Board hears presentation on Nancy Grayson’s TSI designation and Title I plan

Mrs. DeLong presented the Shippensburg Area School District board with the Title I plan that will serve as Nancy Grayson Elementary’s Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) plan for the coming year.

TSI is an early-warning designation for subgroups that meet a two-step threshold: a cohort of 20 or more students that falls below state targets on two accountability measures. "TSI stands for targeted support and improvement," DeLong told the board, and she said Nancy Grayson’s designation followed a single cohort of students with disabilities that scored 11 percent proficient on 2023–24 PSSA tests compared with a target of 22.3 percent, and that cohort had a 70 percent attendance rate compared with the 76 percent threshold.

The designation is built from two different years of data: achievement is measured using PSSA results from 2023–24 while attendance is taken from 2022–23. DeLong said the district reviews the prior-year scores and will again review 2024–25 PSSA and English-language-development growth to determine whether the school exits TSI or “cascades” to ATSI (a more intensive status) in December.

DeLong summarized Nancy Grayson’s Title I / TSI goals as four priorities: strengthen core literacy and math instruction through data meetings and professional learning communities; communicate a shared, evidence-based vision for ELA and math; improve academic, behavioral and attendance supports through MTSS; and continue phonics instruction training using UFLI at primary grades with support from an IU consultant.

Board members asked questions about the cohort size and what counts as the subgroup. A board member asked, "So the cohort is just like is it a 504 plan? Is that what it is?" DeLong replied the subgroup includes students with IEPs or 504 plans when there are 20 or more tested students in that subgroup for the tested grade (in this case the tested group was last year’s third graders). DeLong said the district had hired another third‑grade teacher and that access to IU coaching is part of the supports available to a TSI building.

DeLong emphasized the monitoring timeline: the district will use 2024–25 PSSA scores and English-language-development growth data to reassess the designation, and the board must formally approve the school’s plan as part of the TSI process. She also noted that the 2024–25 designation status had not yet been released by the state at the time of the presentation.

The presentation was informational; no formal board action on the Nancy Grayson plan was recorded in the meeting transcript. The board was told staff will continue regular monitoring of Title I schools and return with updates as state data are released.

Ending: The board heard the plan as the district continues monitoring and preparing to act on state-released 2024–25 accountability data. If the same cohort remains below the state targets in two measures, the school could escalate to a higher support designation later in the year.