TO: Mayor and Commissioners
FROM: Michael Coleman, Director of Community Improvement
THROUGH: Chief Neal de Jesus, Interim City Manager
DATE: June 20, 2017
Title
INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF DELRAY BEACH AND THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PALM BEACH COUNTY CONCERNING STUDENT INFORMATION
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Recommended Action:
Recommendation
Motion to Approve the Interlocal Agreement between the School Board of Palm Beach County and the City of Delray Beach concerning student information.
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Background:
In 2012, the City of Delray Beach (“City”) joined the national Campaign for Grade Level Reading (“Campaign”) initiative as part of the All-America City contest to help improve 3rd grade reading proficiency after learning 70% of the children attending a Title I school did not read on grade- level. The local and national Campaign objective is to increase third grade reading levels for low-income children by 50% over 8 years or by 2020.
The Campaign asked communities to create a Community Solutions Action Plan (“Plan”) to help mobilize their community to make measurable progress. The Plan included baseline data, strategies and goals focusing on three (3) challenge areas: attendance, kindergarten readiness, and summer learning slide. The Plan is data-rich with baseline information provided by the School District of Palm Beach County (“District”). The data collected on a yearly basis is used to track student performance longitudinally and to share that information with our collaborative partners. On August 8, 2012, the City of Delray Beach entered into a formal Interlocal Agreement with the School District of Palm Beach County to share aggregate student information, which allows the District to share, evaluate and analyze student information for those students that attend a Delray Beach elementary school and/or participate in one the programs outlined in Exhibit “A” of the Interlocal Agreement.
It was found after the first summer, the Journey’s art-infused literacy program was implemented in the City-operated summer camps at Pompey Park and the Community Center; the number of students in the program was not large enough for the District to measure student progress. To correct this issue, in the summer of 2013, the City engaged a non-profit partner to implement the Journey’s program at their camps. Based on the success of being able to collect the data and share that information with others participating in the program, over the past five years, the Journey’s program has been expanded from servicing sixty (60) children attending two summer camps to servicing one thousand (1,000) children attending eight (8) summer camps (Achievement Center for Children and Families-four (4) sites; Milagro Center; Boys and Girls Club, City of Delray Beach-two (2) sites; and new this year, Knights of Pythagoras). The ability to align and scale this program within our community has been one of the biggest successes of the Campaign.
Collecting the data helps to substantiate the programs have a positive outcome, helping low-income children achieve academic success. The data can also be used to show the City has made a good return on its investment. For instance, national statistics show that a low-income child with no reading intervention over the summer can experience a two- to three-month reading slide, as compared to a middle-income peer, putting them further behind in school. The Journey’s program has stemmed summer reading slide for five (5) years in a row (a goal of the Plan). Over the summer of 2016, the data showed the Journey’s program actually resulted in a ten percent (10%) reading gain. The District has noted these gains as being Statistically Significant in the report provided to the City. Another example is the attendance initiative, Rise and Shine Get to School On Time. Over the past five (5) years, the cohort of low-income kindergarten-third graders attending a Delray Beach elementary school have showed results of a sixty-eight percent (68%) reduction in chronic absenteeism rates; a notable reduction as reported by the District.
The current Interlocal Agreement to share student information is set to expire on July 31, 2017. The City would like to continue to collect student information until the longitudinal study is completed in 2020. The new Interlocal Agreement is similar to the existing agreement, which allows the District to share student information with the City for the programs outlined in Exhibit “A”. This Agreement will expire on August 1, 2017, which may be extended for up to three (3) additional one-year terms, if agreed to by both parties in writing.
City Attorney Review:
Approved as to form and legal sufficiency.
Finance Department Review:
N/A
Funding Source:
N/A
Timing of Request:
The existing agreement is set to expire July 31, 2017.