CCR-1 Adequate Yearly Progress Reports Mixed

CCR-1 Adequate Yearly Progress Reports Mixed

By Mike Scott

Clark County R-1 School’s “Adequate Yearly Progress” (AYP) report for 2008, part of the national “No Child Left Behind” act, gave the district a mixed report.

“We have some good news, and some not so good news,” CCR-1 Superintendent Ritchie Kracht said.

Topping the list of good news items was Running Fox’s performance, which could land them among the top ten in the state for a second year in a row. In Communication Arts, Running Fox showed 62.3% of its tested students proficient, and that number balloons to 81.1% when you include students that are on track to become proficient, according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) report. The 2008 AYP target in Communication Arts was 51%, and will increase to 59.2% this year.

Running Fox’s Mathematics proficiency was 81.1%, and increased to 83% when including those students on track to meet proficiency standards. The AYP target was 45.0%

At Black Hawk, the news was also good, as students as a whole met AYP standards in both Communication Arts and Mathematics.
Black Hawk students passed the Communication Arts standard using DESE’s “confidence interval”. While 41.4% of students were proficient, 58.6 are proficient or on track. In Mathematics, 57.1% of students met proficiency, and including those on track, the number increases to 68.6%.

CCR-1 Middle School students also met their AYP targets. Their Communication Arts score was 44.7%, but they passed using the “confidence interval” calculation. In Mathematics, the Middle School’s 49.5% proficiency beat the 45% target.

At the High School, Communication Arts scores dropped among those tested (last year’s junior class) to a 30.4% proficiency, missing the AYP?target of 51%. In Mathematics, the students scored a 55.4% proficiency, topping the 45.0% target.

In all buildings, students in two subgroups, Free and Reduced Lunches, and students with Individual Education Programs continued to struggle to meet AYP.

“There is a reason for that,” Elementary principal Julie Brotherton stated. “These are kids that don’t read well, but we cannot read the test to them in April.”
“Even though we’re required to read it to them the rest of the year,” added High School principal Jason Harper.

Overall, the district did not meet AYP requirements in Communication Arts and Mathematics, and also failed to meet AYP on school graduation rate, as only 83% of students who started ninth grade together actually graduated last year.