Six schools fall short of benchmarks

Six out of the 10 Culpeper County Public Schools did not make adequate yearly progress during the 2008-09 school year, according to Thursday’s official results released by the Virginia Department of Education.

That’s 60 percent of the county’s public schools that failed to meet the objectives for the standards of learning tests given to students last year.

AYP is a federal government measurement of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which determines how schools nationwide are achieving academically.

Jim Allen, director of curriculum and instruction for CCPS, presented preliminary results to the School Board during Monday’s regular meeting.

“When I look at the past three years, every single solitary subgroup has shown improvement,” Allen told the board that night. “(But) we are not there yet.”

The subgroups are: white, black, Hispanic, limited English proficiency, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged.
Districtwide, Allen said, only one subgroup, blacks in reading, did not meet AYP.

The four schools that made AYP this year are: A.G. Richardson, Emerald Hill, Farmington elementary schools and Floyd T. Binns Middle School.

Of the 132 school districts in Virginia, 59 made AYP while 72 school divisions failed to meet the benchmarks.

However, 13 statewide met all but one of the 29 required objectives.

In Culpeper, Pearl Sample, Sycamore Park, Yowell, Culpeper Middle, Culpeper County High and Eastern View did not make AYP this year.

Statewide, 71 percent of Virginia’s public schools met annual benchmarks in reading and math.

VDOE figures show that 1,321 of 1,855 schools met AYP goals, but 525 overall failed to meet the objectives.

For a school division in Virginia to achieve AYP during the 2008-09 school year, at least 81 percent of students overall and in all subgroups must achieve proficiency in reading, and 79 percent of students overall and in all subgroups must achieve proficiency in mathematics, according to VDOE. Each year that target increases four points.

NCLB requires all students to be 100 percent proficient in reading and math by the school year 2013-14.

“Just a reminder that AYP is a moving target that increases every year,” CCPS Superintendent Bobbi Johnson reminded the board. “We’re trying to increase and close the gap and the target moves up. We’ve got to get up this year’s target and even further (next year).”

Johnson also added that all 10 schools are fully accredited with the state.

AYP ratings are based on student achievement tests in third through eighth grades and at least one in high school measuring reading and math skills.

In order to meet AYP, schools must meet or exceed at least 29 benchmarks in reading, math, attendance/graduation and student participation. Missing a single target may result in a school or division not making AYP.

Schools that don’t meet AYP repeatedly must implement a school-improvement plan.

According to Allen’s data, Pearl Sample is in its third year of improvements and Sycamore Park is in its second year.

Culpeper has three Title I schools: Pearl Sample, Farmington, and Sycamore Park elementary schools.

If a Title I school — one that receives federal money to help students in high poverty areas — fails to meet AYP two consecutive years in the same subject are challenged with different corrective options.

Those schools must notify parents of their status before school starts and offer students the opportunity to transfer to a school within the division that is not under corrective improvements.

Earlier this month, Pearl Sample and Sycamore Park officials mailed letters to parents notifying them of the option to request a transfer to Yowell, Farmington or A.G. Richardson.
The move is known as “public school choice.”

The status of nine schools statewide is pending.