Our Opinion

By Jeff Poole
Review Managing Editor
Published: September 4, 2008

Failure to meet federal Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standards is not necessarily indicative of a failing school system. Still, when only one of our eight schools meets the established benchmark, we’re concerned.
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was enacted to ensure that all students are served well and are on grade level in reading and math by the year 2013.  Each year NCLB requires states, school divisions, and schools to meet a standard called Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). 
This AYP requirement increases each year with a final goal of 100 percent of children in America passing reading and math state tests by 2013.
AYP is measured in seven different subgroups which are:  all students, black students, Hispanic students, limited English proficient students, students identified as disadvantaged (students who qualify for free or reduced lunch), students with disabilities, and white students. 
School divisions and schools are held accountable for each subgroup’s participation and performance in reading and math, and in one other academic indicator.  All of these factors comprise the 29 benchmarks that a school division and a school must meet to make AYP.  If a school division or a school does not meet just one of the 29 benchmarks, the federal government deems it as “Not Making AYP.”
While AYP is a benchmark, it cannot exclusively indicate whether or not a school division is successful or making progress. Like anything involving statistics, the numbers can be manipulated to mask or highlight certain areas of success or failure.
Collectively, Orange County Schools are one of 78 (out of 132) state school divisions that did not meet AYP standards. Neither Louisa, Culpeper nor Greene County Schools met division-wide AYP standards, though Madison County Schools did.
Locally, only Locust Grove Elementary School met all the federal AYP requirements. Last year, LGES and Orange Elementary were the only schools to “make the grade.”
To the students and staff at LGES, we say, “well done.”
We don’t disagree that students should attain a level of proficiency in core subjects, but we question the goals of this blanket approach to education. Would we rather our children learn how to take a standardized test and have their school achieve the established criteria or have them instilled with a genuine desire and lifelong passion for learning?
Of course we’re being idealistic. AYP benchmarks, after all, are the rules of the game, and undoubtedly, many students benefit from the requirements.
As frustrating as it might be for educators, this is the hand they’ve been dealt and the standard by which they are measured.
It’s not unlike students being unconvinced about their own grades--absolutely sure the teacher was treating them unfairly.
While it may be an imperfect system, it remains the system and cannot be dismissed.
We understand our educators’ claims that progress is being made, but that’s a tough sell when more of our schools aren’t meeting AYP standards.
Based on the AYP scale, seven of our eight schools aren’t making the grade. It doesn’t mean they’re not making progress, nor does it mean they’re not trying.
Regardless of whether we agree with the way the grade is assessed or not, it still means we have to do better.
Other school divisions are making the grade. We need to as well.