Academy of Moore Reaches AYP Goal
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No Child Left Behind
For more on No Child Left Behind, click here.
Twelve out of 22 public schools in the Moore County school system met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) according to preliminary results released today.
The number is down from last year's results, which listed 15 schools passing the standard.
The Academy of Moore County was one of the county schools that achieved AYP, meeting all nine of its target goals. The improvement is good news for the charter school as it prepares for a full hearing scheduled in August in a case against the State Board of Education.
Last March, the state board voted not to renew the school's charter for the 2010-2011 year, citing low academic performance.
School officials protested the decision, saying that the state board was relying on a history of poor academic performance instead of the academic improvements resulting from the school's 2008 corrective action plan.
In June, Administrative Law Judge Fred Morrison Jr. granted a stay on the State Board's ruling, which allows the Academy of Moore to keep its charter until a final ruling on the merits of the case is made.
None of the county's high schools made AYP. North Moore met all of its goals last year, but Pinecrest and Union Pines fell short for the third consecutive year.
Elementary and primary schools lead the system with 10 out of 14 meeting AYP.
Elise Middle School and West Pine Middle School were the two out of four middle schools that made AYP.
Sandhills Theatre Arts Renaissance School, the county’s other charter school, did not meet all of its target goals for the year.
The AYP measures the annual progress of students based on the school, district and state levels against yearly target goals in reading/language arts and mathematics.
The assessment is a part of the No Child Left Behind Act's goal of all students demonstrating proficiency at or above grade level in mathematics and reading/language arts by the 2013-2014 school year.
A school does not receive AYP unless it reaches 100 percent of its target goals of improvement for the year.
End-of-grade assessments for grades 3-8 determine AYP for elementary and middle schools, while proficiency in Algebra I and English I end-of-course tests, along with the grade 10 writing test determine AYP for high schools.
The preliminary AYP results are pending until the State Board of Education approves them Aug. 5.
To view all the numbers, click here.
Contact Hannah Sharpe by e-mail at hannah@thepilot.com.
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Comments
theonewithsense 2 years, 10 months ago
Congratulations to Pinecrest for meeting over 50% of their goals. It's a good thing they canned the IB program to save resources!
publius 2 years, 10 months ago
@ theonewithsense - not sure what you point is, exactly. AYP targets can be difficult to achieve, and there is no data for us to understand exactly what did or did not transpire. For a fuller report of Pinecrest, I would suggest reviewing North Carolina's Department of Education's latest rReport on the school: http://www.ncreportcards.org/src/schDetails.jsp?pYear=2008-2009&pLEACode=630&pSchCode=336. You might, with more information at your disposal, be a tad bit less sarcastic.
CSmithson 2 years, 10 months ago
Of note:
All public schools that serve the overwhelming majority of Southern Pines students failed to meet AYP. SP Primary, SP Elementary, Southern Middle, Pinecrest HS.
Should we expect more of the same silence and inaction by the Moore County Board of Education? Board member and SP resident Bruce Cunningham, are you out there? Do you have a plan or should we follow your lead and transfer our own kids to schools outside our attendance district? I know we don't have "bad" schools, but isn't it reasonable to expect roughly equal performace from our COUNTY schools whether one lives in Southern Pines, Aberdeen, Pinehurst, Whispering Pines, etc?
JCR262 2 years, 10 months ago
Way to go Academy of Moore! My son was a Kindergarten student last school year and we have only great things to say about the school. It is obvious the state board made a mistake in their original decision. I know the school will be granted a permanent stay in August.
RmeMP 2 years, 10 months ago
@everyone who cares about their children-
first off, i am not trying to upset anyone, just state facts:
"Twelve out of 22 public schools in the Moore County school system met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)" - that would equal out to a 55% passing, if my math is correct, which would be an "F" on any test i remember taking in school.
"NONE of the county's high schools made AYP" = ZERO!!!
