resources tab
• On the Student Practice Resources folder near top left click on the Student Tutorials and Tools link to access many resources that will explain the multiple types of questions that will be seen on the State Assessment 
• Click on the Student Practice Site link to access a practice test for Social Studies (grades 4, 6, 10, and 11) or Science (grades 5, 8, and 9) 
• Click the Sign In button
• Select your desired grade from the drop down menu
• Click the green Yes button.  Note: You do not need to input any personal information whatsoever. 
• Select the link to take the practice PBA  (i.e., "Start G4 SocStudies PBA" or “Start Phys Science PBA")
• Go back to the same screen as above take the practice EOY (i.e., select "Start G4 SocStudies EOY" or “Start Phys Science EOY”)

Ohio Department of Education Graduation Requirements 

On this site, students and parents will find information from the Ohio Department of Education on the new graduation requirements which are in effect for all students who entered 9th grade for the first time during the 2014-15 school year and beyond.  

Please note: The18 points or more that a student must accumulate in order to qualify for graduation will come from scoring 1 to 5 points on each of seven state end of course exams (English I, English II, Algebra I, Geometry, Physical Science, American History, and American Government). 

Visit the ODE website 

The District Test Security Procedures ensure all involved that there are purposeful and specific procedures in place to ensure the security and accurate delivery and reporting of your child’s state assessments.  If you have any questions about this summary document, please contact your child’s building principal or district test coordinator Jenna Steinberg at 330.491.3877.

Per Ohio Administrative Code 3301-13-05, the district is required to develop and maintain District Test Security Procedures and make them available to parents and students.  These procedures, as they pertain to students and staff, are summarized below. Plain Local Schools will post the security procedures on our website as well as distribute to all staff.  Additional security training will be conducted by the district test coordinator on the District Test Security Procedures as well as the written procedures set forth by the Ohio Department of Education.

Authorized Personnel 
The Plain Local School District appoints a district test coordinator (DTC) and building test coordinator (BTC) at each building who are responsible for handling and tracking test materials before, during and after published testing windows. Additionally, licensed professionals in the buildings receive specific and targeted training in order to be prepared to administer state assessments.  

Handling and Tracking Procedures for Secure Test Materials
The district test coordinator is responsible for ordering and providing all secure test materials. As secure materials arrive in the district, the district test coordinator conducts an inventory of all materials, prepares and securely delivers materials to the appropriate buildings. The building test coordinator(s) are responsible for the security and distribution of test materials at the building level. When testing is completed, the building test coordinator(s) conduct an inventory of materials then package and arrange for the secure return of materials to the district test coordinator. Any required materials are then returned to the testing company for scoring.

Test Security Violations
Immediately upon notification of an alleged test security violation, unethical testing practice or violation of the district’s test security procedures, the district test coordinator (DTC) should be notified. The district test coordinator (DTC)will notify the Superintendent and conduct an investigation.  Within 10 days of concluding the investigation, the district shall notify the Office of Assessment at the Ohio Department of Education in writing the findings of the alleged violation as well as any action taken by the school district. 

Security violations before or during a test administration:

• Reviewing a test’s content or student answers
• Using a student’s login information to access test content 
• Reviewing the test and creating a study guide or reviewing with students 
• Describing the test questions in an e-mail or discussing the test questions with anyone
• Coaching a student in any manner 
• Leaving students unattended during testing for any amount of time

After the test administration:

• Posting any portion of the test content, verbatim or paraphrased, and/or a student response on social media before, during or after the test administration;
• Marking or changing a student’s response 
• Failing to collect and securely shred any scratch paper that was provided and used
• Failing to account for and return any secure paper test materials
• Discussing test questions after the test has been administered
• Describing the test questions in an e-mail or discussing the test questions with anyone

Consequences for an employee of a confirmed test violation will be investigated by the district.  Each situation will be reviewed for possible consequences.

Test Invalidations
A test invalidation is required when a test has been compromised by a student, test administrator or unauthorized party to the test administration. Invalidating a student’s test cancels the student’s test opportunity. After an alleged testing violation the situation will be investigated by the district. Upon the findings the DTC will contact the Office of Assessment as needed and follow their recommendations for an invalidation.  The student is subject to school disciplinary action and the results of their test may be invalidated. 

Electronic Device and Social Media Policy
All student personal electronic devices, other than the testing device, should not be brought into the testing locations. Any personal electronic devices students have will be required to power off and then turned into the Test Administrator prior to testing. This includes cell phones, smart  watches, tablets and any other electronic device.  No student is permitted to use a cell phone or other electronic device during test administration.  Students with a device during testing are cause for an invalidation. Students will receive their devices back as they exit the testing location. Staff are permitted to use their cell phone for medical and technological emergencies, as a timekeeper or other test related actions. If any test questions, passages or prompts have been posted on any social medium, the district must immediately contact the Office of Assessment. This is a test security violation. The student’s test opportunity is over, and the test needs to be invalidated. No breach test is allowed.

