Title I

All schools receiving Title I funds are required under section 1116 of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to develop a written Parent and Family Engagement Policy. This policy, developed jointly with parents, describes how the school will carry out meaningful parent and family engagement.
GENERAL
Parents and family members are engaged in the development of the school parent and family engagement policy. At Sterling Elementary, we engage our stakeholders by reviewing data, setting school goals, and looking at school-wide needs during School Community Council meeting, PTA meeting, and Building Leadership Team meetings.

POLICY INVOLVEMENT
Annual Meeting: An annual meeting is held each year in the fall. At this meeting, information is shared with stakeholders that consists of an explanation of Title I, how funds are allocated, student performance in literacy and math, intervention and enrichment opportunities for students, and ways that stakeholders communicate with the school.
Flexible Meetings: We offer flexible meeting times for parents and families to participate in decisions regarding their child. We offer enrichment clubs and school-wide activities before, during, and after school.
Involve Parents: We collect data from an annual survey, enrichment club surveys, meetings with SCC, and PTA. Once data is collected we review the data and assess needs. We use this information to create a plan with our SCC on how to involve parents.

SHARED RESPONSIBILITY -HIGH STUDENT ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
The Sterling Parent Family Compact outlines shared responsibilities for high student academic achievement and is developed jointly with parents, teachers, administrators, and students.
BUILDING CAPACITY FOR INVOLVEMENT
To improve academic achievement and to ensure effective engagement of parents to support a partnership with the school, Sterling Elementary School will:
1. Share with stakeholders Utah Core Standards, state and local assessment information, and ways parents can monitor their student’s academic success. At Sterling Elementary we will share this information at a minimum of 4 times per year via standards reports, parent teacher conferences, and community activities.
2. Provide materials and/or training for parents to work with their child to improve their child’s achievement in core subject areas such as literacy, math, science, and technology. At Sterling Elementary we do this by providing community and school wide activities. Some examples are Science Fair, performances, and grade level academic activities.
3. Provide professional development for administrators, teachers, and instructional support personnel on the value of parents as equal partners and building ties between parents and the school. At Sterling Elementary School we do this by providing parent engagement information during committee meetings, such as PTA, SCC, and through emails. We review survey data. We partner together by having an ongoing SCC agenda item of ways as a community we can continue to include parents.
4. Coordinate parent engagement programs and activities with other Federal, State, and local programs that encourage and support parents in participating in the education of their children.

ACCESSIBILITY
To the extent practicable, Sterling Elementary School will ensure that information for parents and family members (including parents and family members who have limited English proficiency, parents and family members with disabilities, and parents and family members of migratory children) in a language that they can understand. This includes standards reports and essential school information.
This document was developed jointly by a team of parents, teachers, and administrators on September 29, 2025

The Student Will

●        Attend school regularly and on time.

●        Complete assignments and homework and return them to the teacher on time.

●        Be safe. Be Optimistic. Be Accountable. Be Respectful.

The Parent Will

Support my child(ren) in their learning by:

●        Making sure my child is well rested and has breakfast/lunch/dinner each day

●        Making sure my child attends daily and is on time

●        Establishing a routine for homework and supporting their efforts

●        Encouraging a positive attitude towards school

●        Reviewing information and work sent home and respond as necessary

●        Ensuring that devices (phone, smartwatch) are turned off & stored in a backpack

Participate in decisions relating to the education of my child(ren) by:

●        Attending all scheduled conferences

●        Supporting the school and staff in maintaining safety and discipline outside & inside the school

●        Contact staff with any questions or concerns

Support my child with a positive use of extra-curricular time by:

●        Reading with my child

●        Facilitating healthy activities

The Teacher Will

Provide high-quality, engaging curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables children to meet challenging State academic standards by:

●        Providing a safe environment for students to learn and building relationships with every family in my class.

●        Holding high expectations for all students and having the belief that all students can learn

●        Providing high-quality curriculum and instruction, including necessary interventions and extensions for each student.

Engage in two-way, meaningful communication through:

●        Parent-Teacher conferences, phone calls, emails, and notes sent home.

●        Frequently report student progress

●        Reviewing School-Parent-Family Compact

●        Responding to parent contacts in a timely manner

The School Will

Provide high quality, engaging curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment that enables children to meet challenging State academic standards by:

●        Creating a culture of continuous progress for all students

●        Promoting a kind, safe, and responsible learning environment

●        Providing opportunities for parents to volunteer, observe, and participate in decision-making

This document was reviewed and approved by the school's Title I Advisory Team made of parents, teachers, and administration on 9/29/2025.

