Four local schools miss average yearly progress goals

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August 14, 2012

Four local schools miss average yearly progress goals

By Melanie Patterson North Jefferson News The North Jefferson News Tue Aug 14, 2012, 11:09 AM CDT

Most schools in north Jefferson County passed the nation’s biggest test in public education, with the exception of a handful.

All but four met the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals, put into place in 2003 under the No Child Left Behind Act. Those that failed to meet 100 percent of the goals were Fultondale Elementary School, Gardendale High School, Mortimer Jordan High School and the William E. Burkett Multi-Handicapped Center, which will open this month in its new location at the former Mortimer Jordan High School in Morris.

For AYP, schools are graded on four key areas: Reading, math, attendance rates and graduation rates. The federal government requires that schools’ math and reading scores improve every year, with the goal of having all students proficient by 2014.

Alabama received a waiver this year, which allowed the state’s 1,365 schools to meet last year’s standards instead of having to move to the next level.

AYP has a pass/fail standard.

Mortimer Jordan High School, which has made AYP for the past four years, did not make it this year due to the subgroup of “free and reduced lunch,” according to principal Barbara Snider.

“We believe we missed it by one or two students,” said Snider. She said the school met 14 out of 15 — more than 93 percent — of its AYP goals.

“AYP results are not a good indicator of how a school is performing, in that 93.33 should not be graded as an F. It is unrealistic to think that 100 percent of schools will make 100 percent proficiency by 2014,” Snider said. “Any one small subgroup can skew the results.”

Snider said MJHS offers 15 Advanced Placement classes, and that MJHS exceeds the average score for AP exams in four of those classes.

“From 2010 to 2012, the number of AP exams given increased from 163 to 422, and we continue to see increases in qualifying scores and students signing up for our AP program,” Snider said. “Those are the results we like to highlight and will continue to celebrate.”

She added that the school has an 89 percent graduation rate, which she said exceeds the state average.

Scores for the other schools in north Jefferson County that failed AYP this year were also high: Fultondale Elementary, 96 percent; Gardendale High School, 85 percent; William E. Burkett Center, 80 percent.

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Four local schools miss average yearly progress goals

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