Madison County Voluntary Public School Choice Plan

The Madison County School Board has agreed to serve as a mentee to Gadsden County in working to create a plan for voluntary school choice. The district serves approximately 3,240 students K- Adult in six sites.

The goals of the proposed Voluntary School Choice are to:

• Provide a variety of educational choices for all students;
• Provide after school remediation opportunities for students currently attending low-performing schools;
• Provide enhanced educational programs in under-enrolled schools;
• To increase enrollment; and
• To increase student achievement in all schools

 

Project objectives are as follows:

1. To implement a system of choice based on “Best Practices” learned from comparable Florida districts that takes into account:

2. To implement strategies to help the district reach and educate parents about choice options and the application process.

 

To attain these objectives, a school choice team will investigate:

1.         Stakeholder involvement activities, disseminate information, develop and make recommendations for long-term maintenance of parent information centers, address parental and community member concerns about school choice;

2.         Select a successful model that shows most promise of working effectively in Madison County;

3.         Determine additional transportation routes to cover choice sites;

4.         Determine effective methods for data collection and analysis; and

5.         Determine best practices for addressing school under-selection.

The team will oversee plans for public meetings, a media campaign, and parent information clearinghouses. The team will make recommendations for cost-effective continuation of the Public School Choice activities.

            The District will notify parents that choices are available by July 1^st. Public meetings will be ongoing. During July, Infocad and GPS Pocket GIS software will be used to develop optimal transportation routes; parents will make school choices, and students will be placed in schools based on informed choice decision-making. During the fall, the program will be implemented with students attending the school of choice that best meets their needs and maximizes their opportunity to learn. At that time, investigations into under-selected and under-enrolled schools started.

 

Student Diversity and Student Equity

            An intensive and informational campaign targeting student equity and diversity was developed and implemented during the 2005-06 school year.

            Each individual request for school choice will be reviewed prior to processing to suggest alternatives if the requested choice program is not available. The goal of the alternative suggested will be to increase diversity and equity within each program.  

 

Procedures to Maintain Socioeconomic, Demographic, and Racial Balance

            Each choice request will be reviewed to maintain socioeconomic, demographic, and racial balance. The selection process will be processed through a lottery system that will maintain demographic and racial balance throughout all schools.

            The Madison County School District notifies parents of options available to students at lower performing schools. District staff including the Director of federal Programs, Director of Instruction, and the Transportation Director will make themselves available to parents who have questions regarding options available. The notice to parents includes choice options with transportation provided, limited transportation, and no transportation. We also notify parents that they may choose any other school, but will be responsible for providing transportation.

 

Parental Awareness, Involvement and Satisfaction

A number of strategies and media will be used to inform parents/guardians of the School Choice options available to them. These include:

• Choice brochures
• Direct mail
• Newspaper advertisements and articles
• Radio advertisement on local stations
• Television advertisement on local channel
• Co-sponsor and participate in community-wide education showcases, such as a Back-To-School Event
• A School Choice Committee will be formed allowing for parent representation from each school to allow input and satisfaction from representative parent groups.

Applications will be available at all school sites and the Choice Office. All parents at the NCLB identified schools not making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) will be individually notified of their public school choice options when data is released. 

 

Evaluation, Assessment, and Accountability

 

1.         Data will be collected, analyzed, and communicated regarding choices made by parents and students.

2.         Surveys will be distributed to selected parents participating in Choice Programs to gather information on the satisfaction of the choice process.

3.         Changes will be made to improve the program when available based upon the data collected.