Tri-County R-7 and Pattonsburg R-2 met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals for 2008 school wide, according to data released by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
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Schools can make AYP even if they fail to meet the target goals of AYP by factoring in other criteria, such as a confidence interval (CI), or a growth factor (G), of a Safe Harbor provision (S), or by using the confidence interval for Safe Harbor (SC). Graduation and attendance rates are other criteria used.
"I’m proud of our students because they do work hard and our teachers work hard," said Pattonsburg R-2 Superintendent Cheryl Cornett. "It’s exciting and rewarding to know your efforts are paying off. It’s reason to celebrate. AYP for us this year was very positive."
Tri-County R-7 Superintendent Dennis Croy also said he was pleased with his school’s accomplishments. "I’m proud of the effort our students and teachers put forth raising the scores on AYP," he said. "It will be a challenge to maintain those standards, but we’ll do our best to keep improving."
All five county schools had difficulty meeting the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) targeted goals for 2008 in one area or another.
This is the first year the Gallatin Elementary failed to meet the communication arts goal, but it is the second year in a row the high school failed to meet it. Title I schools not making AYP in the same subject (reading or mathematics) for two years in a row are identified for Title I School Improvement. Gallatin R-5 was placed in "school improvement, year one."
Under this sanction, larger school districts that have more than one high school or elementary school within their district would be required to give students a choice of which school they want to attend. This is not applicable to the Gallatin school, since it is the only school in the district.
Non-Title I schools that do not make AYP do not face sanctions, but must amend their School Improvement Plans to indicate how they will improve.
As expected, the list of schools and districts that did not meet AYP goals has grown statewide, as a result of increasingly stringent requirements that are part of federal law. Last spring, all public school students in grades third through eighth took the MAP tests in reading and math. The reading exam was given in grade 11. The math exam was given in grade 10.
This year, 51% of all students had to score at the "proficient" level or higher for a school to meet the AYP target in reading. For mathematics, the target was 45%.
The following is a look at how well the county’s students did in 2008.
Proficiency goals for communication arts 51% mathematics 45%
Gallatin R-5 total kids 42.4 (G) 49.9 (Y)
Gallatin High School 37.1 (NP) 52 (Y)
Gallatin Elementary 46.7 (CI) 48.2 (Y)
Winston R-6 total kids 33 (NP) 43.6 (CI)
Winston High School 35.3 (CI) 62.2 (Y)
Winston Elementary 31.6 (G) 31.6 (CI)
Pattonsburg R-2 total kids 37.7 (SC) 37.8 (CI)
Pattonsburg High School 34.3 (CI) 28.1 (CI)
Pattonsburg Elementary 40.5 (CI) 45.2 (Y)
North Daviess R-3 total kids 36.1 (CI) 27.8 (CI)
North Daviess High School 57.1 (Y) 35.7 (CI)
North Daviess Elementary 34.3 (NP) 35.7 (NP)
Tri-County R-7 total kids 35.5 (SC) 41.3 (CI)
Tri-County High School 34.8 (CI) 37.8 (CI)
Tri-County Elementary 36.2 (CI) 44.7 (CI)
The AYP results present a mixed and sometimes perplexing overview of the county school’s performance. For instance, North Daviess Elementary students got a Not Pass (NP) for math and communication arts. But it should be noted that the R-3 High School students were the only group to actually surpass the AYP requirements for communication arts.
Winston students in general struggled with the reading exam. On the other hand, Winston High School students received the highest rating of all the schools for high school math.
Gallatin High School students also struggled with reading. But the school’s total number of kids had better ratings than the other four schools for both math and communication arts. Both the elementary and high school exceeded the target in math, a feat not performed by any of the other schools.
Nineteen groups and sub-groups are taken into account to gain the results of the AYP, including attendance and graduation rates.
Under the federal No Child Left Behind program, the standard to meet Annual Yearly Performance will rise each year. By the years, 1014, all schools will be required to have 100% of their students at the proficient level.
MAP Test results are used by the state to evaluate public schools for accreditation purposes and to satisfy the accountability requirements of federal law (No Child Left Behind).
A complete list of how the schools did on the AYP will appear in next week’s paper.