Two schools in Norton, Wise fall short of AYP benchmarks
http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9002700
WISE "? Two area schools failed to meet federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) annual progress standards, one each in the Wise County and Norton school divisions.
The Virginia Department of Education on Thursday released statewide adequate yearly progress (AYP) results for school divisions and individual schools. AYP takes into account a number of benchmarks to assess each school and school division's ability to meet minimum national standards to provide a quality education according to federal NCLB guidelines.
L.F. Addington Middle School in Wise failed to make AYP for the second year in a row, according to state results (www.doe.virginia.gov, see Virginia School Report Card) and Norton's J.I. Burton High School failed to make AYP after meeting or exceeding the guidelines the previous year.
All schools in Wise County and Norton were categorized as "Not In Improvement"? which, in federal bureaucratic language, is a very good thing. Schools categorized as "In Improvement"? means those schools have been deemed unfit in one form or another and enrolled in special assistance programs "? and/or sanctions in some cases "? to turn things around.
Of the 29 categories measured by AYP, L.F. Addington fell short in just one, the English/reading test score performance for students with disabilities.
Wise County Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Jim Wardell on Friday said the English Standards of Learning (state SOL tests applied to AYP assessments) performance for students with disabilities at L.F. Addington slipped last year from a 54 percent passing rate the previous year to 51 percent last year, and that led to the school's failure to make AYP.
"We did meet or exceed all 28 of the other objectives,"? said Wardell of L.F. Addington. "What is interesting to note is that overall we had an increase of 5 percent to an 86 percent passing rate in English."?
L.F. Addington's students overall did better than ever on English SOL test scores. As is the case this year, Wardell said, "you have a lot of cases where overall scores rise but a subgroup falls, which can be a little tricky, particularly when not dealing with large numbers of students in subgroups."?
Last year L.F. Addington got tripped up by a subgroup performance in math and failed to make AYP, Wardell said. AYP is a useful tool to identify possible shortcomings among student subgroups, he said, but can provide an unfair portrait of a school's true worth, particularly when coming up short in a single subgroup within 29 categories.
The overall SOL performance for all Wise County schools "? including L.F. Addington "? rates the school division among the elite in the state and routinely earns accolades from state education officials. All county schools are fully accredited by a state accountability standards system that has always been considered among the nation's toughest since the SOLs were installed about a decade ago.
Statewide, 1,316 of 1,823 schools in Virginia made AYP. The number of Virginia's 132 school divisions earning AYP ratings declined from 74 last year to just 58 in 2007, a decline from the previous year from 56 percent to 44 percent.
Wise County's 2006-07 SOL test results, meanwhile, showed that high school students exceeded all benchmarks in English/reading, math, history and science required for graduating with a standard or advanced diploma. Wardell said achievement rose four points in Algebra I to a 96 percent passing rate, seven points in geometry to 92 percent, and five points in Algebra II to 95 percent.
In the sciences at the high school level, achievement in Wise County's passing rate rose three points in biology to 87 percent, seven points in chemistry to 95 percent, and 84 percent in earth sciences, the same as the previous year. The high school student SOL passing rate in geography rose two points to 77 percent.
Wise County middle school students also posted gains last year, with fifth-graders notching gains in all core areas with scores in reading and writing rising to 89 percent, math up by five points to 88 percent, and science scores up by six points to 86 percent.
Sixth-grade scores rose to 84 percent in English and 60 percent in math, while seventh-grade math went up by three points to a 55 percent passing rate and English at 80 percent. After implementing a yearlong English instruction program at the eighth-grade level, the percentage of students passing the SOL reading test showed a dramatic improvement of 15 points from the previous year, from 66 percent to 81 percent. Writing in eighth grade increased one point to 81 percent and math by six points to 84 percent.
After restructuring the social studies curriculum, middle school students posted gains to meet or exceed state passing rates on content-specific exams. Achievement rose 19 percentage points on U.S. history to 1877 to 76 percent, and 1877 to the present stayed at an 87 percent passing rate. Students also posted an eight-point spike on civics and economics with an 86 percent passing rate.
Primary grade students continued to meet or exceed state performances in all SOL assessments. The pass rate in third-grade reading last year was 86 percent, 90 percent in math, 88 percent in science, and 92 percent in social studies. Fourth-grade students notched 88 percent passing rates in reading and 80 percent in math, with 78 percent of the county's fourth-graders passing the Virginia Studies SOL test.
"We've seen, overall, in testing quite a bit of improvement across the board in all the grade levels, and there have been some pretty dramatic improvements,"? said Wardell. "As a division we met all (AYP) objectives except reading for students with disabilities in spite of the fact our overall reading performance went up. To touch back on the general results on the tests, we're very pleased with the progress we've made with our overall test results, and of course we continue to seek to make improvements in all areas at all times."?
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