Report Card

Sterling 2025-2026 Semester Plan

Principal: Kenna Aagard

Team Members: Michelle Fausett, Sharma Hensler, Laura Sparks, Maggie Perez, Madi Wallace, Laurie Paige Campus Priority 1: Schoolwide PLC Implementation for the 2025-2026 school year
Annual Goal: During the 2025-2026 school year, 100% of teachers will attend 100% of grade-level PLC’s and complete as a team the weekly PLC agenda. The administration will review 100% of all completed PLC agendas and will respond to grade-level comments within one week of the agenda’s completion.
Semester Goal: During the 2025-2026 school year, 100 % of teachers will attend 100% of grade-level PLC’s and complete as a team the weekly PLC agenda. The administration will review 100% of all completed PLC agendas and will respond to grade-level comments within one week of the agenda’s completion.
Objective: PLCs are consistent and uniform across all grade levels at Sterling Elementary. Prioritized Key Components: PLC norms, agenda, and procedures.
TCSD Strategic Model Area(s) and AHLP: Communication, Culture, Relationships

Metrics: Measured using weekly PLC agenda checks by admin (Kenna and Michelle). Referenced during PLC admin attendance and individual teacher conferences.

Specific Actions	Person Responsible	Resources	Timeline for Implementation	Evidence of Successful Completion (what a successful outcome looks like… “how you will know” you’ve accomplished this component).
Agenda, Norms, and Roles establishment	Admin	Slides created with examples	Shared at back-to-school principal day. Teams will self-create their norms.	Teams will present PLC agendas with established grade-level norms and roles in their PLC grade-level folder.
PLC implementation beginning with grade-level PLC meetings on August 20th.	Grade Level Teams	PLC Agendas Established at principals’ day.	August 20th	Teams will present PLC agendas with established grade level norms and roles that will be assigned in their PLC grade level folder by the end of August 20th.

				Feedback from Admin presented by 4:00 pm on August 27th.
PLC implementation with norms and roles continues through every Wednesday of the first semester. Roles change among team members weekly or monthly as established by team norms.	Grade Level Teams	PLC Agendas Established at principals’ day.	Weekly	Teams will upload new PLC agendas into their grade-level PLC drive weekly. Feedback from Admin present by 8:00 am on the following Wednesday.

 

Mid-Semester Check-in: Admin will review agendas weekly and conference with teams/individual members for accountability to the goal as needed.
End of Semester Review: We will know that we have succeeded when all grade levels are efficiently holding PLC meetings and completing PLC agendas weekly together; receiving timely weekly feedback from admin.
Campus Priority 2: Clarifying expectations and lessening the ratio of office referrals through training on district behavior levels and proper procedures for entering incidents in Educators Handbook.
Annual Goal: For the 2025 - 2026 school year, we will reduce the ratio of office referrals in Educators Handbook by 20% by EOY. By improving student-to-teacher positive relationships following training on how Educators Handbook incidents are entered, by Julie Spindler, and district-level behavior expectations. If we are successful, we will have evidence of a reduction in the office referrals ratio tied to minor incidents defined as defiance, disrespect, insubordination, and noncompliance and refusal to follow direction. At the end of the year 2024 - 2025 school year, STES had 1,098 office referrals. The categories of Defiance, disrespect, insubordination, and noncompliance: 241 referrals, and Refusal to follow direction: 126 referrals, representing 62% of the office referral entries.
Semester Goal: For the 2025 - 2026 school year, we will reduce the ratio of office referrals by 10%. By improving student-to-teacher positive relationships following training on how Educators Handbook incidents are entered, by Julie Spindler, and district-level behavior expectations. If we are successful, we will have evidence of a reduction in the office referrals ratio tied to minor incidents defined as defiance, disrespect, insubordination, and noncompliance and refusal to follow direction.
Objective: Lowering the amount of office referrals for the categories of defiance/disrespect/insubordination/non-compliance, and refusal to follow directions/procedures.
Prioritized Key Components:
TCSD Strategic Model Area(s) and AHLP: Safe and orderly environment.
Metrics:

