From the VDT. Seems like we are blaming this on a certain group.
Three out of 10 Lowndes schools miss the AYP mark
By Johnna Pinholster
August 06, 2008 09:41 pm
VALDOSTA – Three out of 10 schools within the Lowndes County School system failed to meet the Adequate Yearly Progress standards.
Clyattville Elementary, Pinegrove Elementary and Lowndes High schools were the failing institutions.
The three schools did not meet the AYP standards because of two populations of students, Superintendent Dr. Steve Smith said.
“The most frequent reason was there was not enough student achievement in the areas of students with disabilities and the minority student area,” Smith said. “There was not enough gain with student achievement, specifically with some of the minority students at the high school.”
Clyattville Elementary School for both the Language Arts and Math CRCT tests scored below the 59.5 percent meets and exceeds range in each area.
The failing areas came from the students with disabilities, minority and economically disadvantaged sub-groups.
Pinegrove Elementary scored below the CRCT standards for the English Language Arts area in the students with disabilities sub-group.
The math CRCT scores had the minority and students with disabilities scoring below the 59.5 percent meets and exceeds standards.
The Georgia High School Graduation Test saw failing results for both the minority and students with disabilities sub-groups.
The minority sub-group scored 64.1 in both English Language Arts and Math and the students with disabilities score was 68.3, both below the meets and exceeds standards of 74.9 percent.
During the summer the schools scheduled day to day staff meetings that analyzed the test data and identified which sub-groups didn’t make AYP and why they did not, Smith said.
“We are in the process of formulating a school improvement plan and they are doing this on a school level and at a classroom level with personal enhancement plans,” Smith said.
The school improvement plan will help the schools address the overall deficiencies that exist with the institution.
This was the first year Pinegrove and Clyattville Elementary failed to make AYP. Lowndes High School had made AYP for the two years prior to this one, but had not made it before the previous consecutive years, Smith said.
The goal of AYP and No Child Left Behind is to get every child in school reading at grade level by 2014. Each year a school makes AYP the average a school is expected to meet is raised a little bit higher.
System wide, Smith said, he is happy with the AYP results, though he does expect improvement.
The AYP results for all schools in Georgia can be viewed at http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/ayp2008/search.asp.
Filed under: Education, Education Policy, Georgia, Georgia Education, Lowndes Schools, No Child left behind, Poverty and education, Race and education
