Your Child's Education

Learning Support

Bear Creek Community Charter School offers each student with a disability education programs and services that appropriately meet the student's needs for educational, instructional, transitional and related services. A student who requires Learning Support will receive programs and services according to an individualized education program (IEP).


The IEP provides access to the school's general curriculum and participation in state and local assessments, including supplemental aids and services that permit the student to be educated, to the maximum extent appropriate, with their nondisabled peers. Bear Creek Community Charter school provides a continuum of placement options to appropriately meet the needs of students with disabilities. All students with disabilities are identified, evaluated, and provided with appropriate educational programs and services in the least restrictive environment, in accordance with federal and state laws and regulations.


Bear Creek Community Charter School maintains safeguards to protect the confidentiality of students' educational records and personally identifiable information when collecting, storing, disclosing and destroying student records.


Bear Creek Community Charter School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, or any other category provided by law in matters affecting employment or in providing access to programs and services.


For more information about Bear Creek Community Charter School's Learning Support Services, contact Mrs. Bridget Deeble, Director if Intervention and Support Services, by e-mail at bridget.deeble@bearcreekschool.com or visit our school's website at http://www.bearcreekschool.com/specialeducation.php

Title I

Title I is an abbreviation for Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, reauthorized by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. Title I is the national's largest federal assistance program for schools. Title I funding is based on a formula which involves the number of low-income families within a school. Although schools qualify on the basis of this count, Title I students are not chosen based upon income. Title I students are chosen based upon educational need.


Title I is the nation's largest federal assistance program for schools. Bear Creek Community Charter School operates a school-wide Title I program, which includes one-on-one and small group academic support through paraprofessional staff, after-school tutoring, the Eco Explorers summer remediation program, and numerous parent involvement activities throughout the school year.


A schoolwide program is a comprehensive reform strategy designed to upgrade the entire educational program in a Title I school; its primary goal is to ensure that all students, particularly those who are low-achieving, demonstrate proficient and advanced levels of achievement on State academic achievement standards.


Whereas Title I targeted assistance programs only provide educational services to identified individual students, schoolwide programs allow staff in schools with high concentrations of students from low-income families to redesign their entire educational program to serve all students. The emphasis in schoolwide program schools is on serving all students, improving all structures that support student learning, and combining all resources, as allowed, to achieve a common goal. Schoolwide programs maximize the impact of Title I.


For more information about Bear Creek Community Charter School's Title I programs, contact Mrs. Rikki Hyjurick, Academic Intervention Specialist, by e-mail at rikki.hyjurick@bearcreekschool.com. You can also view the Title I website at http://websites.pdesas.org/rikkihyjurick/default.aspx.

Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA)

 The PSSA (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment) tests measure the ability of the students to attain academic standards in specific learning domains. They are given annually in the spring months. This year, the PSSA's will be given to students in grades 3 through 8.

Content by grade level:

3rd Grade: Reading, Math

4th Grade: Reading, Math, Science

5th Grade: Reading, Math, Writing

6th Grade: Reading, Math

7th Grade: Reading, Math

8th Grade: Reading, Math, Writing, Science


The tests are then scored using 4 level descriptors:


Below Basic - inadequate academic performance; little understanding of content

Basic - marginal academic performance; partial understanding of content

Proficient - satisfactory academic performance; good understanding of content

Advanced - superior academic performace; in-depth understanding of content


                              DATES                                                 TEST                               GRADES

                              April   22 -24                                                    English Language Arts                      3rd-8th Grades

                              April   29-30                                                            Mathematics                                    3rd-8th Grades

                              May 1-2                                                                          Science                                             4th & 8th Grades

                              May 15                                                       Algebra I Keystone Exam                8th Grade Algebra I Students




Keystone Exams

he Keystone Exams are end-of-course assessments designed to assess proficiency in the subject areas of Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, Literature, English Composition, Biology, Chemistry, U.S. History, World History, and Civics and Government.

The Keystone Exams are one component of Pennsylvania's new system of high school graduation requirements. Keystone Exams will help school districts guide students toward meeting state standards.


8th grade students at BCCCS who are in the Algebra 1 course are offered the opportunity to take the Keystone Algebra 1 online assessment during the spring (usually May) of their 8th grade year. If students pass the Keystone Exam at that time, their scores will be banked until they graduate high school and they will not have to take this particular Keystone in high school! This is a wonderful opportunity for students to get a feel for the Keystone Exams and their structure, as well as passing it and getting it over with.


Here at Bear Creek, we take pride in our students academics and their success well beyond their graduation from our school.


Any parents with questions on the Keystone Exams in general can contact me or visit the website at Keystone Exams - pdesas.org