AYP results addressed

By Gracie Hart
Review Staff Writer
Published: September 11, 2008

After Orange County Schools learned only one of eight schools met federal Adequate Yearly Progress standards, principals appeared before the school board to share their plans for improving their schools’ performance.
AYP is part of the No Child Left Behind Act and aims to ensure that all students are on grade level in reading and math by 2013.  SOL test scores in reading and math participation and performance are assessed in seven subgroups, which make up the 29 AYP objectives, to determine if a school makes AYP.  In order to make AYP this year, there needed to be a 77 percent pass rate in the English tests and a 75 percent pass rate in the math tests.  All of the 29 objectives needed to be met.
Within the county, all of the students passed the participation tests in English and math.  It was the performance tests that prevented the schools from making AYP and also the attendance percentages.
In order to improve their students’ scores, all of the principals have developed plans that are aimed at recognizing students’ weaknesses and helping them to overcome them.
“I was impressed by how creative the principals are in fixing problems with the resources that they have,” said Jim Yurasits, Director of Accountability, Data, and School Improvement for Orange County. 
At Lightfoot Elementary School, 11 more disadvantaged students needed to pass the English performance test while eight more disadvantaged students needed to pass the math performance test in order for the school to make AYP. 
Lightfoot Principal Judy Anderson hopes to reduce the failure rate in reading for disadvantaged and minority students by 10 percent.  In order to do this, Anderson will be implementing Interactive Notebook strategies, response to intervention strategies, staff development, remediation, a schoolwide reading incentive program and monitoring subgroup performance on standard assessments. 
In math, Anderson hopes to reduce the failure rate for each subgroup by 10 percent.  To do this, she is implementing after-school tutoring, the use of manipulatives, math centers and more technology in math instruction.  Her staff will also be monitoring subgroup performance in common assessments and benchmark tests. 
Even though students at Unionville Elementary School are not tested solely for the school, but rather their AYP status is determined by Lightfoot Elementary, the principal there, like Anderson, is striving for improvement.  According to Jen Curtis, principal at Unionville, her staff will continue to identify students who aren’t showing necessary progress in English and math.
“We don’t want kids to get too far before they receive remediation,” she said.  “So far, we have been unsuccessful at closing the gap for students who go on to Lightfoot.”
Eleven more disadvantaged students needed to pass the English performance test and eight more needed to pass the math performance test in order for the school to make AYP.  To improve, Unionville will continue to have joint meetings with the Lightfoot data team to determine weaknesses in the curriculum, a program that started last year.  Also, remediation will be provided in tiers to students who are identified by teachers as those not making progress in line with their peers. 
Like the other elementary schools, Orange Elementary also has a plan for improvement.  For the school to have made AYP, 15 more Black students and 13 more disadvantaged students needed to pass the English performance test; two more disadvantage students needed to pass the math performance test, according to data from the Department of Education. 
“The good thing about AYP and No Child Left Behind is that they give you money to get things,” said Orange Elementary Principal Dan Phillips. 
Get things they did, with the hiring of a math specialist and the implementation of after-school tutoring with outside vendors, after-school remediation, packets for at-home learning, four-and-a-half week Language Arts tests and in-class instruction with the librarian.  The school also started a bullying prevention program.  Phillips hopes these programs will help the school to achieve their objective which is to increase the pass rate by 15 percent in the Black students and disadvantaged students subgroups in reading and math along with increasing all pass rates.
Gordon-Barbour Elementary School is unique in that all of the subgroups passed the math performance test. But nine more disadvantaged students needed to pass the English performance test in order for the school to make AYP.  Bill Berry, principal at Gordon-Barbour, aims to establish an increased emphasis on reading and math toward the goal of raising the pass rate for disadvantaged students to 77 percent.
“Our fourth grade teachers are doing wonderful things,” said Berry.  “We need to share them in other areas.”
Interactive Notebooks are being implemented in fifth grade reading, a remediation specialist will be used two days per week and teachers will be trained by reading specialist Diane Uberte on test-taking skills.  Also, Book Buddies will be used with the kindergarten and first grade students who did not meet PALS benchmarks and a 40-minute block of time will be used four days per week for remediation and enrichment.  Ongoing assessments and review of the results will be used to determine areas where students need more help.
Like Gordon-Barbour Elementary, all of the subgroups at Locust Grove Middle School passed the math performance tests.  Nine more disadvantaged students needed to pass the English performance test in order for the school to make AYP. 
According to principal Martha Roby, the school will be implementing one main strategy to improve students’ scores.
“Our main strategy is to implement the updated middle school reading curriculum which focuses on the areas of fluency, comprehension, word analysis and vocabulary development,” said Roby.
This will be done through specialized reading programs, monitoring students who are not proficient on reading tests at four-and-a-half and nine-week increments, providing after-school remediation and practicing test taking skills and strategies with students.  Also, there will be staff development in the areas of fluency and word-study.
At Prospect Heights Middle School, 11 more black students needed to pass the English performance test and 19 needed to pass the math performance test in order for the school to make AYP according to the Department of Education.  To improve students’ scores, several programs will be implemented in English and math.  Progress will be monitored and discussed in bimonthly meetings, remediation will occur in the morning preparation block, modumath and reading advantage will be implemented and algebra readiness is offered to reinforce SOL knowledge and skills.
Perhaps most excited about his improvement plan is Orange County High School Principal Gene Kotulka.  In order for the school to have made AYP, 13 more disabled students needed to pass the English performance test and 18 more Black and 22 more disadvantaged students needed to pass the math performance test.  In order to improve the scores, the administrative staff and counselors at the school will look at each student one by one and determine where they need help.
“By looking at each child, by the end of the year we’ll know what each student will do,” he said.  “It comes from my coaching background; I don’t like to lose, so we’ll get students where they need to be one way or the other.”
Also armed with a plan is Locust Grove Elementary Principal Jesse Magruder, even though his school was the one that made AYP standards. Magruder has a goal of increasing his students’ scores by 10 percent on the next round of tests through the use of specialized reading programs, Project Excel tutors, literacy coaches, reading incentives and Interactive Notebook strategies.
“Interactive Notebook Strategies are when a child is faced with a long passage of text, they break it down and highlight important things like words they don’t know,” said Magruder.  “We are also going to sponsor reading logs to get children reading with their parents.”
All of the individual programs designed by the principals are part of a larger county-wide program known as balanced literacy.
“The balanced literacy program requires three years to get all teachers on the same page so results usually take three years to see,” said superintendent Dr. William Crawford.  “The majority of the staff wanted to go this way.”
In response to a board question regarding school improvement for second graders who are two or more years below grade level, Curtis stated:
“We have been unsuccessful at closing that gap entirely. I will say that over time, over the last 6-7 years, when I look at the PALS data, that percentage of students not on grade level is shrinking.”
Then, in response to a question regarding programmatic approaches to reading vs. the guided reading program for students in early elementary who are two or more years below grade level (a very small number of students) and are they special education students, Curtis replied:
“We know that less that 11 percent of our students should be identified as special learners…that’s one out of 10 [of that small group of students two or more years below grade-level] who are special education. The other nine out of 10 times there is something going on with our teaching. That is why we are so lucky to have the literacy initiative, reading coaches/coordinators and dedicated teachers who are willing to do what it takes to find the right approach to instruction when our students struggle.”
Accreditation results, also based on the same SOL tests as the AYP results, will be out sometime late this month or early next month.