Five Roswell Schools Fail AYP

Though most area schools reached their Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) targets, five Roswell schools did not, according to the Georgia Department of Education's AYP report released yesterday. The annual report is used to help ensure students throughout the country are proficient in math and reading by 2014.

, , , and Holcomb Bridge Middle School each failed to meet their AYP goals for the 2010-2011 school year. It was the second year in a row Mimosa, Centennial and Roswell did not reach their targets, according to the report. Both Hillside and Holcomb Bridge met their goals during the 2009-2010 school year.

"We are still so proud of what we have done and the community is still so supportive of the school," said incoming Roswell High School Principal Jerome Huff.

Huff told Roswell Patch he knows testing is important, but he still believes the school "is so much more than AYP scores."

The five local schools were among 32 within the Fulton County system that failed AYP, which looks at how public schools met specific goals on standardized tests over the course of a year. The state-set standards for academic performance are measured by elementary and middle school students’ the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) scores, test participation rate and school attendance. High schools’ AYP status is measured by Georgia High School Graduation Tests (GHSGT) scores, test participation rate and graduation rate.

If a school goes two or more years without meeting AYP it is considered a "needs improvement" school. At that point the state imposes sanctions to allow parents the option of transferring their students to another Fulton County School and/or provides free tutoring for students. A school must make AYP goals for two consecutive years to remove the "needs improvement" label.

Centennial is currently the only Fulton County school in Roswell that has been forced to offer the school choice option to parents because of state sanctions.

According to Fulton County, several schools may be able to improve their scores in several weeks as re-test results for CRCT and GHSGT are calculated. Re-tests were given after remediation in May and during summer school.

"This report helps our schools see exactly where to focus their efforts," said Robert Avossa, Fulton County Schools superintendent. "We will examine the data and see how it might be used to improve our instructional approach. Overall, this is an opportunity for us to find ways to help all students be more successful."

Schools not mentioned reached their AYP targets for this year.