Slightly more than half of Fredericksburg-area schools meet new federal standards

By KIM ANDERSON

Date published: 9/12/2003

Area schools strive to meet benchmarks

A little more than half of the Fredericksburg area's schools met new federal performance benchmarks, according to information released yesterday by the state Department of Education.

Forty-two Fredericksburg-area schools met all of the nearly three dozen requirements for adequate yearly progress, the state reported. Forty schools did not meet all the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Those results mimic statewide performance for the federal benchmarks. At least 997, or 55 percent, of Virginia's schools met the federal standards for adequate yearly progress.

Only 18 school systems in the state made adequate yearly progress, or AYP. None in the Fredericksburg area met the standards.

Virginia as a whole also failed to meet all the federal benchmarks.

State and local school officials stressed that AYP is not the same as the commonwealth's accreditation system, the Standards of Learning.

In fact, many Fredericksburg-area schools that met the state's standards for accreditation failed to make AYP.

In Stafford County, eight fully accredited schools did not make AYP. In Spotsylvania, five fully accredited schools missed the mark.

One reason is a requirement that students overall and in five subgroups meet nearly three dozen benchmarks.

Those subgroups of students are white, black, Hispanic, economically disadvantaged and limited English proficiency. If one subgroup fails, the entire school fails to make AYP.

Peter Vernimb, Stafford's director of curriculum and staff development, said he considers the results to be just one more measure of a school's success.

"At this point, we're only 15 benchmarks shy of a perfect score. That's phenomenal achievement," Vernimb said.

Edlow Barker, Spotsylvania's assistant superintendent for instruction, said school officials are analyzing the information.

"We wish more schools had been certified [as making adequate yearly progress]. We're going to look into the reasons," Barker said. "We'll develop appropriate responses that focus on improving scores in subgroups."

To meet the federal benchmarks, at least 61 percent of students overall and in each subgroup must pass the Standards of Learning reading test. At least 59 percent must pass the SOL math test.

However, schools that miss those pass rates can still show adequate yearly progress if they reduce failure rates on those tests by at least 10 percent.

The federal law requires that all students show proficiency in math and reading by the 2013-14 school year.

Date published: 9/12/2003