All but 5 area schools meet ‘No Child’ targets

By Bob Stuart

Published: August 27, 2008

All but five schools in Waynesboro, Staunton and Augusta County met the Adequate Yearly Progress targets required by the federal No Child Left Behind law on student testing in 2007-08, and the Staunton and Augusta County schools met the AYP targets as a whole.
Virginia Department of Education officials said Wednesday that 74 percent of the commonwealth’s schools met AYP, and student achievement increased on Standards of Learning and other statewide tests in reading, math and other subjects.
Area school districts said that even in schools where AYP wasn’t met, there was significant improvement, such as in middle school math. Other area districts reported improved scores for students with disabilities.
Waynesboro Schools Superintendent Robin Crowder said all of his schools except for Kate Collins Middle School met adequate yearly progress.
Crowder said overall, “we had great gains’’ in testing at Kate Collins. Two student subgroups, students with limited English proficiency and Hispanic students, missed passing marks by a small number of percentage points in English and math.
A math coach will work with Kate Collins teachers this year to help students with specific skills and strategies, Crowder said.
And while he said the overall AYP data is up, it was not enough for the Waynesboro Schools to meet the No Child AYP target as a district. Crowder said overall, Waynesboro met 169 of the 175 AYP indicators.
In Augusta County, the two schools missing AYP did so by narrow margins. Testing Coordinator Gordon Mowen said Riverheads Elementary missed the target by not having two more students pass a reading test, and Beverley Manor Middle School missed by lacking one more disadvantaged student passing a science test.
Mowen said among the district’s bright spots were increased middle school math scores in sixth and seventh grades. “We have emphasized middle school math,’’ he said. “Teachers did emphasize in classes the very difficult multi-step problems that are part of tests.”
Students with disabilities also performed better on tests across Augusta County. “This was something that pleased us a great deal,’’ Mowen said.
Staunton Schools Testing Coordinator Mickey Fenn said he was pleased with the aggregate school district pass rates on both English and math, both of which exceeded the No Child target by 8 percentage points. Fenn said an emphasis on math last school year had followed an earlier push on literacy.
“The teachers have responded to the staff development with strong results,’’ he said. Fenn said math teachers spent part of the summer working in a class on ways to engage all students. Fenn said Shelburne Middle School failed to meet AYP in math, and Ware Elementary fell short of targets in English and math.
Fenn said a continued bright spot for Staunton is continued strong test scores at Bessie Weller Elementary. “They have looked hard at the test data and found specific things to do,’’ he said.
With each passing year, the No Child Left Behind pass rates and graduation rates escalate to a 2013-14 target of 100 percent.
Mowen said he does not believe 100 percent is an attainable goal unless standards are lowered. But Mowen said Augusta County is devising new ways to deal with problems early.
He said the district has started an early elementary program this year.
“We are truly looking at the skills of children and if they are not at the level they ought to be, we are providing help, starting this year,’’ Mowen said. Mowen said the hope is to give the students the necessary skills at the early elementary level before they are tested regularly.
Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction Billy Cannaday Jr. said educators across Virginia are coping with No Child Left Behind.
“The challenge of AYP grows every year but so does the determination of Virginia educators to help all children meet the commonwealth’s high expectations for learning and achievement,’’ Cannaday said.