TIMES WEST VIRGINIAN August 27, 2007

HEADLINE: Schools Make AYP, but Not County

By Katie Wilson

FAIRMONT — All Marion County schools made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, but the county may not have.

The official West Virginia Educational Standards Test (WESTEST) results were released late Friday afternoon.

Tom Deadrick, associate superintendent of schools, said the state department of education figures indicate all of the schools made AYP, but the county did not for the third year in a row. However, Deadrick has called the state board of education for clarification.

Each spring, students across the state in grades three through eight and 10 take the WESTEST. Scores are compiled and released to the counties, schools and public during the summer. Students are grouped according to a variety of factors, including age, gender, socio-economic status and ethnicity. Students who receive services through special education are also classified in that subgroup.

Last year, county students’ scores on the WESTEST reflect Marion is doing well educating students of nearly every group, except special education. Last year, every school in the county made AYP under NCLB while the county did not. Scores in the special education subgroup were not as high as those in other subgroups.

Last spring, Deadrick said schools made AYP while the county didn’t because of the sizing of the subgroups.

The subgroups in each school and county are only counted if there are more than 50 students in that group, Deadrick said. Most schools in the county have less than 50 students with special education services, while the county total is above 50. Basically, at the school level, those scores didn’t count.

Deadrick said scores are tallied at three levels — elementary, middle and high.

This year, students in the special education subgroup at the elementary level did very well and made AYP, Deadrick said.

On Monday, he said county education officials believe that should mean the county as a whole should make AYP.

Regardless of whether the county achieves AYP or not, officials are still very pleased with the scores in the elementary special education category.

“It’s outstanding,” Deadrick said. “We’re moving forward. This shows we’re making progress.”

Superintendent of Schools James Phares said the effort the teachers, students and staff are making is obvious every day. He said officials feel very good about what the teachers at the elementary level are doing.

“We’re not going to panic,” Phares said. “We’ll just keep doing better at what we do.”