McDowell County Public Schools-Nine out of 12 schools miss the mark
Only three of the county's public schools met federal "No Child Left Behind" goals last year.McDowell County Public Schools released its 2011 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) results Thursday. Federal law requires local districts to release this data in time for parents to take advantage of opportunities for public school choice or tutoring options for their students.
Marion and Pleasant Gardens elementary schools and McDowell Early College met the mandated target goals. The remaining nine public schools did not.
No Child Left Behind requires states to raise the bar of performance each year, with the goal that eventually 100 percent of any given schools' students will perform at or above grade level. Local educators have complained in the past that it is virtually impossible, as any school is likely to have some underperforming students and that eventually all schools will fail to make AYP.
Under the federal standards, all students in third- through eighth grades and in 10th grade must be proficient in reading and mathematics by the end of the 2013-14 school year.
Performance is tracked by a variety of student groups, including the school as a whole. Other sampled groups include the various races and combinations of races, economic status, disability and those with limited English-language proficiency. For a school to make AYP, proficiency targets must be met by each identified subgroup.
Schools receiving federal Title I funds and not making AYP in a given subject area for two years in a row or more face a cascading sequence of consequences as a result. These consequences include having to offer tutoring services to eligible students, requirements for public school choice to students in identified schools and school restructuring.
In 2010, 10 of McDowell's schools made AYP, with only McDowell High and East Junior High failing to meet targets. In 2009, seven schools made AYP and only four in 2008.
This year, North Carolina's target goals increased to move the state closer to the required 100 percent target for 2013-14. As a result, for a North Carolina public school to make AYP in 2010-11, 71.6 percent of students in each subgroup in grades three through eight must be proficient in reading and 88.6 percent must be proficient in mathematics. For 10th graders, 69.3 percent of each subgroup must be proficient in reading and 84.2 percent must be proficient in mathematics.
In comparison, in 2009-10, the AYP targets for elementary and middle school were 43.2 percent proficient in reading and 77.2 percent proficient in mathematics. For 10th graders, the targets were 38.5 percent proficient in reading and 68.4 percent proficient in mathematics.
As the bar is raised each ear, the chorus of protest from educators grows louder. This year, State Superintendent June Atkinson added her voice.
"No Child Left Behind is designed so that schools that miss their AYP target with only one group of their students are considered to have missed the AYP target overall," said Atkinson. "This 'all or nothing' structure of the federal law guarantees that we will see an increasing number of schools missing the elusive 'Met AYP' designation. I continue to believe that this method of labeling schools is unfair and unrealistic because there is no recognition for schools that are making significant progress and performing well with nearly all of their students."
Thursday's report is a preliminary result, pending approval at the Aug. 4 State Board of Education meeting. Official statewide results and each school system's ranking should be released thereafter.
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