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Martinsville, Virginia 24115
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Friday, August 14, 2009
By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Twelve of Henry County’s 15 schools, as well as the school system itself, made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for the 2008-09 academic year.
That is based on preliminary information the Henry County School Board heard during a work session Thursday morning at the Bassett Country Club.
AYP is a measurement under the federal No Child Left Behind Act enabling the U.S. Department of Education and state education department to determine how each public school and school system is performing academically based on results of students’ state Standards of Learning (SOL) test results.
To meet AYP for 2008-09, individual schools, plus school systems overall, must have passing rates of 81 percent in reading and 79 percent in math.
Dewitt House, the county schools’ assistant superintendent for instruction, said the schools also must have a certain passing rate on another “academic indicator” subject of the system’s choice. He said the county schools chose science.
However, reached while he was traveling Thursday evening, he could not immediately remember the percentage passing rate required of the county schools for science.
In Henry County, Laurel Park Middle School did not make AYP because it did not meet benchmarks for math and science performance by students with disabilities as well as science performance by Hispanic students and students with limited proficiency in English skills, a report to the school board showed.
John Redd Smith Elementary School did not make AYP since it did not make the benchmark for math performance by black students, the report stated.
Collinsville Primary School is the third school that did not make AYP. It is a John Redd Smith “feeder school” that teaches students in kindergarten through second grade only. The SOL tests are administered from the third grade onward.
Because it feeds John Redd Smith, that school’s results are officially considered Collinsville Primary’s, said House.
Statistics presented to the school board showed that the county schools’ overall passing rate on reading tests increased from 86 percent in 2007-08 to 91 percent in 2008-09.
There also were increases in passing rates in reading among all subgroups of students. The largest increase, from 76 percent to 86 percent, was among students with disabilities. The smallest hike, from 80 percent to 82 percent, was among students with limited proficiency in English, statistics showed.
The school system’s overall passing rate for math jumped from 84 percent to 89 percent. Each student subgroup also saw an increase. The largest was among Hispanic students (from 75 percent to 86 percent), and the smallest were both 4 percent among students with disabilities (from 77 percent to 81 percent) and whites (from 87 percent to 91 percent), figures indicated.
Each subgroup saw an increase in science performance, statistics revealed. The largest increases were among economically disadvantaged students (from 84 percent to 89 percent) and Hispanics (from 82 percent to 87 percent). The system’s overall science performance rose from 90 percent to 92 percent.
History and writing also are measured under AYP.
For history, the county schools’ overall passing rate grew from 87 percent to 93 percent. Each subgroup saw increases. The largest increase was from 74 percent to 88 percent among students with limited English proficiency, and the smallest hike was from 89 percent to 95 percent among whites, statistics showed.
For writing, the school system’s overall passing rate increased from 87 percent to 91 percent, figures indicated.
Two subgroups saw drops in their writing passing rates. They were Hispanics (from 84 percent to 79 percent) and students with limited proficiency in English (from 81 percent to 77 percent).
The largest hikes in writing among subgroups were for blacks (from 87 percent to 89 percent) and whites (from 92 percent to 94 percent).
House said school system administrators do not yet know why some of the writing percentages for subgroups dropped. He said they will analyze data to find out why and develop strategy to reverse the decline.
AYP results show “our schools are doing very well” overall, although they will strive for improvement in the future, House said. Generally, “our trends are going in the right direction” due to quality work being done by teachers and principals.
County schools Superintendent Anthony Jackson, who has been on the job for only about six weeks, agreed.
School board Vice Chairman Rudy Law, who represents the Blackberry District, asked whether teaching methods in one subject can be used in teaching other subjects to try and spur increases in passing rates.
That often is possible but due to differences in subjects, “you have to put your own twist on it,” House said.
He mentioned that teachers at any particular school sometime confer with teachers at other schools about successful teaching strategies.
Basically, though, successful teaching involves “getting to know your kids” (students), such as by being familiar with their family backgrounds, figuring out how individual students learn best and figuring out ways to help them, House added. |
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