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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.
Schools did not have to count test scores for subgroups of fewer than 50 students. But those figures did count in figuring school districts' performance.
That's a major reason that districts fared worse than individual schools, state education officials told The Associated Press.
Schools and school divisions that fail to make adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years in the same subject area must develop an improvement plan or revise their current plan to address shortcomings, the AP reported.
The same applies to the state Education Department, which would have to get federal approval for its improvement plan.
For more information, including more detailed results for every school, check the department's Web site, www.pen.k12.va.us.
Here's a list of Fredericksburg-area schools that made AYP:
Caroline County: Bowling Green Elementary and Bowling Green Primary.
Culpeper County: Culpeper Middle, Emerald Hill Elementary and Farmington Elementary.
Fredericksburg: None.
King George County: Potomac Elementary.
Orange County: Gordon Barbour Elementary, Lightfoot Elementary, Locust Grove Elementary, Orange Elementary and Unionville Elementary.
Spotsylvania County: Battlefield Elementary, Battlefield Middle, Chancellor Elementary, Chancellor Middle, Courthouse Road Elementary, Courtland Elementary, Harrison Road Elementary, Lee Hill Elementary, Parkside Elementary, Riverview Elementary, Robert E. Lee Elementary, Salem Elementary, Smith Station Elementary, Spotswood Elementary and Wilderness Elementary. Stafford County: A.G. Wright Middle, Moncure Elementary, Drew Middle, Falmouth Elementary, Ferry Farm Elementary, Garrisonville Elementary, Grafton Village Elementary, H.H. Poole Middle, Hartwood Elementary, Kate Waller Barrett Elementary, North Stafford High, Park Ridge Elementary, Rodney Thompson Middle, Stafford Elementary, Widewater Elementary and Winding Creek Elementary.
Westmoreland: None.
To reach KIM ANDERSON: 540/374-5434 kanderson@freelancestar.com