By DANIELLE RUSH
Tribune staff writer
Sat, May 17 2008
—
All Kokomo-area school corporations were determined to have made Adequate Yearly Progress for 2007.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Suellen Reed released progress reports Tuesday, stating that 54 percent of individual schools and 84 percent of school districts statewide met the federal standard.
SEE WEDNESDAY'S KOKOMO TRIBUNE FOR SCORES FROM INDIVIDUAL SCHOOL SYSTEMS
In the Kokomo area, 60 percent of individual schools were determined to have made AYP, as required under the federal No Child Left Behind act, which has the goal of every student reading and doing at or above grade level by 2014.
AYP designations are determined by student achievement and participation rates on the ISTEP+ in English and math, student attendance rates for elementary and middle schools and high school graduation rates. Schools must make AYP in all student subgroups, such as minority students, special education students and those receiving free and reduced lunch, to make AYP.
There are two ways for schools to make AYP, Reed said. The first is for the school to meet all performance, participation and attendance/graduation targets for both the overall student population and subgroups of 30 or more students. The second way to make AYP is to meet attendance rate targets and reduce the number of students not meeting performance targets by 10 percent.
In Howard County, 19 of the 30 individual schools, or 63 percent, made adequate yearly progress. In the county’s largest district, Kokomo-Center, 56 percent of the schools made AYP, including Bon Air Elementary School, which was on level 1 school improvement for 2006.
Schools that receive Title I funding, to educate students from low income families, face consequences for not making AYP. If a Title I school does not make AYP for two years in a row, it enters improvement status, which includes a series of interventions that progress depending on the number of successive years a school does not make AYP, Reed said.
Of the state’s 790 Title I schools assessed, 59 percent made AYP.
Statewide, 229 schools, including Kokomo’s Bon Air and Darrough Chapel elementary schools, are in improvement. Of those 229, 67 percent are at level one or level two improvement. Fifty-three school corporations, including Kokomo-Center and Peru Community Schools, are also in improvement status.
Because Bon Air Elementary made AYP for 2007, it remains on level 1, which means parents have the opportunity to transfer their children to another Kokomo-Center elementary that is not in improvement status. Corporation officials also must develop an improvement plan and use 10 percent of its Title I funds for teacher training.
Darrough Chapel Elementary is also on level one status, after not making AYP in 2006 or 2007.
Kokomo-Center School Corp. remains at level one, while Peru Community Schools are at level two. Both, however, made AYP for 2007. Schools must make AYP for two years in a row to be removed from improvement status.
Kokomo-Center Superintendent Thomas Little Jr. said the results show progress is being made.
“Last year we didn’t. That’s a big improvement,” Little said. “All schools made AYP overall in English language arts and math. We are concerned, however, about the slow progress we’re making in the special education subgroup and the black subgroup.”
Nine of the corporation’s 11 elementary schools made AYP. Darrough Chapel did not because of its black students’ English scores, while Boulevard did not because of its special education students’ English scores.
However, Little said, black students’ scores improved at Kokomo High School, where those students met the state standard. Kokomo High School did not make AYP because of special education English scores.
At the middle school level, only Central Middle School made AYP. Bon Air Middle School’s black students did not meet the standard in either English or math, and its special education students also did not meet the standard in English.
At Lafayette Park Middle School, English scores among black students, special education students and those receiving free and reduced lunch kept the school from making AYP. Maple Crest Middle School did not make adequate yearly progress based on its English scores among black students and its special education math scores.
Little said the Bridges program at Central Middle School, which provides after-school help, has been part of the improvement.
“We really think that’s made a huge impact. It’s given students an opportunity to continue improving their skills after school. The more time they put into their studies, the stronger students they will become. It’s our dream to have that program in every middle school in Kokomo-Center Schools.”
The program has expanded to Bon Air Middle School, and Little hopes to start pilot programs at Lafayette Park and Maple Crest middle schools.
He said Kokomo High School has started a program for freshmen who need extra help as well.
In the Taylor Community Schools, Taylor High School improved its graduation rate to make AYP, after not meeting the standard in 2006. Taylor Intermediate did not make AYP because students receiving free and reduced lunch did not meet the standard in English and because not enough of its special education students participated in the English test.
Eastern High School did not make AYP because of its special education English scores. At Western Middle School, special education math scores did not meet the standard.
Maconaquah High School did not make AYP because of its graduation rate. Maconaquah Middle School’s designation was based on free and reduced lunch and special education students’ English scores, as well as special education math scores.
Peru High School, which did not make AYP in 2006, did so in 2007. Peru Junior High School did not, based on English scores for students receiving free and reduced lunch and special education, and special education math scores.
Tri-Central Elementary’s designation was based on special education English and math scores, while Tri-Central High School’s was because of special education English scores.
At Tipton Elementary, special education math scores prevented the school from making AYP, while at Tipton Middle School, special education math scores did not meet the standard.
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