Passing grades
earned at eight
county schools

By FULLER ROYAL

With one more school than last year making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in the No Child Left Behind program, officials with the Columbus County Schools are expressing cautious optimism that those statistics will hold.

Eight of Columbus County’s 19 schools achieved AYP status, meaning that there were enough students proficient to meet federal standards. These included Fair Bluff Elementary, which has seen a dramatic turnaround this year. Only seven county schools achieved AYP last year.

The Whiteville City Schools have not released their preliminary scores, citing several glitches with high school scores.

The reason for caution is that the AYP results for grades 3-8 are based solely on this year’s scores on the North Carolina End-of-Grade reading tests. The math scores have been withheld and are not slated for release until Oct. 5.

County Schools Superintendent Dan Strickland said that the math scores could result in several of the schools that made AYP losing that status if they failed the math portion.

“We’re celebrating the moment now,” Strickland said, adding that he wishes more schools could have pulled off the AYP feat.

Until the math scores are released, schools making AYP are left hanging.

As far as No Child Left Behind is concerned, the schools that failed to make AYP based on reading scores have nothing to look forward to. Their status is already sealed for another year.

With a few changes, most of the schools that made AYP last year repeated the accomplishment year.

Acme-Delco Middle School made AYP while its feeder school, Acme-Delco Elementary did not – the reverse of last year’s results.

All nine of Acme-Delco Middle’s subgroups had a sufficient number of students proficient in reading to qualify for AYP. Only seven of Acme-Delco Elementary School’s nine subgroups made the grade.

This year, with No Child Left Behind, any subgroup failing to have at least 76.7 percent of its members proficient in reading, failed.

If any one subgroup fails, then the entire school fails. It’s an all or nothing situation, one which educators across the nation are calling unfair.

To qualify as a subgroup, there must be at least 40 members of that group. Subgroups include: the school as a whole, white students, black students, limited English proficient students, students with disabilities, Hispanic students, economically disadvantaged students, multi-racial students, Native American students and Asian students.

Some schools have large numbers of subgroups. The subgroups that have the hardest time meeting state and federal standards are students with disabilities.

The preliminary results released this week did not include a breakdown of the subgroups and how each did at each school. That information will not be available until the state releases its final, official scores in October.

In math, at least 81 percent of each subgroup must be proficient, or it will fail.

Boys and Girls Home Elementary School made AYP with its one goal met. Cerro Gordo Elementary School made AYP with all seven of its goals met.

Chadbourn Elementary made AYP with its seven goals all met. Evergreen met all nine of its goals earning AYP.

Fair Bluff Elementary School, nearly closed down one year ago, earned its first AYP ranking, meeting all seven of its goals.

Hallsboro-Artesia Elementary School met all of its 10 goals earning AYP. Old Dock met all seven of its goals, earning AYP.

Chadbourn Middle, Guideway Elementary, Hallsboro Middle, Tabor City Elementary, Tabor City Middle and Williams Township schools all failed to reach AYP.

All three county high schools plus Nakina Alternative School failed to meet all of their goals.

Strickland said that the state had discovered discrepancies in the math scoring process.

“They want to make sure all is correct with them,” he said.

Strickland said that the delay in math scores puts many of the county’s school programs in limbo.

Schools that have failed to make AYP for two consecutive years are subject to school choice, meaning that parents may opt for the county to bus their students to other schools in the district that made AYP.

Schools failing to make AYP a third year must offer school choice or supplemental help.

Strickland said that until the final AYP results are known in October, there is no way to implement school choice or supplemental services.

Strickland’s office has to notify all of the parents at affected schools of their options and enter into contracts with supplementary service providers.

All 112 school systems in the state face the same problem, a dilemma that potentially could create thousands of hours of additional work as well as logistical headaches for administrators.

“It will definitely be a strain trying to make those changes if parents want to switch,” he said.

Publicly, administrators say little in opposition to No Child Left Behind.

Strickland did say that, “We’re concerned with the way things are going. We’re trying hard to implement new programs to continue what has been started. It’s a challenge getting schools ready to begin with – but we are having to wait for scores to come out. It seems like an impossible task to try and get all the details.

“We’re going to think positive and we’re up to the task,” he added.

Whiteville City Schools Superintendent Danny McPherson said that it will probably be Monday before his system releases its scores.