Peggy King
Cordele Dispatch
Cordele —
No high school in the three-county area achieved AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) for the 2009-2010 school year, according to information released this week by the state Department of Education.
In addition, Wilcox Elementary and Middle Schools and Dooly County Middle School did not meet the necessary standards for AYP in Georgia.
On the bright side, however, Crisp County’s four elementary schools are in a group of “distinguished” schools that have made AYP for multiple years.
Even though Crisp County Middle School made AYP for the most recent school year, it remains in the “needs improvement” status because two consecutive years of AYP are required before a school is removed from that status.
Both Blackshear Trail and J. S. Pate have met AYP for 12 consecutive years. They have been categorized as “distinguished” schools for the past 10 years. A. S. Clark and Southwestern have met AYP for 8 years, and have been “distinguished” schools for 6 years.
Crisp County High School kept that county’s record less than perfect by failing to have high enough Georgia high school graduation test scores and by falling below the required standard for high school graduation numbers.
This is Dooly County Elementary’s second year of making AYP which places it in the “adequate” category. Dooly County Middle School made AYP last year, so this is the first year that it has fallen into “needs improvement” status.
Dooly’s high school has failed to make AYP for five years, and has been targeted for assistance. In fact, that school recently was awarded a school improvement grant which will provide some $3 million over a three-year period in an effort to turn things around.
Wilcox County High already has two years and the middle school, one year in “needs improvement” status. The elementary school made AYP last year.
AYP requires schools to meet academic standards in three areas: 95% test participation in math and English/language arts for all groups and sub-groups with 40 or more students; meeting or exceeding the state’s Annual Measurable Objectives (AMO) on those tests and a second indicator.
Georgia uses the Criterion-Referenced Competency tests as its AYP assessment tool at the elementary and middle school level. The Georgia High School Graduation tests are used for high schools, and the Georgia Alternate Assessment (GAA) is used for severely cognitively impaired students, according to the Department of Education website.
Failure to meet AYP does not mean a school is failing, the website says. The data that is produced simply helps schools identify areas in which they need improvement.
“When student performance results on tests are analyzed by various student groupings, gaps in student performance become self-evident. The closing of these gaps is the mission of the Governor's Office of Student Achievement and the Georgia Department of Education and becomes the focus of school improvement initiatives at the school and school district levels,” the website further explains.
When schools or districts are identified for Needs Improvement, School Improvement teams are assigned to assist the schools or districts in implementing consequences and to focus on the school's (or district's) strengths to overcome its weaknesses.
Students in schools that “need improvement” have the option of requesting a transfer to another school in the system or receiving supplemental services.
