Area schools showing hard work

Michael D. Rettig Charlottesville
Published: September 4, 2008

“The grades are in and the schools in Albemarle County and Charlottesville have failed,” says the NBC 29 news anchor on Aug. 27 and 28. Nothing could be further from the truth.

To achieve Adequate Yearly Progress under No Child Left Behind, school districts must attain 29 Annual Measureable Objectives. Seventy-seven percent of students must pass the Standards of Learning Eng-lish examinations, and 75 percent must pass mathematics; AYP also can be achieved through a three-year average or by decreasing the failure rate 10 percent.

So that no group is ignored, districts also must surpass these minimum rates for students who are white, black, Hispanic, disadvantaged, have a disability or have limited proficiency in English. The law requires that 95 percent of students take the test so that passing rates cannot be inflated by systematically excluding certain students.
In Albemarle County 99-100 percent of students in every category took the English and mathematics tests. Ninety-one percent passed English, and 89 percent passed mathematics. All sub-groups met the standard for AYP; the county “made” AYP in 28 of 29 AMOs.

The one objective in question is the graduation rate, which because of a new calculation method is still unclear in many districts. At worst, Albemarle may “fail” in one objective. In any grading scale I know, Albemarle would receive an “A.” Twenty-eight of 29 is an excellent score.
In Charlottesville, with significantly more disadvantaged students than Albemarle, 82 percent passed English and 78 percent passed mathematics. Like Albemarle, 99-100percent of students took the examinations. The city “made” AYP in 27 of 29 objectives; black students and students with limited English proficiency missed state goals in mathematics. Twenty-seven of 29 is also a good score, an “A-” at worst.

The Virginia Department of Education Web site states: “A school that does not achieve AYP is not necessarily a ‘failing’ school. A more balanced and accurate assessment of a school’s overall performance can be determined by comparing the number of AMOs that a school met with the total number of AMOs.”
I do not mean to imply that the needs of all local students are being met and that no improvement is needed; both districts would admit to having some schools, teachers and students who can do much better.

But to welcome hardworking educators back to a new school year with inaccurate claims is demoralizing and unfair.