The Georgia Department of Education has released the statewide list of schools which have successfully met Adequate Yearly Progress under the No Child Left Behind act.

Among 27 Coweta County Schools evaluated under the No Child Left behind act, two schools did not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in one or more subgroups, and one school is listed as not making AYP in one subgroup but is under appeal.

Under the federal No Child Left Behind act, annual academic progress is determined by students’ attendance or graduation rate, overall test participation, and performance on the Georgia Criterion Reference Competency Test (CRCT) and, in high schools, the Georgia High School Graduation Test (GHSGT). Schools are judged on student performance overall and among several subgroups. If criteria are not met overall or in any one subgroup, then the school is listed as not making AYP.

Among the schools not making AYP on this year’s report:

Welch Elementary School made AYP among all students on all criteria, but is listed on this year’s report as not making AYP among Students with Disabilities in the subjects of math and English/Language Arts. However, the designation was made because of an error in student data and is under appeal with the state. The school system is confident that the appeal will be granted and that Welch will make AYP in all areas.

Evans Middle School did well academically overall and in all subgroups and met all criteria in test participation, but did not meet criteria in student attendance.

East Coweta Middle School did well academically among students overall but did not make AYP in math and in English/Language Arts in the Students with Disabilities subgroup and in math in the African American students subgroup.

Under No Child Left Behind, a school is identified as “Needs Improvement” if it has not made Adequate Yearly Progress in the same subject for two consecutive years. Once identified as “Needs Improvement,” a school must make AYP for two consecutive years to come off the “Needs Improvement” list.

Four schools are listed as “Needs Improvement” schools. They are East Coweta Middle School, Evans Middle School, Arnall Middle School and East Coweta High School.

Arnall Middle School and East Coweta High School made AYP in all categories this year, but appeared on the “Needs Improvement” list previously, and must make AYP again next year to be removed from “Needs Improvement” status.

Schools designated as “Needs Improvement” must offer transfer to schools making Adequate Yearly Progress. Details of the school choice allowed for “Needs Improvement” schools will be released in the coming days.

The information released this week by the state Department of Education showed that the AYP status of Coweta County schools had improved from 2006 to 2007.

Once Welch’s appeal is granted all Coweta County elementary schools will make AYP for the 2006-07 school year, as they have for several years.

Four of Coweta’s six middle schools made AYP, including Smokey Road, Madras, Lee and Arnall Middle Schools. Arnall Middle School improved its academic achievement scores from 2006 which allowed them to make AYP, and Evans Middle School improved to meet all academic standards.

All three Coweta County High Schools made AYP in 2006-07, meaning that they met all academic requirements on the Georgia High School Graduation test and graduation rate, overall and in all subgroups.

“All of our schools continued to make progress under the criteria of No Child Left Behind,” said Connie Davis, Director of Testing and School Improvement for the Coweta County School system. “This year’s report shows that the schools are doing a good job of focusing on the state standards and are really going beyond what’s required.”

“Our high school in particular did a wonderful job,” said Davis. “East Coweta is still in Needs Improvement, but they and the other two high schools met all the criteria and made AYP.”

Continuing that streak is going to be a challenge next year, she said, because the state is significantly raising the bar for meeting AYP in 2007-08.

“No Child Left Behind has a standard that says that all children – 100 percent – will meet all academic standards by 2014. To move toward that goal, the state raises the bar incrementally every three year for students who must meet or exceed the standards,” said Davis.

“That bar is going to be raised significantly in 2007-08, and the schools can’t just maintain what they’re doing, they’re going to have to strive even harder,” she said.

The bar was raised this year for high school graduation rate. Beginning in 2006-07, high school four-year graduation rate standards were raised from 60 percent to 65 percent.

East Coweta High’s graduation rate was 76.2 percent, Newnan High’s was 71.3 percent and Northgate High’s was 82.9 percent of ninth-grade students graduating on-time in four years.

“Our high schools still met the new standard and they’re well above the minimum requirements in all areas, said Davis. “But it is going to be much tougher this coming year” as required passage rates for the high school graduation test and Criterion Reference Competency Test are raised.

In the past several years, Coweta County Schools which have not made AYP have generally met the requirements for students overall, but have missed requirements in only one or two subgroups.

“This year, standards are making a significant leap, not just for the school overall but for every subgroup as well. Those subgroups include students who are receiving services because they have learning difficulties or students with limited English proficiency.” The subgroups also represent a much smaller statistical sample of students.

“Our schools have done well, but they are going to have taller hurdles to jump this year,” said Davis.