Another month, another set of school measurement figures are released to the public. Figures don't come out every month - it just seems like it sometimes. Most have a snazzy acronym: SAT, EOC, EOG, ABC or AYP, the data that was released most recently.
The results for Davidson County's three school systems can on the surface be judged from a glass half-full, glass half-empty perspective. Twenty schools made Adequate Yearly Progress under the No Child Left Behind standards; 21 did not. Each school system reported similar results: 15 of 31 county schools, four of seven Lexington schools and one of three Thomasville schools met AYP.
However, like many statistics, some context is needed. For the pessimistic crowd, the figures may not be as bad as they appear on the surface. In Davidson County, for example, if the measurement is schools that either made AYP or missed it only by one subgroup, the rate improves to 24 of 31 schools. Subgroups divide students based on criteria such as race, ethnicity, socioeconomic factors or learning disabilities. Of the county's 398 targeted goals, 371 were achieved, a rate of 93.2 percent. Lexington's percentage was similar, with 95 of 106 goals achieved for 89.6 percent.
The 20 schools that made their AYP results merit credit for being able to reach each subgroup. The 10 schools that came within one goal of AYP also deserve recognition.
Of more concern are the schools that missed their goals by wider margins. Liberty Drive Elementary School in Thomasville made only 14 of 25 goals, and Lexington Middle School achieved 25 out of 33, but even those numbers are deceptive. Thirty-three and 25 are a staggering number of subgroups. For comparison, the county school with the most subgroups was North Davidson Middle, with 21, and it's a much larger school than Liberty Drive or Lexington Middle. The large number of subgroups points out the challenges that teachers and administrators in the city systems face with a very diverse student population. Additionally, one student who falls into several subgroups and fails to meet the goals can cause the entire school to fail to make AYP.
That's not to make excuses for poor performance; everyone should be able to agree that making sure students can perform on or above grade level is a worthy goal. Measuring that, though, is a tricky proposition, as students bring a multitude of challenges to the classroom, some of which teachers are powerless to address.
Parents at one school will even have a choice for their child's education. Since Churchland Elementary is a Title I school, the fact it failed to meet AYP for two consecutive years means parents will receive the option to send their child to a different school. Churchland parents can now opt for Northwest or Friedberg elementary, although chances are that few will pull their children from their current school.
Teachers and administrators at schools that didn't make AYP will redouble their efforts to make sure all subgroups meet their goals in 2007-08.
The challenge they face is trying to fulfill the needs of all students - the high achievers, those who need extra attention and those in the middle. The high-stakes testing environment that dominates education at the moment makes that difficult.