What is Title I, Part A

Title I, Part A is a federal program designed “To provide all children significant opportunity to receive a fair, equitable, and high-quality education, and to close educational achievement gaps.” 

Title I, Part A funding can support early learning and Kindergarten to grade 12.

Title I Dollar Support

• Title I Staff: Literacy Specialists and Title I Tutors 

• School Community Liaisons

• Parent Engagement Activities and Programs

• Online Reading and Math programs

School-Level Parent and Family Engagement Survey

• Please complete the Parent and Family Engagement Survey that will be sent in your school’s electronic newsletter during the Spring of each year.

• The results of this survey will be utilized to help in the development of the Title I School-Level Parent and Family Engagement Plan and future activities, events, and workshops.

Students participating in the Title I, Part A program, and their families, agree that this compact outlines how the parents, the entire school staff and the students will share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement and the means by which the school and parents will build and develop a partnership that will help children achieve and their highest ability and to the standards set by the state of Ohio.  This school-parent compact is in effect during the 2023-2024 school year.

Title I is a federally funded program that allows qualifying schools to provide supplemental services for students in need of assistance in reading and math.  Your school is fortunate to qualify for and participate in the Title I program.  Needs assessment surveys completed by parents and staff in the spring of each year along with a review of state test results will be used to help develop the Title I program, measure the effectiveness of the program, and make changes in the program as needed.

School Responsibilities

The school will:

• Provide high quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables students to meet the state’s student academic achievement goals.

• Hold parent-teacher conferences to discuss the individual child’s academic achievement and growth.

• Provide parents with frequent reports on their child’s progress.

• Provide parents reasonable access to staff.

• Provide parents opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child’s class and to observe classroom activities (this may be limited due to the COVID pandemic).

• Provide parents communications in a language they can understand.

Parent Responsibilities:

We, as parents, will support our child’s learning in the following ways:

• Encourage our child to put forth his/her best effort.

• Help our child to read and to pursue his/her interests and goals.

• Stay informed about my child’s education and communicate with the school by promptly reading all notices from the school either received by the child or by mail, and responding as appropriate.

Student Responsibilities: 

We, as students, as part of our responsibility to improve our academic success, will:

• Come to school each day ready to learn and do my best.

• Do my homework every day and ask for help when I need it.

• Give my parents/guardians all the papers/information sent home with me from my school.

Communication about Student Learning: Plain Local Schools is committed to frequent, two-way communication so that parents/families are kept current on their students’ progress and receive regular tips on home learning.  

Examples of communication between teacher-parent could include the following:

• Class newsletters to parents;

• Parent portal;

• Teacher websites or other web-based communication resourceful

• Parent-teacher conferences;

• Weekly folders;

• Emails to parents on student’s progress;

• Remind text messages;

• Phone calls.

Activities to Build Partnerships:

Plain Local Schools offers ongoing events and programs to build partnerships with families.

Partnership activities could include the following;

• Parent-teacher conferences;

• Parent workshops;

• Curriculum nights;

• Open Houses;

• Meet the Teacher Night;

• Volunteering at school (when permissible)

• Online/virtual activities (webinars, online chats);

• Multimedia activities (podcasts, teacher-created videos).

Parent Right to Know: Teacher QualificationsThe Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) states that parents of students in schools participating in a Title I program may request information regarding the professional qualifications of their child’s classroom teacher, including the following:

• Whether the teacher has met the Ohio teacher licensing criteria for the grade level and subject areas in which the teacher provides your child’s instruction.

• Whether the teacher is teaching under emergency or temporary status that waives state licensing requirements.

• The college degree major of the teacher and any other graduate degree or certification.

• Whether your child is provided services by instructional paraprofessionals (sometimes called teacher’s aides) and their qualifications.

If you have any questions or wish to request information regarding the professional qualifications of your child’s classroom teacher, please feel free to reach out to your child’s classroom teacher, building principal, or Jill Downing, Title I Coordinator, at 330-491-3877.

Every Student Succeeds Act (Public Law 114-95), Section 1112 (e)(1)(A) 

You have the right to know about the teaching qualifications of your child's classroom teacher in a school receiving Title I funds. The federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires that any school district receiving Title I funds must notify and provide information upon request to the parents of students receiving Title I services using those funds. This information will provide the professional qualifications of the student's classroom teachers, including the following: 

1. Whether the teacher has met State qualification and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subject areas in which the teacher provides instruction; 

2. Whether the teacher is teaching under emergency or other provisional status through which State qualification or licensing criteria have been waived; 

3. Whether the teacher is teaching in the field of discipline of the certification of the teacher; and 

4. Whether your child is provided services by paraprofessionals and, if so, their qualifications. 

You may request the information by contacting Jill Downing at downingj@plainlocal.org.  Please include your name and your student’s name.