"Pinecrest and Union Pines fell short for the THIRD consecutive year" - so, these two major high schools have FAILED three years in a row?!
again, i am not trying to make anyone mad this morning, just trying to see if i'm missing something; whoemever the board of eduacation is (i could look it up but i'm sure someone will tell me) should be absolutely ashamed this morning and afraid for their job. personally, i think they should go ahead and resign with a little dignity while they can. actually, i wouldn't be against a sweeping overhaul of the entire board at this point - after THREE years of failing!!! also, i know there are alot of people who think highly of our school principles, but they need to hold their fair share of responcibility and failure also. i don't care what profession you are in, if you can't do the job then you get replaced; especially when it comes to educating our counties children!
do you guys think i'm being to harsh on the matter, or can you honestly think about it and say, "eh no big deal"?
member 2 years, 10 months ago
I personally think it's great that people are getting fired up about this. I'm pretty sure if you're that interested in helping, all MCS have School Improvement Teams which require parents to sit on the team. Feel free to volunteer to hold those seats, help fix the problems instead of constantly complaining about them. For those of you complaining, are you aware what goals they missed? Or what their goals even are?!?
Also, the larger problem--No Child Left Behind. Please tell me who in their right mind would ever think that 100% of the population will ever be at the same point at the same time. Learning occurs at different speeds and in different ways for everyone. If we don't seriously amend NCLB, all schools will be failing soon.
Become more informed, and become part of the solution instead of the problem.
AbdominalDohMan 2 years, 10 months ago
The problem is that the powerful teacher's unions don't allow individual teachers to be held accountable for their poor OR good performance. Until the special interest unions are done away with, no facet of our lives, including education will be up to standard.
member 2 years, 10 months ago
@ AbdominalDohMan--FYI Teachers can't be in a union in NC. They are considered state employees, but have no union to belong to. The union issue may be true in other states, but can't use that excuse here. NC is pretty far behind many other states in quality of education. That's the issue that needs to be addressed. Accountability is always expected of teachers, but it needs to begin to be held true for parents as well!
HolleysLives 2 years, 10 months ago
Just a few points:
Educating the entire school-age population of a diverse community is FAR more difficult and complex than some people seem to think. At the end of the day, our teachers and principals do a tremendous job.
There is not a strong teachers' union in NC. Have you seen any teacher strikes lately?
Criticism of our education system would carry more weight if proper grammar and spelling were in evidence.
SoPinesNo1 2 years, 10 months ago
As with Mr. Smithson, I too am disappointed that none of the schools that serve the Southern Pines area met AYP. I see why it is so easy for the "upper crust", "rich", "self-appointed elite" to transfer their kids to schools in other areas of the County. The board members themselves do it, (Bruce Cunningham), so it's impossible to enforce a rule that you don't abide by yourselves. These transfers should not be allowed, period. If the ones requesting the transfers don't like it, they can move, or send their kids to private school. Eddie Meacham's kids attend school outside of the district where they reside. Why? Why was it allowed, or approved? Maybe it's a lawyer thing. Lawyers, (both Bruce, Eddie, et. al.), should be upholding the laws and rules, not figuring out how to work their way around them, think themselves special, or above what has been designated as school attendance districts.
Finally, AYP is a bunch of bull. It's merely an arbitrary measurement to make some "look" better than others. Why do some schools have just a few goals to meet, while others have dozens? Shouldn't they all have similar goals and numbers of goals?
smblack 2 years, 10 months ago
I can't tell you how glad I am to see people interested in public education in Moore County. It is important to understand the AYP and No Child Left Behind tests though. Let me give you one example of how schools don't make AYP. In our high schools we have an Occupational Course of Study for our disabled students. North Carolina has a standardized test for these students - which they all take but the NCLB does not recognize it. Therefore each year the schools are penalized because these kids are not counted as being tested. Testing issues are complicated and I would invite anyone interested to come listen to Dr Purser and her staff explain them to the Board. Please don't ever become disinterested in public education but do become knowledgable about the complexities. Public education is the most important endeavor a democracy provides for it's citizens - imho. Sue Black, Moore County Board of Education member
difflook 2 years, 10 months ago
I hear Robbins Elementary School met 25! AYP goals, as compared to normally only 13 for other schools, Way to go Heather Seawell, principal and all the dedicated staff who serve a large diverse population, and even in the midst of heavy odds! REACHED THE GOALS!!
