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... and what does this mean exactly? I got a note from the school today, and my daughter has attended for only 2 weeks, saying that the school did not meet the requirements of AYP for the 2nd year in a row for grades 3-8, that the school status is 'needs improvement'. They offered to send my child to a different school district if I choose to and provide transportation also. Should I be concerned by this? Should I consider sending her to a different school? I have to admit I am a little disappointed by this news. My daughter just started kindergarten and has already started to make friends. We plan on moving in a year or so anyway, so should we just stick it out for now? My main concern is her not learning all that she is supposed to at this age, that she might be behind. I don't even know exactly what she is supposed to learn in kindergarten. So far she hasn't learned much more than she did in preschool. Of course it has only been 2 weeks so... I thought they learned to read in kindergarten, but the agenda said they were only learning site words this entire year. Seriously? My daughter has known sight words since she was 2 and knew how to put her blocks in alphabetical order at 1. I understand some parents are unable to spend as much time with their kids as some parents because of their schedules, but I honestly thought they learned more in kindergarten. Maybe I should just homeschool, idk. So what are your thoughts about this AYP thing? Should I be worried or not?
(Please keep the insults to a minimum please. Remember it's 'just' a question.)
Do you know why they didn't meet AYP? We didn't meet it this year and as a staff we were surprised to find out. Our overall scores on the state assessments regularly result in 90%+ passing rates. We didn't make AYP because of math. All of our schoolwide scores were good. But a subgroup can count against you. Overall, 97% of our school passed the math state assessment. BUT, only 83.8% of special education students passed the math. We needed at least 85% of that subgroup to pass. Therefore, the whole school failed to make AYP.
Do you know why they didn't meet AYP? We didn't meet it this year and as a staff we were surprised to find out. Our overall scores on the state assessments regularly result in 90%+ passing rates. We didn't make AYP because of math. All of our schoolwide scores were good. But a subgroup can count against you. Overall, 97% of our school passed the math state assessment. BUT, only 83.8% of special education students passed the math. We needed at least 85% of that subgroup to pass. Therefore, the whole school failed to make AYP.
I agree. My dd's school did not pass, for the second year in a row, because of the ESL subgroup scoring low. Kids like her did just fine. My neices high school didn't make it because they didn't increase scores beyond 96% (what they needed to pass this year). There are schools that made AYP I'd be far more worried about. If your scores are low enough, all you have to do is improve at all to pass. So one school can pass with 40% passing scores while another fails with 95% passing scores.
The biggest factor in whether your daughter will do well academically will be you and the emphasis put on education and its importance in your house. With regards to AYP, it is common (not sure what state you're in) that schools get nailed because one small subgroup didn't do quite as well as another. So you could have 30 students in whatever sub-group (economically disadvantaged, this race or that, special ed, ESL, whatever) in your school and because only 25 of them passed the test instead of 27, the school didn't do "well enough." It may have come down to only a few individual students and it may be completely irrelevant to the education your daughter will receive there because the vast majority may be doing great and the scoring system is just dumb.
Or, it could be a school that isn't performing well. I would really encourage you to look up the scores yourself and see how far they were off the mark. Then look at the overall picture of the school. Is it a positive place? Does she have a good relationship with her teacher? Yes, I agree that test scores are something important we need to look at, but they're not the entire picture.
As mentioned, you have to look at the AYP goal. It's easy to go from 40% passing to 42%. It's almost impossible to go from 96% to 97%. Don't do that two years in a row (and the second year the goal is 98%) you are officially a failing school subject to various actions to fix the problem.
One kid, let's say a non-English speaking, Free and Reduced Meals, Hispanic, Special Ed student does poorly on the assessments. This kid has now caused you to fail to meet AYP in 4 separate categories.
The above factors are why many teachers are opposed to NCLB/AYP. Not the anti-public education folks claim that teachers don't want to be held accountable. You have better odds playing craps in Vegas.
By 2014 that goal is 100% for all. And the government is not talking of changing that goal but I hear plenty of talk of schools and waivers for that year.
... and what does this mean exactly? I got a note from the school today, and my daughter has attended for only 2 weeks, saying that the school did not meet the requirements of AYP for the 2nd year in a row for grades 3-8, that the school status is 'needs improvement'. They offered to send my child to a different school district if I choose to and provide transportation also. Should I be concerned by this? Should I consider sending her to a different school? I have to admit I am a little disappointed by this news. My daughter just started kindergarten and has already started to make friends. We plan on moving in a year or so anyway, so should we just stick it out for now? My main concern is her not learning all that she is supposed to at this age, that she might be behind. I don't even know exactly what she is supposed to learn in kindergarten. So far she hasn't learned much more than she did in preschool. Of course it has only been 2 weeks so... I thought they learned to read in kindergarten, but the agenda said they were only learning site words this entire year. Seriously? My daughter has known sight words since she was 2 and knew how to put her blocks in alphabetical order at 1. I understand some parents are unable to spend as much time with their kids as some parents because of their schedules, but I honestly thought they learned more in kindergarten. Maybe I should just homeschool, idk. So what are your thoughts about this AYP thing? Should I be worried or not?
(Please keep the insults to a minimum please. Remember it's 'just' a question.)
I would not take the child out of school for that reason alone. It can mean many things, and for the most part doesn't actually mean it's a bad school or that she would get anything different in a passing school. I would check out the school's demographics and figure out why it didn't pass and more importantly I would spend some time in the school and see if it is a safe, comfortable place where I feel comfortable sending my child.
As for the reading thing, sight words are a part of reading. I would be more concerned if that is the only information provided about the reading curriculum. I would want to know what assessments are being used and what type of reading program is in place. What are the components of the program and are they in line with best practices in reading instruction? Can the teacher at least talk about it in a way that shows she really knows what she is doing and understands and has a method to teach language arts. Simply put, I would spend more time in the school and meet with the classroom teacher in person and put some of these questions to her. You can also meet with the principal and ask about it. This will give you a much better idea of what is really going on than just some test scores.
I think the fact that the school is rated "needs improvement" is more worrisome than the fact that it didn't make AYP for two years. In our district, you must show a 5% increase every year, even if you are at 90%, you have to show a 5% increase.
On the other hand, schools that have a rating like this are going to get lots of help to improve. This can be a good thing!
The school district I worked for didn't meet AYP in one elementary building because not ALL of the Learning Support students took the test. There were only 10 in the grade the test was given, and only 9 sat for the test. Even though the 9 did well, because 10% didn't take the test, the AYP was off.
Find out the real reason before pulling your daughter out of Kindergarten. Encourage reading, inquiry, reflection and discovery at home~support the teacher and if possible offer to help in the classroom to see what is actually being taught. Ask for a copy of the Kindergarten and 1st grade curriculum to see if your daughter will be prepared to advance. I'm sure she's fine and they are just disclosing because they are required to make it known to the parents.
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