North Carolina releases AYP math results

Posted Wednesday, July 23, 2008

 E-mail this page    Printer-friendly page

Chatham County, NC - On Monday, July 21, the state released a preliminary Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) report for the 2007-08 school year. High school results are complete, but results for grades 3-8 only include the mathematics portion of the results. There was a new edition of reading tests in 2008 for grades 3-8. Those results will likely be released by the state in November.

As of July 21, eight of fifteen Chatham County schools have achieved AYP by meeting target goals. A sixteenth school, SAGE Academy, the district’s alternative school, was not evaluated in the same manner as other schools and is listed as a special evaluation school. As required by the federal legislation, the math target for grades 3-8 increased from 65.8% proficiency to 77.2% in 2008. The high school math target goal was 68.4% proficiency.

Elementary and middle schools that made AYP in the area of math are: Bennett, Bonlee, Chatham Middle, J.S. Waters, Moncure, North Chatham and Silk Hope. Chatham Central High School also made AYP.

“We are pleased with the increased number of schools currently achieving AYP in math, especially considering the target goals increased in elementary and middle grades. We continue to offer specialized staff development for teachers; carefully assess individual student needs; and look for other best practices that our teachers can use as they work with their students. Teamwork is key; students, parents, teachers, support staff, administrators, and the community play important roles in student success,” said Robert Logan, Superintendent.

AYP is a federal requirement under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. AYP differs from the state ABCs testing model. ABCs standardized test results, however, are used in calculating AYP results. In order to achieve AYP, a school must meet all of its target goals. The number of goals a school has depends on its varied student population. In addition to academic components, attendance rates and percent of students tested are also taken into account for grades 3-8. At the high school level, graduation rates and percentage of students tested are taken into account along with academics. Each student group must have at least 40 students across the tested grades to be included in AYP calculations at the school level and must have attended a school 140 days before the first day of spring testing.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) divides students into ten groups that must achieve proficiency targets in reading/language arts and mathematics. In order for a school to make AYP, every group a) must make the targets in both reading and mathematics and b) have at least a 95% participation rate in the assessments for each area. The ten student groups are: 1) school as a whole (all students), 2) White, 3) Black, 4) Hispanic, 5) Native American, 6) Asian, 7) Multiracial, 8) economically disadvantaged students, 9) limited English proficient students, and 10) students with disabilities.

Five of fifteen schools in the district made AYP in 2006-07 with both reading and mathematics results being taken into account. Data from previous school years is available on the Chatham County Schools website at http://www.chatham.k12.nc.us/curriculum/testing/index.html