DPI releases AYP report for No Child Left Behind

The N.C. Department of Public Instruction (DPI) released the first-ever preliminary AYP ("Adequate Yearly Progress") reports last week, and they contained both good and bad news for Alleghany County Schools (ACS).

The four local schools met 51 of 52 performance goals, or benchmarks, under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. However, a school which misses even one of its benchmarks does not make AYP.

Glade Creek School and Piney Creek School made AYP for 2002-03, each meeting all 13 of its benchmarks. Alleghany High School also made AYP, meeting nine out of nine benchmarks. Sparta School, which met 16 of its 17 goals, did not make AYP.

Frank Busic, testing coordinator for ACS, said the school system as a whole also did not make AYP.

AYP is based on the performance of the school as a whole, as well as pupil subgroups, which include white, black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian/Pacific Islander, multiracial, limited English proficiency, pupils with disabilities and economically disadvantaged pupils.

The benchmarks consist of the performance of the school as a whole and each qualifying subgroup on mathematics and reading tests, as well as whether each group had at least 95 percent tested in math and reading. For elementary and middle schools, the attendance rate is an additional indicator; for high schools, the additional indicator is the graduation rate.

One Goal Short

NCLB uses the 2001-02 school year as a starting point, requiring incremental progress toward the goal of 100 percent pupil proficiency by 2013-14. For 2002-03, the goals, according to information released by ACS and DPI, for grades three through eight were 68.9 percent of pupils proficient.

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