After past failures, it's up to students to meet AYP

Last year, Blair learned firsthand the importance of just one student. Actually, less than one student.

Failing to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) by just one-fifth of a student reassured some teachers and students that raising standardized test scores under the federal No Child Left Behind Act and avoiding the possibility of state-directed curriculum changes, staff replacements or an extended school day or year is within reach. But the challenge will be even greater beginning with the class of 2009, when on-level students will be required to pass the High School Assessments (HSAs) to graduate. The new graduation requirements - which will be implemented by 2011 for special education and ESOL students - may prove difficult for struggling students to meet, but the impetus is on each student to study for the HSAs so Blair can avoid missing AYP by a fraction of a student again.

Departments are working hard to provide additional help to students with poor grades or low standardized test scores, pulling these students out of class to discuss the HSA and encouraging them to attend academic support.

But targeting at-risk students alone could neglect other students. Instead, departments are implementing broader initiatives to prepare all students for the HSA. Teachers have restructured lessons to focus on the test and designated class time to administer practice tests or show students how to access free practice questions through the MCPS web site.

Students should remember the minimum scores needed to meet graduation requirements. To fulfill the criteria, students must either pass all four HSAs - Algebra 1, Biology, English 10 and National, State and Local Government - or earn certain minimum scores on each test and a minimum composite score. Though ideally students should be able to pass all four HSAs, teachers can help struggling students raise their composite scores by emphasizing two or three of their stronger subjects.

Teachers and the administration have already put forth commendable efforts both to raise individual students' HSA scores and to ensure that Blair meets AYP. Because all students must pass the tests to graduate, the HSAs now count for them individually as well as for the entire school. If all students work to boost their scores, then within as few as two years, Blair could move past the state-mandated improvement stage for failing schools and graduate a class of students who meet the new requirements.

Off-Target

To meet AYP, a school must improve HSA scores by a state-mandated Annual Measurable Objective (AMO) or attain certain proficiency levels in Reading and Math. A school passes if its overall scores, calculated based on the performance of nine racial and academic subgroups, fall within a specified confidence interval, which the state calculates using a statistical formula, explained Staff Development Organizer Jennifer Craft. If a school falls below its confidence interval and fails to meet AMO, it can still pass if there is a 10 percent decrease in the number of students who fail the HSAs.

Information compiled from the Maryland State Department of Education.