Plans unveiled for making AYP

Staff

Published Friday, September 12, 2008

Suffolk Public School officials Thursday night unveiled strategies for getting all the division’s schools to meet Adequate Yearly Progress next year.

This year, the division and 12 of its 20 schools scored last year did not meet AYP. AYP was established by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, requiring each school to make progress in certain areas until – theoretically – every student in the nation passes standardized tests by 2014. For a school to meet AYP this year, at least 77 percent of students overall and students in all subgroups must demonstrate proficiency in English, and 75 percent of students overall and in all subgroups must demonstrate proficiency in math. The subgroups assessed for AYP purposes are: white, black, Hispanic, students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged students, and students with limited English proficiency.

In Thursday night’s meeting, the board learned exactly where the shortfalls in Suffolk Public Schools are. The 12 schools include five Title I schools and seven non-Title I schools. The distinction is needed because Title I schools – those that receive federal funds because a certain percentage of the student population is economically disadvantaged – face sanctions such as being forced to allow parents to transfer their children to other schools and to offer after-school tutoring.

Four schools – Creekside, Kilby Shores, Mack Benn Jr. and Nansemond Parkway elementary schools – missed the mark because of economically disadvantaged students’ performance. For Creekside and Nansemond Parkway, the shortfall was English; for Kilby Shores, it was math, and Mack Benn Jr. struggled with both. An economically disadvantaged student is identified as one who qualifies for free or reduced price lunch.

Three schools fell below the standard in the disabled category. John Yeates and King’s Fork middle schools’ disabled students did not earn the required percentage in math, and for John F. Kennedy Middle, it was both English and math. A student who has an active individualized education plan (IEP) is classified as disabled.

In two schools, Elephant’s Fork and Mount Zion elementary schools, both the black and disadvantaged students missed the mark. At Elephant’s Fork, they fell behind in both subjects; Mount Zion struggled in English.

None of the division’s three high schools made the grade in math. At King’s Fork, the entire school as well as the black subgroup failed to make the required percentage. At Lakeland, the black and disabled subgroups missed the mark; at Nansemond River, the disadvantaged and disabled students fell short.

Because of the subgroup classifications, as discussed in the meeting, some students’ scores are recorded more than once. It would be possible, for example, for a student to fall into the disabled, disadvantaged, limited English proficiency and a racial group all at once, and that student’s score would count in each subgroup.

Each Suffolk school that missed the mark in one or more categories will be required to develop a school improvement plan, outlining the detailed steps that will be taken to improve student performance. Elephant’s Fork Elementary must allow parents to transfer their students to other schools and must offer tutoring services from a state-approved list of outside companies. It has missed making AYP two of the last three years.

School improvement plans, school officials said, will include analyzing and using test data to make instructional changes, reviewing and addressing student performance by question, developing a “culture” of commitment and passion for improving student achievement, and “curriculum mapping,” which involves an intensive study of the curriculum compared to performance on tests.

---

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE THIS STORY?

---