Part I. General Expectations

Each Title I school agrees to implement the following statutory requirements:

• Consistent with ESSA, the school will work to ensure that the required school level parental involvement policies/plans meet the requirements of ESSA, and each include, as a component, a school-parent compact consistent with the provisions of ESSA.

• School will notify parents of the policy/plan in an understandable and uniform format and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand.  The policy/plan will be made available to the local community and updated periodically to meet the changing needs of parents and the school.

• In carrying out Title I, Part A, parental involvement requirements, to the extent practicable, the school will provide full opportunities for the participation of parents with limited English proficiency, parents with disabilities, and parents of migratory children, including providing information and school reports required under ESSA in an understandable and uniform format and including alternative formats upon request and, to the extent practicable, in language parents understand.

• If the school-wide program plan for Title I, Part A, developed under ESSA, is not satisfactory to the parents of participating children, the school will submit any parent comments with the plan when the school submits the plan to the local educational agency (school district).

• The school will involve the parents of children served in Title I, Part A schools in decisions about how the one percent of Title I, Part A funds reserved for parental involvement is spent, and will ensure that not less than 95 percent of the 1 percent reserved goes directly to the schools.

• The school will build its own and parents’ capacity for strong parental involvement, in order to ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school, parents, and the community to improve student academic achievement.

• The school will provide other reasonable support for parental involvement activities under ESSA as the parents may request.

• The school will be governed by the following statutory definition of parental involvement, and will carry out programs, activities, and procedures in accordance with this definition:

Parental involvement means the participation of parents in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving students academic learning and other activities, including ensuring - 

1. that parents play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning;

2. that parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education at school;

3. that parents are full partners in their child’s education and are included, as appropriate, in decision-making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child; 

4. the carrying out of other activities, such as those described in ESSA.

Part II. Description of how schools will implement required school parent involvement policy/components

1. The school will take the following actions to involve parents in the joint

  development of its school parental involvement plan under ESSA:

• Seat parents on the BLTs at the elementary buildings where possible so that they may have input on the plan.

• Involve the School Community Liaison in the planning stages so that he/she can reach out to parents for input.

2. The school  will take the following actions to involve parents in the  process of school review and improvement under ESSA:

• Hold an annual Title I meeting during the conference period in the Fall of the school year.  Due to COVID, the annual Title I meeting will be held virtually and housed on the school website.

• Provide a representative from the school to answer questions about the Title I program.

• Provide parents an opportunity to respond to a survey on the academic programs and climate at the end of each school year.  These survey results will be utilized to inform decisions for the following school year.

3. The school will hold an annual meeting to inform parents of the school’s participation in Title I, Part A programs, and to explain the Title I, Part A requirement and the right of parents to be involved in Title I, Part A programs.  The school will convene the meeting at a time convenient for parents and will offer a flexible number of additional parent involvement meetings, such as in the morning or evening, so that as many parents as possible are able to attend.  The school will invite all parents of children participating in Title I, Part A programs to this meeting, and will encourage them to attend, by:

• Holding the meeting in conjunction with Parent-Teacher Conferences

• Advertising on the school website

• Inviting parents to attend in the school’s digital newsletter

• Housing the meeting on the school website to be viewed by the parents at their convenience

4. The school will provide parents of participating children information in a timely manner about Title I, Part A programs that includes a description and explanation of the school’s curriculum, the forms of academic assessment used to measure children’s progress, and the proficiency  levels students are expected to meet.

5. The school will at the request of parents, provide opportunities for regular meetings for parents to formulate suggestions and to participate, as appropriate, in decisions about the education of their children.  The school will respond to any such suggestions as soon as practicably possible.

6. The school will provide each parent an individual student report about the performance of the child on the State assessment given during the school year.

7. The school will take the following actions to provide each parent timely notice when their child has been assigned or has been taught for four or more consecutive weeks by a teacher  who is not highly qualified within the meaning of the term of the Title I Final Regulation by:

• Qualified Teacher status to be monitored by Central Office personnel

• A letter will be sent home to the parents through Central Office if ever a student is taught for four or more consecutive weeks by a teacher who is not highly qualified

8. The school will provide assistance to parents of children served by the school as appropriate, in understanding topics by undertaking the action described in the following:

• the state’s academic content standards,

• the state’s student academic achievement standards,

• the state and local academic assessments including alternate assessments,

• the requirements of Part A,

• how to monitor their child’s progress, and

• how to work with educators.

9. The school will provide materials and training to help parents work with their children to improve their children’s academic achievements, such as literacy training and using technology, as appropriate, to foster parental involvement.

10. The school will, with the assistance of its parents, educate its teachers, pupil services personnel, principals and other staff in how to reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners in the value and utility of contributions of parents, and in how to implement and coordinate parent programs and build ties between parents and schools.

11. The school will take the following actions to ensure that information related to the school and parent-programs, meetings, and other activities is sent to parents of participating children in an understandable and uniform format, including alternative formats upon request, and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand: 

PART III. Adoption

This policy/plan was adopted in the fall of each school year and will be in effect for the period of one year.