Local schools meet AYP goals

By Ken Bonner
The Daily Sentinel

Published August 8, 2007

Scottsboro City Schools received a 100 percent AYP rating in reports released Monday by the Alabama Department of Education.

AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) describes whether a school or school system has met its accountability goals according to the federal No Child Left Behind law. All six schools in the Scottsboro system met their goals while each of Jackson County's 17 schools reached their academic goals. In all, 82 percent of Alabama Schools met their goals.

"We are so thrilled," Superintendent of Education Dr. Judy Berry said Tuesday. "We met every goal for every school in the system. We are 100 percent."

Three factors are used in determining AYP. Schools must meet participation rates, annual measurable objectives in reading and mathematics and other academic indicators.

The expectations go up every two years, according to Berry. Each Scottsboro school had between 9 and 21 goals that had to be met to achieve AYP.

"The goals were higher this year. We're excited and we feel we are in good position to meet all of our goals for the upcoming school year," Berry said.

"It took hard work from our principals and teachers to meet these goals. We are proud of them and we appreciate the parents who got their children to school and helped encourage our teachers, staff and their students," Berry added.

Jackson County Superintendent of Education Jerry Jeffery was also pleased that 100 percent of his schools met AYP academic goals and 13 of 17 met every established goal. Four high schools; Paint Rock Valley, Pisgah, Section and Skyline did not meet graduation rates established under the program, which requires a 90 percent rate or an equal or higher percentage than the previous year.

"They must go up," Jeffery said. "We want 100 percent of our students to graduate but I would be more concerned if we were not being successful academically."

"The graduation rate is one of the most difficult areas that we have to deal with. There are so many intangibles (lack of motivation, lack of encouragement, G.E.D. alternative and failure to pass the graduation exam)," Jeffery said. "We can't really totally control (those factors). All we can do is work at it."

Like Berry, Jeffery is proud of the effort given by the system's administration and staff.

"We have excellent personnel dedicated to seeing every child reaches their full potential," he said.

Berry and Jeffery are also ready for the start of a new school year.

Jeffery likened the first day of school to a game of "hide and go seek. Here they come ready or not," he said. "We're ready."

"Everybody's ready," Berry said of the employees in the Scottsboro system. "We are really excited about the start of a new school year. We expect our enrollment to be up and should know by sometime Thursday afternoon."