Specific Actions	Person Responsible	Resources	Timeline for Implementation	Evidence of Successful Completion (what a successful outcome looks like… “how you will know” you’ve accomplished this component).
Teacher training during Principal Day at the beginning of the 2025-26 school year.	Julie Spindler	Educators Handbook Level Incidents as outlined by TCSD	Principals’ day at back to school.	Presentation completed and presented.
Repeated and continual check in with teachers/staff throughout the year of how we are doing as a school with documentation from Educators Handbook.	Kenna Aagard, Michelle Fausett, Madi Wallace, Kara Riddle, Aubrey Smith, Betta Jenks	Educators Handbook Data	Whole group PLC	Consistent meetings with notes to report connected.
Educators Handbook calibration meeting with admin, lit coach, refocus, and school counselor.	Admin, refocus, lit coach, school counselor	Educators Handbook data overview.	Once a month meeting	Consistent meetings and shared data with faculty and stakeholders.
Whole group PLC Educators Handbook action snapshot.	Kenna Aagard, Michelle Fausett, Aubrey Smith, Betta Jenks	Educators Handbook and Agenda for Whole Group PLC	At each Whole Group PLC	Educators Handbook Data will reflect the reduction in ratio of incidents being marked as office referrals.

 

Mid-Semester Check-In: If we are successful, we will have evidence of a 10% reduction in office referrals tied to minor incidents that are defined as defiance/disrespect/insubordination/non-compliance and refusal to follow directions/procedures, when compared with last year's referral ratio.
End of Semester Review: If we are successful, we will have evidence of a 20 % reduction in office referrals tied to minor incidents defined as defiance/disrespect/insubordination/non-compliance and refusal to follow directions/procedures when compared with last year's referral ratio.

Campus Priority 3:
Annual Goal: During the 2025 - 2026 school year, K - 6 teachers will implement biweekly tracking of math fact fluency for all students. Student data will be collected for addition and subtraction mastery in K - 2 and multiplication and division in 3 - 6. Fluency data will be monitored quarterly by administration. By the end of the 2025 - 2026 school year, students in grades K - 2 will experience a 5% growth in math composite scores when compared to 2024 - 2025 EOY composite scores. By the end of the 2025 - 2026 75% of students in 3 - 6 will have mastery and recall of multiplication facts up to 10X10 with 90% accuracy on available questions.
 
Semester Goal: During the 2025 - 2026 school year, K - 6 teachers will implement biweekly tracking of math fact fluency for all students. Student data will be collected for addition and subtraction mastery in K - 2 and multiplication and division in 3 - 6. Fluency data will be monitored quarterly by administration. By MOY 2025 - 2026 school year, students in grades K - 2 will experience a 3% growth in math composite scores when compared to 2024 - 2025 MOY composite scores. By MOY 2025 - 2026, 75% of students in grades 3 - 6 will have mastery and recall of multiplication facts up to 5X5 with 90% accuracy on available questions.
Objective: Students in grades K-2 will reach proficiency for expected CORE math standards as measured by Acadience EOY expectations. Students in grades 3-6 will be working towards filling tier 3 skills that are needed in order to access grade-level tier 1 CORE math standards.
Prioritized Key Components:
TCSD Strategic Model Area(s) and AHLP: Students meeting necessary components of curriculum and instruction. Students accessing data-informed multiple systems of support in the classroom.
Metrics:

Specific Actions	Person Responsible	Resources	Timeline for Implementation	Evidence of Successful Completion (what a successful outcome looks like… “how you will know” you’ve accomplished this component).
Parent involvement in Math Literacy at PTC	Grade Level Plans	Last year's data. Created take home resources.	Implemented as scheduled by TCSD.	Information given and sent home at BOY conferences.
Grade Level Action Plan Completion	Grade Level Leads Grade Levels present action plans to staff at whole group PLC on September 17th.	Last year EOY data and current BOY data. Created take home resources.	Grade level leads will turn in an action plan to admin by September 10th.	Evidence of success will be a submitted plan and submitted resources.
Water Bottle Initiative	Administration Ask if PTA will donate	Stickers for passed off levels during data tracking. Stickers will be given out by teachers in class. Reward requirements for stickers and tickets decided in grade-level action plan. Admin will do quarterly drawings for water bottles for each grade level. Drawing will be completed with tickets. 28 water bottles needed in total. Grade levels will collect tickets in hallways in designated boxes. 7 boxes needed.	Starting at the BOY.	Water bottles and filled boxes.

