RSS Feed |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
2 of 3 schools make AYP Two of Early County's three schools were among the 81 percent of Georgia schools to make Adequate Yearly Progress as defined by Georgia's Department of Education. Early County Elementary and Early County Middle schools both achieved the coveted AYP status for the 2007 testing period. Early County High School met criteria for test participation and graduation rate but did not meet AYP criteria for academic performance. In mathematics, Early County High's 60.1 percent "meets and exceeds" rate failed to meet the minumum 68.6 percent set by the state. In English/language arts, ECHS "meets and exceeds" rate was 84.2 percent, just shy of the 84.7 percent required by the state. ECES Principal David Ferry said he is extremely proud that the school has made AYP for the last four years. "I am grateful that I have a truly dedicated staff, hard working students and supportive parents. Such an accomplishment would not be possible without all of us working together for our children." ECMS Principal Anthony Yarbrough also commended his staff, students and supportive parents for their hard work and added that "support from the community" is also key in having successful schools. Both the middle and high schools remain in the Needs Improvement category for the coming year. Both must offer school choice and supplemental services. Schools are placed in Needs Improvement when they do not meet AYP in the same subject for two or more consecutive years. A school must make AYP two consecutive years to lose the Needs Improvement designation. Overall, there are 326 schools in Needs Improvement status, meaning these schools have missed AYP for at least two consecutive years and face sanctions. This is the first year that the number of schools in Needs Improvement status has gone up, something that Superintendent Cox said the state will be taking a closer look at in the coming weeks and months. "We need to figure out why this number has gone up and, from a state perspective, what we can do to help," she said. "We will dig into these numbers and see what the data tells us." In order to make Adequate Yearly Progress, a school must meet state-set goals in test participation, academic achievement and a second indicator statistic which is usually attendance rate for elementary and middle schools. For high schools, the second indicator is graduation rate. Georgia's graduation rate, which serves as the second indicator for all high schools, increased to 71.1 percent in 2006-2007. That number could rise more as summer graduates are added. "Our graduation rate is continuing to climb and is at its highest level," Superintendent Cox said. "But we will not be satisfied until our graduation rate is 100 percent." To meet academic achievement goals, a school must have a certain percentage of students pass the state curriculum tests in math and reading/English language arts. All students in qualifying subgroups of students must meet those goals. Subgroups include Asian/Pacific Islander, black, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaskan, white, multiracial, students with disabilities, ELL (LEP), and economically disadvantaged. For a group to be considered qualifying, it must contain a minimum of 40 students. Cox pointed out that more than half the schools that did not make AYP in 2006- 07 missed it because of one subgroup in one subject. State officials hope that Congress will consider graduated consequences if No Child Left Behind is reauthorized so that schools with only one subgroup failing a subject are not treated the same as schools that fail across the board. Across the state the percentage of elementary schools making AYP reached an all-time high of 95.2 percent. This is up more than four points from 2005-2006. The percentage of secondary schools making AYP is still significantly lower. About 64.4 percent of middle schools and 54.9 percent of high schools made AYP in 2006-2007.
There were 52 systems that had all of its schools make AYP.
|
for larger version       |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
