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Fewer Georgia schools are in Needs Improvement (NI) status, according to the initial Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) report released today. Just over 14% of schools are in NI status this year, compared to 15.4% last year. Thirty-five schools across the state shook the Needs Improvement label by having made AYP for two consecutive years.

"The initial AYP results demonstrate that our schools are more focused than ever and that is translating into fewer schools in Needs Improvement status," said State School Superintendent Brad Bryant. "However, the academic bar and the graduation rate requirement increased this year, leading to a smaller percentage of schools making AYP, which is something we will focus closely on over the next several months.”

More than 71% of Georgia's public schools made AYP, a drop from 79% of schools that made AYP last year. This drop is due in large part to the increase in the academic bar in mathematics that students in elementary and middle school had to meet in order for a school to make AYP. The graduation rate that high schools must meet also increased this year to 80%.

The final AYP report will be released in the fall and will include summer retest scores, summer graduates and appeals.

Compared to initial AYP results last year, the 2010 report shows that:
- The percentage of schools in NI status decreased from 15.4% to 14.1%.
- The number of schools in NI status decreased from 334 to 305.
- The percentage of schools making AYP decreased eight points from 79.1% to 71.1%.

The percentage of high schools making AYP continues to lag behind. In 2010, just over 33% of the state's high schools made AYP, a decrease of almost 14 percentage points from 2009's initial results.

"We know there is a lot of hard work going on in our high schools, but we must provide more focused support for our students and teachers," Superintendent Bryant said. "I am committed to focusing on the needs of our high schools to ensure they are preparing students for the 21st century."

AYP is the formula used to determine if schools are meeting expectations under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. It consists of three parts -- test participation, academic achievement and another statistic, called a "second indicator." The academic goals continue to rise every few years toward a goal of 100% proficiency for all students by 2014. This year, the academic goal for grades 3-8 increased in mathematics and the graduation rate bar went up.

All students at a school, as well as any qualifying subgroup of students, must meet goals in all three categories in order to make AYP. Schools that do not make AYP for two consecutive years in the same subject are placed in Needs Improvement status and face escalating consequences.

35 Schools No Longer in “Needs Improvement”
Initial results show that 35 schools came out of Needs Improvement status by making AYP for the second consecutive year.

"Getting out of NI status isn't easy," Superintendent Bryant said. "These 35 schools should be very proud of their accomplishments, but have to remain focused so they continue making improvements."

There are 305 schools in NI status for the coming school year. These schools must offer parents options, such as public school choice or federally-funded tutoring. Depending on how long these schools have been in NI, some may have to make structural or organizational changes to improve student achievement.
In 2009, there were 334 NI schools after the initial results. That number dropped to 278 after retests, summer graduates and appeals were worked into the formula.

"As we normally do, I believe we will see the number of NI schools drop again when we do our final AYP determinations in the fall," Superintendent Bryant said.

Graduation Rate
The state's initial 2010 graduation rate is 79.9%. That is up from the initial 2009 graduation rate of 77.8% and the final 2009 graduation rate of 78.9%, which included summer graduates.

"Improving the graduation rate is crucial to Georgia being competitive with other states in recruiting and retaining jobs," Superintendent Bryant said. "The more students graduating from high school with a meaningful diploma, the more students we have ready to go to college or enter the workforce. There is still more work to be done, but this year's graduation rate is an encouraging sign."

Graduation rate must be used as a "second indicator" for all high schools and the bar was raised this year.

In order to make AYP, a high school had to have a graduation rate of 80% or higher, up from 75% last year. If a school did not make that goal, they could use a "second look" which means:
- Having a graduation rate that averaged 80% or higher over the past three years OR
- Having a graduation rate of at least 60% the previous year (2009) and showing a 10% improvement in the rate this year.

Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
Today's AYP release sheds more light on the need for Congress to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) - No Child Left Behind. Even though both the Spellings administration and the Duncan administration at the U.S. Department of Education have worked to grant administrative flexibility, it has been insufficient to overcome the original accountability benchmarks established by Congress in 2001.