CSmithson 2 years, 10 months ago
Sue:
Major kudos for posting and commenting in pubic!
Most of us know there is more to education than standardized test scores and that all students are not the same. That's why I have tried to be very careful to be clear that we do not have any "bad" schools in the county. Most administrators and educators in our school system are good and work hard. I don't mean to take anything away from their hard efforts.
That said, there are realities we must face: -Many parents put a lot of weight on NC School Report cards, which are one of the only ways to compare schools to each other. They make choices for their children and where to live based on which school is "better" -Many parents(and at least one Board of Education member) with the means to do so have either transferred thier children out of the "Southern Pines" schools or have moved to Pinehurst or Whispering Pines to get their children into the "better" schools. -If we go on year after year using the excuse that the report cards "don't tell the whole story" and that issues with lower performing schools are "complicated," those excuses become moot when perceptions become realities.
I've tried being nice and I've tried being blunt. I have spoken to BOE members in private and have spoken at meetings and on blogs. I know that the Board of Education and top administration have heard and understood what I and others have said and asked for over the years. Pretty much unanimously, they all have at least privately acknowledged the disparities and the reasons behind them.
Unfortunately, the public response is usually excuses: -"Our job is to try to educate whoever walks through the door" (fails to acknowledge that the "who" and what "door" they walk through are assigend by the BOE) -"(x) school has a more challenging population" (see above. The school has such a high percentage of "challenging" students becasue the BOE set it up that way. Schools with overwhelming levels of "challenging" students are most likely to fail) -"Well, if they live in (x) municipality, they should go to (x) schools." (This is a COUNTY school system, thus town borders and school names are irrelevant. Plus, if that were actually policy we wouldn't have Southern Pines students in three different attendance districts depending on where they live)
Could we please have a publicized plan for making our schools more equal in both perception and performance? Don't all our students deserve an equal chance no matter where they live? Don't Southern Pines taxpayers deserve the same levels of school performance as those of our neighbors?
SoPinesNo1 2 years, 10 months ago
Thanks Chris. Very well put, but don't expect any publication of policy, or attempt to correct/change the school district boundaries, you'll only get excuses.
mcg2010 2 years, 10 months ago
I'd just like to take a step back and try to give a different perspective on this whole "equal chance" and transferring school districts issue. I can understand the frustration when we see school board officials sending their children outside of the district where they live. But it's not just "a lawyer thing" and in my opinion, it's very close-minded to think so. When my (middle class) family re-located to the area my mother made the conscious decision that I would be better suited at Union Pines, although my district would have put me at Pinecrest. So they requested for a district transfer and I was approved. My parents understood my learning style and believed that I would flourish at UP vs. PC. And they were quite right. I went to Pinecrest on a few occasions and it's size overwhelmed and atmosphere was overwhelming to me. I am not trying to attack PC, I just know that for me it wasn't the right fit. And I was able to accomplish so much at UP and I wouldn't trade my time there. That being said, equality in MC schools clearly isn't about one being better than the other. With only North Moore meeting AYP, it would seem to me that both UP and PC are falling short. If we want to talk about giving students "equal opportunities" then we need to focus on reviewing resources that are distributed to the schools to ensure that equality. In my opinion that starts with the administration of each of the high schools, we need to put people in charge of the schools that actually care about the students, not just about numbers, funding and what makes them look good. Equality doesn't come from district transfers, equality comes from making the intentional efforts to make our schools better for our students.