By AUBRIE GEORGE
The state Department of Education released its Adequate Yearly Progress report in early November, and the results show several Evesham K-8 schools did not meet AYP standards for the 2009–10 school year.
The state’s AYP report is part of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation that aims to have all students achieving at their grade level by 2014. The data used in the report is based on results of state assessments given to students in grades 3 through 8 and grade 11.
Acting Education Commissioner Rochelle Hendricks compared the report to a “check engine” light in a car.
“It could mean that only one small group of students in a school did not meet standards. Or it could be the first evidence of a systemic problem requiring sweeping change,” Hendricks said.
Seven Evesham schools appear on the state’s list of schools that did not meet AYP standards, including Beeler, Van Zant, Marlton, Rice, and Jaggard elementary schools, and DeMasi and Marlton middle schools.
Six of those schools are included on an early warning list that indicates schools that will be placed on the Schools in Need of Improvement (SINI) list if they do not make AYP in the following year.
Marlton Middle School is on the SINI list, which identifies schools that did not make AYP for two consecutive years in the same content area.
SINI schools face sanctions, including parental notification and the use of 20 percent of the school’s federal Title I money to provide tutoring to struggling students, school improvement plans, and technical assistance from the district and the state. Schools must make AYP two years in a row in order to be removed from the SINI list.
The Evesham K-8 school district’s director of Curriculum and Instruction, Danielle T. Magulick, said Evesham schools that missed AYP standards only did so because one subgroup of students failed to meet AYP benchmarks on the state assessment.
According to Magulick, the state requires that students in each school meet 41 performance indicators in order to meet AYP. Those indicators include all students achieving scores of proficient or advanced proficient in the test’s subject areas of mathematics and language arts.
Students are broken up into subgroups such as racial and ethnic groups, special education, limited English proficient, and economically disadvantaged students. Students in all subgroups and in all grades tested must score proficient or advanced proficient in all subjects to meet AYP. The special education subgroups in the district’s elementary schools, with the exception of Evans, failed to meet the AYP benchmarks on the state assessment. DeMasi Elementary School does not have a special education subgroup, Magulick said.
The special education subgroup of students in the district’s elementary schools met the benchmark in mathematics, with the exception of Beeler, but missed the mark in language arts.
DeMasi Middle School’s special education subgroup missed the benchmark in both language arts and mathematics. Marlton Middle School met the benchmark in language arts, but missed the mark in mathematics.
Magulick said that the special education subgroup missed the benchmarks is not unusual because students are classified in that group due to the fact that they’re performing below grade level as a result of disabilities.
“Consequently, it is reasonable to assume that special education students will have great difficulty being successful on a rigorous state exam that is not designed at their instructional level.” Magulick said. “Due to this fact, we as a district use various assessment tools in the fall and spring to ensure that growth is occurring with our special education students.”
Magulick said the district pays particular attention to the educational placements of special education students to ensure their progress and success.
She said the district uses other tools to other than state assessments to measure student progress including other standardized testing, progress of the overall student population towards educational goals, school safety, and social and emotional growth.
“These factors contribute to the complete picture of a school’s academic program,” Magulick said. “Our track record thus far is excellent. Our students go on to Cherokee High School and a large percentage goes on to college. Our special education students in particular, do extremely well because of the foundation they receive here in Evesham.”
