Jackson Madison County School District Passes Federal AYP

Jackson Madison County Schools AYP Press Release July 22, 2009 Click here to view report: We have good news to report to you.  Earlier today the state lifted its embargo of the 2008- 2009 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) data for No Child Left Behind (NCLB).  We are happy to report that our district passed AYP this year and is now in the Corrective Action - Improving category. As you remember, the goal of the No Child Left Behind law is that by 2014 100% of public education students in this nation will be proficient or advanced in reading and math.  In order to achieve that goal the national benchmarks are raised every two years and 2007-2008 was one of those years.  That year, in some of our schools and with some subgroups of students, we did not achieve the increased benchmarks and were in Corrective Action as a district.  This year (2008-2009), we are happy to report that our students and teachers worked hard, we passed those higher benchmarks, and are now in the Corrective Action – Improving category as a district.  We are very proud of our teachers and students for their focused efforts and diligence in the learning process.  Teachers were given additional tools to help students, students worked hard at their tasks, parents were supportive, and we passed AYP as a district. This year, in schools serving students in Kindergarten through sixth grade, 100% of our schools passed AYP.  Congratulations to these schools!  Last year, South Elementary (principal Ricky Catlett) was on the list, but with lots of hard work, dedication, and assistance, they passed AYP this year and are in Good Standing.  Thank-you to the teachers, administrators, students, and community members who helped South Elementary achieve their goal. At the Intermediate and Middle school level, two schools were targeted last year, but are now in Good Standing.  These schools are Rose Hill (Mr. Shaw – principal) and Northeast Middle (Dr. Williams – principal).  Congratulations to these schools for their achievements.  These principals are here and can attest to the amount of work and dedication of their teachers and students last year.  We congratulate them in their successes. At the same level this year, however, three schools did not make AYP in specific subgroups and are on the targeted list.  These schools are Andrew Jackson Intermediate, East Intermediate, and West Middle.  Administrators and teachers at these schools will focus their attention on the students in these subgroups, but also on the entire educational process to identify areas for improvement.  The new leadership team at the district will provide additional support to these schools as they improve their educational processes. At our high schools, we are happy to report that 100% our high schools passed the academic portion of the AYP requirements this year.  Last year, four of our schools did not pass the reading portion of the AYP requirements (North Side, South Side, JCM, and Liberty).  During the past year, these high schools have implemented programs to give students extra time and assistance in their studies, teachers were given additional tools to help identify students who needed that extra assistance, and we implemented a new K-12 writing curriculum.  Remember, writing counts toward the AYP reading score. These efforts and the hard work of our high school teachers and students have paid dividends.  All of our high schools passed the academic portion of AYP.  However, we still have some work to do at the high school level.  Two high schools (JCM and Liberty) continued to miss the graduation rate goal set by the state.  Because of graduation rates, Liberty is in Corrective Action and JCM is in Restructuring 2 – Alternative Governance.  Remember, this is based on the 2007-2008 graduation rate. In summary, 23 of our 28 schools are in Good Standing with the state.  This is up from only 21 last year.  The schools in Good Standing are Alexander, Arlington, Beech Bluff, Bemis, Denmark, Tigrett, Lane, JCT, Lincoln, Madison, Malesus, North Parkway, North Side, Northeast, Nova, Parkview, Pope, Rose Hill, South, South Side, Barker, West Jackson, and Whitehall.  Congratulations to these teachers and administrators for their dedication to their profession and to their students.  Congratulations to our students for their diligence to their studies, and a big thank you to parents and the community for their continued support.  With parents, students, teachers, administrators, and the community working together, we will be successful in achieving the AYP standards again next year. Dr. Nancy Zambito Director of Schools Jackson Madison County Schools