District Laurel County School Bush Elementary

COUNCIL POLICY TYPE (Check One) / POLICY NUMBER
By-Laws (Council Operational Policies) / 1 3 ۰0 2
Function (School Operational Policies)
POLICY TOPIC DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY PROGRAM
POLICY STATEMENT
PRIMARY PROGRAM
The Primary Program is mandated by the
Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990—KRS 156.160
In accordance with KRS 158.031, until they are ready for Fourth Grade, all students shall participate in the Primary Program.
Primary teachers will ensure the *Seven Critical Attributes of the Primary Program are implemented through strategies and activities of the Consolidated Plan and curriculum found in (1) The Program of Studies, (2) Core Content for Assessment, (3) Program of Studies Implementation Manual, and the (4) Laurel County District Curriculum Guide.
These strategies and activities include but are not limited to:
  1. Professional Teamwork: Each Primary student shall be taught by a team of two or more teachers who collaborate to ensure that the child makes continuous progress in learning basic skills and other parts of Kentucky’s Core Content to meet the Primary Program Exit Criteria.
  1. Developmentally Appropriate Education Practices: Primary teaching teams shall use research-based teaching strategies based upon principles of how children learn.
  1. Authentic Assessment: Each teaching team shall assess each child’s progress by observing actual work and performance, an orderly record of skills mastered and areas needing further work to review.
  1. Qualitative Reporting Methods: Progress shall be reported to parents every nine weeks with an interim report midway. The progress report is based on the Kentucky Early Learning Profile.
  1. Multi Age – Multi Ability Grouping: Children are grouped in ways that will meet their learning needs and birthdates are not the final deciding factor.
In Homerooms, children are grouped by Multi Age – Multi Ability. For Basic Skills instruction
in reading, phonics, math, Language Arts, and writing, we group and regroup based on current
level of performance of similar skills.
  1. Continuous Progress: Each grouping shall include students performing at a variety of levels. No student shall be placed in a group or excluded out of a group based on age.
Individual Students shall be placed to help each one make continuous progress on their own
developmental level.
At the end of each school year, Primary teachers shall make a recommendation for class
groupings based on classroom observations of current students. The Principal shall consider
those recommendations before making assignments and shall also assign students who enter
the school after the recommendations are complete.
  1. Positive Parent Involvement: Each teaching team shall communicate with each child’s parent at least two times each year to provide concrete illustration of the kind of work the child is able to do and to discuss the steps to help the child make further progress.
Communications to parents shall describe student learning, ways parents can reinforce learning,
and assist with school events.
Completion/Exiting Primary in 4 or 5 years
Through the Primary at Bush, students are assessed and parents are informed as early as P3 that the student may need a 5th year in Primary. During the 4th year of Primary, the decision is made collectively by a group of teachers who have taught the child, the parents, the Principal, and the 4th grade teachers. The Non-exiting decision is made in the best interest of the child who needs another year in Primary to gain more skills for a smoother transition to 4th grade. The Verifying Successful Completion of Primary Document is the benchmark for reporting the data.
Date Adopted: August 22, 2000Signature: Mary Ann Robbins, Principal