For the third straight year, all Decatur schools made Adequate Yearly Progress as defined under the Federal “No Child Left Behind Act”, while the percentage of schools that passed across the State of Georgia dipped 8 points from 71% to 63%.  (You can view the AJC’s system-by-system data tables HERE if you’re interested in digging)

As explained by the AJC, the overall state decline is due in part to the increasing levels required to meet AYP each year under the Act until 2013-2014, when 100% of schools across the country are required to make AYP.

Most Decatur schools have been meeting AYP for in excess of 5 years.  However, back in 2008, both DHS and Glennwood Academy failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress in Math.   At that time CSD implemented a Math Improvement Plan and since then both schools have passed.

City Schools of Decatur found out late last week that all schools in the district had made Adequate Yearly Progress as defined under the Federal “No Child Left Behind Act”.  This is the second straight year that all CSD schools have achieved this mark.

However, the classification was especially notable this year as it was originally believed that based on passing rates, Renfroe Middle School would not make AYP.

However, thanks to an appeal by the Georgia Department of Education to the federal government regarding the test results of Students with Disabilities, Renfroe passed.  CSD’s Bruce Roaden was good enough to boil it down for us…

The Georgia Department of Education appealed to the federal government requesting “interim federal flexibility” for the Students with Disabilities (SWD) subgroup so that schools and systems that fail to make AYP based solely on the performance of their SWD subgroup, will receive a mathematical adjustment and thus be able to make AYP. This amendment was denied and then the DOE appealed (CSD was asked to and did support the DOE’s appeal) and the amendment was accepted.

Without the flexibility rule RMS would not have made AYP.

The statewide picture is looking ever more bleak, as federal standards get harder to meet with each passing year.  According to the AJC, two-thirds of all Georgia high schools didn’t make AYP in 2010 and 29% of all public schools in the state failed to meet the federal standards, as requirements for graduation rates and passing rates continue to tick up.  A random mention in the Fayette County News stated that in the Atlanta metropolitan area, only Decatur and Marietta saw all of their schools pass AYP.

If interested, the AJC has a searchable database of the 2010 AYP results for each public school in the state.

Asst. Superintendent Thomas Van Soelen replied to my question about Renfroe’s attendance rate attached to AYP with this note, which was also just posted over on CSD’s website…

The Georgia Department of Education has released the list of schools that made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for 2008-2009. For the initial determination Renfroe is not being shown as making AYP. While the academic successes of Renfroe Middle School merit a status of meeting AYP, an error in reporting attendance rate to the state has delayed this announcement.

City Schools of Decatur has submitted an official appeal and will provide the needed data to show that the attendance rate at Renfroe meets state standards. We fully expect that this situation will be rectified by the second AYP release date in September. Meanwhile, we celebrate the accomplishments of students and teachers at Renfroe and look forward to another year of meeting academic standards!

The AJC reports this morning that 79.1% of Georgia public schools made “Adequate Yearly Progress” this year, up from 68.8% last year.  That’s a whole 11 points more learning!   That bit of good news for the state was mixed with the more sobering tidbit that only 47% of high schools passed the federal government’s benchmarks.

However, Decatur is no longer part of that 47%.

After failing last year, both DHS and Glennwood passed AYP benchmarks this year.  The lone problem child  now is Renfroe, which passed all “test participation” and “academic performance” indicators, but failed it’s second indicator, attendance.

According to the GA Dept of Education’s website, absence rates of 15 days or more at Renfore jumped from 2.8% in 2008 to 17.7% (101 of 572 students) in 2009.  The trend is the same across the two largest ethnic groups at the school, with black absence rates up from 1.6% to 21.8% and white absent rates up from 4% to 14.2%.

It’s very odd that the number of absences would spike like that in a single year.  Something seems off.

Anyone know what gives?