 

Mid-Semester Check-in: If we are successful by MOY 2025 - 2026 school year, students in grades K - 2 will experience a 3% growth in math composite scores when compared to 2024 - 2025 MOY composite scores. By MOY 2025 - 2026 75% of students in grades 3 - 6 will have mastery and recall of multiplication facts up to 5X5 with 90% accuracy on available questions. 

End of Semester Review: If we are successful by the end of the 2025 - 2026 school year, students in grades K - 2 will experience a 5% growth in math composite scores when compared to 2024 - 2025 EOY composite scores. By the end of the 2025 - 2026 75% of students in 3 - 6 will have mastery and recall of multiplication facts up to 10X10 with 90% accuracy on available questions.

Long Term Outcomes

Long-term outcomes should be focused on students (e.g., RISE, ASPIRE, ACT, Attendance, Behavior, etc.). When determining these outcomes, conduct a data review of the past few years (see your data dashboard in OneDrive) and identify reasonable trajectories.

School Vision:
Indicator(s)	Data Source	Baseline Data (24-25)	Y1 Results (25-26)	Y2 Target (26-27)
Outcome 1:
Coordinated instruction and communication throughout school.	PLC Agendas	< 25 agendas completed between MOY and EOY.
PLC groups will significantly improve prioritizing student achievement	PLC Agendas Academic Sections	< 25 agendas completed between MOY and EOY.
Outcome 2:
Admin will have more available time for classroom presence.	Educators Handbook	1,098 total office referrals
		defiance, disrespect, insubordination and noncompliance: 241
		refusal to follow directions and procedures: 126
Increased student self-regulatory skills.	Educators Handbook	1,098 total office referrals
		defiance, disrespect, insubordination and noncompliance: 241
		refusal to follow directions and procedures: 126
Improved whole school classroom management and procedures.	Educators Handbook	1,098 total office referrals
		defiance, disrespect, insubordination and noncompliance: 241
		refusal to follow directions and procedures: 126
Outcome 3 -
K-3 CORE Proficiency	Acadience Math Composite	37% proficient
3-6 Tier 3 emphasis	Rise Composite	21% proficient

 

Aligned with TCSD’s Strategic Model

7 Reasons Why Creating a Semester Plan can help your school improve:

1)      Articulates a shared vision, mission, and values.

2)      Effectively organizes schools and their staff.

3)      Defines how success is measured.

4)      Aids the school board with governance decisions and provides direction for the future.

5)      Increases communication and engagement.

6)      Keeps everyone in a school – from teachers to administrators – connected.

7)      The best reason of all for semester planning comes back to every great school’s number one priority: students.

Process:

 

Needs Assessment Section

Definition: A needs assessment is a systematic process for determining and addressing needs, or "gaps" between current conditions and desired conditions or "wants".

Needs Assessment Questions

These questions do not all need to be answered in your plan. They are here so you can reflect and make a plan in the areas you and your building leadership team deem necessary. They are also not all-inclusive - meaning you should focus on your school’s needs and those needs could be outside of the questions below.

Strategic Model Area 1: Teachers, Leaders, Support Staff

 

This is the staff capacity building element of the strategic model. How are you building your staff’s capacity and are you hiring and supporting the best people possible? Are you holding people accountable and expecting them to be responsible for performing at high levels? How do you track it? What do you do when they aren’t performing?

Are you distributing resources (material needs, human support, etc.) in such a way that teachers have all they need to be their best? Consider your building’s budget. What percent is spent on academics and in what ways? Do departments/teams get equitable resources? How do you know?

Are you providing professional development that is relevant, timely, and targeting individual teacher needs rather than relying solely on whole-group professional development? How do you know it’s relevant to all and at their level? How do you measure this?

Review new teacher feedback for your building. Did they feel supported, what suggestions did they make?

Look at teacher data. What areas of growth are needed to support them? What professional development do they need and how will you facilitate it in a differentiated way?

Think about your hiring practices. Are they timely? Are you able to attract staff that you need and of high quality? If not, what can you do differently?

How do you onboard new teachers to your school in areas such as: PLCs, systems, etc.?

