Eight districts miss AYP

• AYP glance

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• Half of Minnesota schools tagged as poor performers

WORTHINGTON — A little more than half of area school districts succeeded in making Adequate Yearly Progress this year, while eight did not, according to information released Monday by the Minnesota Department of Education.

Of those eight, six made AYP last year, but fell below the state standard on reading and math tests this year. Two — District 518 in Worthington and the Worthington Area Language Academy — landed on the list of failing schools for the second year in a row and will face sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Success rates for schools in southwest Minnesota mirror those at the state level, where 50 percent of the 2,114 schools assessed were put on the list of underperformers, an almost 13 percent increase in the number of struggling schools from last year.

Minnesota has a tougher set of standards than some states. The NCLB goal of 100 percent student proficiency by 2014 is largely determined on a state-by-state basis.

AYP is determined for each district and school as well as subgroups including racial and ethnic groups, students with disabilities, English Language Learners and economically disadvantaged students as measured by use of free and reduced-price meals.

But educators point out one caveat: The failure of even one of those subgroups means the school fails: 487 of failing schools were on the list for a single problem.

And District 518 — which has a higher percentage of minorities, limited English proficiency students, special education students and students on free and reduced lunch programs than the state average — failed in six subgroups. It will be required to develop and implement a school improvement plan.

Tammy Timko, the district’s coordinator of teaching and learning, said the plan will focus on narrowing the achievement gap between the subgroups.

“We’re looking at our programming that we’re offering these students, our curriculum and instruction,” she explained.

The district will work with the SW/WC Service Cooperative and many others in developing the plan. Teams can consist of teachers, support staff, administrators, parents, community members or school board members, said Superintendent John Landgaard.

“Part of what we’re going to need to do is break down the data and see which specific benchmarks or areas we’re not getting across to students in whatever test they’re taking, to see which component they’re missing in order to be successful,” Landgaard said.

Some of the plan will likely be similar to the district’s Continuous Improvement Plan, which sets goals in staff and curriculum development.

The district will also need to use a portion of its Title 1 funds toward professional development and to pay to bus students who transfer schools.

Students at Worthington High School made AYP this year, and although it’s not yet clear why, Timko said the district was “very pleased” with the news and may use best practices at the high school in developing its improvement plan.

Four area districts — Red Rock Central, Murray County Central, Fulda and Heron Lake-Okabena — made AYP this year after failing to do so last year.

Heron Lake-Okabena Superintendent Becky Cselovszki said test scores can differ from year to year and class to class, especially in a smaller school district.

“However, the district did take steps to try to increase scores,” she added. “The primary focus we (had) was math with junior high kids. Seventh- and eighth-graders had a full year of math on a block schedule; that’s equivalent to a year and a half or two on a traditional schedule.”

The district also implemented disciplinary teaching at the elementary school a few years ago. Fourth- through sixth-graders go to specific teachers for math, social studies, science and language arts for a three-year period.

“We’re hoping to see the results of that coming through on the new testing scores,” Cselovszki said. “The advantage we feel of doing that is we have a teacher that can track students each year.”

Tags: state and region, news, education, ayp, district518, wala