"As a state, we have no problem moving toward a proficiency rate of 100% - to do anything else would underserve a portion of Georgia's students," said Superintendent Bryant. "We are frustrated over the fact that the original authorization of No Child Left Behind came with the promise that it would be reauthorized in five years with increased flexibility in return for increased accountability. Once again we call upon Congress to act in a manner which supports the hundreds of thousands of teachers and school leaders across the nation who are more focused on student learning than ever before."

MORE INFORMATION
- AYP Website (spreadsheets with school-level information can be downloaded from this site)
- AYP "By the Numbers"

29 percent of schools don't make 'adequate yearly progress'By Nancy Badertscher


The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

1:40 p.m. Monday, July 19, 2010

Georgia public schools lost ground at every level this year on increasingly tougher federal testing goals, with 29 percent of all schools failing to make the all-important “adequate yearly progress,” new data shows.

The state’s high schools, which already had the worst record of the state's three classifications, fell even further behind on AYP, the chief measure of student achievement under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Nearly 67 percent of high schools didn’t make AYP in 2010, compared to 53 percent at this time last year, according to data released Monday by the Georgia Department of Education.

Fewer middle and elementary schools also made AYP this year, though the tumble at their levels wasn’t as dramatic.

The data showed 15.5 percent of elementary schools failing to make AYP this year, compared to about 10 percent last year. Among middle schools, the failure rate was 33 percent, up from 25 percent last year.

Combined, 305 elementary, middle and high schools made the “needs improvement” list for failing to meet the benchmark for two or more years. That number was actually down from last year, largely because 35 schools came off the list.

Standards for making AYP get a little tougher each year, so educators said the latest data was not completely surprising.

Brad Bryant, interim state superintendent of schools, said the drop in the percentage of schools making AYP can be attributed to increases this year in the “academic bar and the graduation rate requirement.

“We will focus closely on [both issues] over the next several months,” he said.

The good news in the data, Bryant said, is the reduction in the number of schools in "needs improvement" status. That, he said, shows “our schools are more focused than ever.”

Susan Walker, policy and research director for the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, said the new data raises the question: Is AYP really the clearest indicator of school performance?

“Grad rates are up, yet only one third [of high schools] are making AYP,” Walker said. “That seems sort of incongruent.”

Schools are required under No Child Left Behind to reach certain benchmarks on English, reading and math tests every year.

Those that succeed are said to have made AYP and those failing for consecutive years face increasingly severe sanctions. Some schools allow students to transfer to better-performing schools and others face complete staff changes, even possible takeover by the state.

The state DOE released school-by-school AYP standings, except in the city of Atlanta. The standings for 58 schools are being withheld pending the school system's report to the state, due Aug. 2, on an investigation into possible tampering with the results of the CRCT at those schools.

All of the schools in Fayette County made AYP again this year, according to the state data.

Forsyth and Cherokee County schools met AYP standards as systems, with few failing schools and a majority of schools in both counties fell into the Distinguished category.

Only Forsyth Central High School did not meet AYP status and it was one group of 11 Latino students in the school that put it there by failing to have adequate English language arts scores.

"We are delighted we have made AYP as a system for the second year in a row at a time when the bar continues to increase." said Superintendent Buster Evans.

Twenty-seven of Forsyth's 34 schools fell into the Distinguished category.

In Cherokee County, 27 schools earned Distinguished status and five – Canton Elementary, Oak Grove Elementary, Teasley Middle, Cherokee High and the Polaris Evening schools -- did not meet AYP standards.

Superintendent Frank Petruzielo said that at failing schools, principals and district staff will work together to put together School Improvement Plans with measureable goals and objectives, action plans and monitored timelines to determine progress or to make adjustments. Students will also receive individualized help.

Despite the schools failing to meet AYP standards, Petruzielo noted the system was making progress.

"In fact, this year there was an increase in the number of students moving from the “Meets” to the “Exceeds” category in 27 of 34 CRCT subcategories," he said.

Staff writer Chris Quinn contributed to this article.