Additional Resources to consider:

reproducible2.2level2longformleadingindicatorsurveyforadministrators.pdf (soltreemrls3.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com)

Strategic Model Area 2: Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment

Does every classroom provide daily lessons following a coherent instructional format including the components of the Instructional Framework? What components of the framework are strengths and weaknesses?

Does every classroom have a scope and sequence creating a guaranteed and viable curriculum that reflects grade-level standards? Are these documents shared among teacher teams and administrators? Have the essential skills within the units been identified?

Does every classroom have and utilize common formative assessments (CFA) to determine the learning progress of each student? Do current CFA’s produce the feedback students and teachers need? Are there any units that still need CFA’s to be created?

Are procedures established to regularly review student learning progress and respond in a timely manner? Do PLC’s have norms and processes to support this work? Do teachers have systems to support reteaching? Does the school have systems to deliver interventions on the highest leverage skills?

This is also where you can put your specific smart goals for growth in academic areas and how you plan to address them and monitor them. Don’t forget to include special populations, intervention, and extension.

How are you engaging with your school’s data? How are teachers using data? How often are you meeting with teachers to review data and support them in a plan of action?

*A clear and precise plan of action for meeting with staff and troubleshooting with them in small groups or individually on a regular basis should be well described in this section.

Additional resources to consider:

Selecting an MTSS Data System | NCII (intensive intervention.org)

Utah MTSS 3-Tier Critical Components Definitions https://cde.videossc.com/archives/021715/MTSS%20Needs%20Assessment%20Tool.pdf figure 2.2 survey for assessing perceptions about responsibility.pdf (solutiontree.com) figure12.1principalleadershipactionsinaplccultureevaluationtool.pdf (solutiontree.com)

figure12.2plccollaborativeteacherteamactionsforcollectiveteacherefficacy.pdf (solutiontree.com) figure5.1processforidentifyingstandardswithahigherdegreeofimportancethanothers.pdf (solutiontree.com)

Strategic Model Area 3: Communication, Culture, Relationships

How frequently and effectively do you communicate with parents on a school-wide basis? What is your expectation of staff/parent communication? How do you check it? How frequently are teachers expected to update grades? How often do you check?

What does the entryway of your school look like? Is it inviting? Is it clean? Does your office staff smile and greet everyone who enters in a similar way? How are you measuring things you’re targeting in this goal area?

What is your parent engagement plan? How will you target all groups in your school? How will you accommodate for Spanish-speaking families?

What do you have in place to consider staff morale? Do you consider the ups and downs of the year and how to target those known dips? How will teachers feel supported? How will you know?

Additional Resources to consider:

21st_century_communications.pdf (solutiontree.com) school_communication_survey.pdf (solutiontree.com) School AO | Wayne K. Hoy (waynekhoy.com)

Parent-Engagement-and-Leadership-Assessment-Guide-and-Toolkit-COMPREHENSIVE.pdf (cssp.org) Example of a form created by a HS to gather parent feedback specific to communication and parent needs: Parent Needs Assessment Form (google.com)

Sample parent questionnaire (Marzano - High Reliability Schools): reproducible 1.4 level 1 longformleadingindicatorsurveyforparents.pdf (soltreemrls3.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com)

Sample student questionnaire (Marzano- High Reliability Schools):

reproducible 1.3 level 1 longformleadingindicatorsurveyforstudents.pdf (soltreemrls3.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com)

Strategic Model Area 4: Safe and Orderly Environment

This is where you can evaluate the number of office referrals you have and make behavior goals. What is your school-wide behavior/student culture approach? How will you measure its success?

Think about the beautification of your building. Is it inviting? Is student work what people see or old photos and canned posters?

How will you ensure your school always looks clean and orderly? Has your building struggled with vandalism? What are strategies you plan to incorporate to discourage it, respond when it happens, etc.

Consider student arrival and dismissal, as well as areas that are less supervised and cause problems. How will you address those?

Additional Resources to Consider:

blanktemplateofmenuoftiertwointerventions.pdf (soltreemrls3.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com) 5d8a9fcaeef280a574699251_SET_v2.1.doc (live.com)

School Safety Site Assessments - National School Safety Center

Strategic Model Area 5: Systems of Operations

What school-wide processes do you need to put in place? Consider areas like attendance, tardies, etc.

Are duty schedules effective and covering all areas needed? What are the expectations when on duty? Are they followed? How do you know or track it?

Consider all systems in your building and choose at least one to target for improvement.