Schools

Fourteen of 15 Kennesaw Schools Achieve AYP Standards

Hayes Elementary School was the only area school that did not meet federal No Child Left Behind-mandated standards in the 2010-11 academic year.

Fourteen of 15 Kennesaw-area schools successfully met the 2010-11 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) targets, according to reports released by the Georgia Department of Education Thursday.

, which did achieve federal No Child Left Behind-mandated standards in the 2009-10 academic year, was one of 30 Cobb County schools that failed to do so this year.

The AYP evaluates schools based on academic proficiency, test participation, graduation and attendance rates, among other factors. The performance of specific subgroups–such as different ethnic groups, English language learners and students with disabilities–is also measured.

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Hayes failed to meet criteria in academic performance but passed in all other areas. Students with disabilities, Hispanic students, students with limited English proficiency and economically disadvantaged students failed to meet the mark in CRCT math standards. Students with disabilities and those with limited English proficiency failed in Reading and Language Arts.

Overall, Cobb students met 95 percent of the AYP criteria, or 77 of the 81 measurements. That is up from 70 of 78 criteria in 2009-10. While 30 Cobb schools did not achieve AYP standards this year, compared to only 17 last year, school officials noted a jump in targets as a reason for the increased failure rate.

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"Unfortunately, the first thing most people will see is that more of our schools did not make Adequate Yearly Progress this year, but that doesn't tell the whole story," Cobb Superintendent Michael Hinojosa said in a statement.

"The reality is that under the No Child Left Behind Act the targets jumped significantly this year, and yet overall we met 95 percent of the indicators, which is higher than last year, 85 percent of our students met or exceeded standards, and we showed significant improvement in the performance of key student groups," said Hinojosa, noting that targets are likely to continue to increase, resulting in more schools not making AYP.

Some schools may still make the mark once summer graduations and retest scores are factored in a final AYP report that will be released in the fall.

Kennesaw schools that achieved AYP criteria include:


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