One Warren County school meets AYP mark

By Peggy R. Shearin
Observer Correspondent

Preliminary 2007 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) reports show just one school in Warren County met the federal guidelines.

Vaughan Elementary School met 13 out of 13 AYP target goals for the 2006-07 school year. Vaughan is the only Warren County School to meet Adequate Yearly Progress each year since 2001-02.

The results are still being verified and audited, but the preliminary results on the North Carolina Public Schools Website show that the rest of Warren County schools fell short.

Mariam Boyd Elementary met 11 out of 13 AYP guildines; Northside Elementary, which met its AYP goals in 2005-06, only met 8 out of 13 for 2006-07 and South Warren Elementary School met 10 out of 13 target goals.  In the upper schools, Warren County Middle School met 20 out of 21 target goals; and Warren County High School, which has not met targeted goals since 2001-02, met 14 of their 15 targeted goals.

Students in grades three through eight take end-of-grade tests to assess their school’s proficiency.

End-of-course tests in mathematics and reading/language arts determine high schools proficiency.

Tenth graders also take a writing assessment test.

In addition to testing the school as a whole, each school’s population is broken down and monitor in different racial and ability groups, including students who are black, white, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, multiracial, or they are considered economically disadvantaged students, they are limited English proficient student, or they fall into the category of students with disabilities. 

According to the state board of education’s Website, if just one of these student groups fails a targeted proficiency goal, then the school does not make AYP goals for that year. 

Schools not meeting AYP targets in consecutive years are sanctioned, the longer they fail to meet the target, the heavier the sanctions. 

After just two years of not meeting the target, schools are given public school choice improvement plan/technical assistance.

Parents are also given the option to transfer their children to another school designated by the district that is not a Title I School Improvement.  That last option is not offered to Warren County parents, since the county has just one middle school and one high school.

According to the Department of Education Website, after four years of not meeting AYP targets the sanctions can include part or all of the following:

• The school staff deemed responsible for the deficiencies can be replaced.

• A new curriculum and appropriate professional development can be instituted

• Management authority at the school level can be significantly decreased.

• An outside expert can be appointed to advise the schools

• The school day, or even the school year, could be extended

• The school’s internal organizational structure could be revamped.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has one major goal that all public school children will perform at grade level in reading and mathematics by the end of the 2013-14 school year. 

All public schools throughout the United States must measure and report Adequate Yearly Progress as outlined by the No Child Left Behind Act.  Both proficiency and participation targets are sent in reading and mathematics.