The Georgia Department of Education released an initial list of Coweta County schools which successfully met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements under the No Child Left Behind act in the 2007-08 school year.

10 Coweta County schools did not make AYP in the report issued by the Georgia Department of Education on July 25. That number will drop to four schools, however, when the state of Georgia releases its final No Child Left Behind list in September. Of the four schools also identified on the report’s Needs Improvement list, one will come off the list in September due to recalculated status, but supplemental services offered at the school will continue this year (see below).

In the report released by the state on Friday, June 25, all three Coweta County high schools made AYP, including East Coweta High School, which made AYP for the second year in a row and is therefore no longer listed on the state’s Needs Improvement list.

All 27 Coweta County schools met the requirements for all students within the school, but some schools ultimately did not make AYP due to specific subgroups of students. 

Initially, four of Coweta County’s 18 elementary schools and all six of Coweta County’s middle schools did not make AYP based on the performance of one or more subgroups of students within the school.

Although 10 schools were announced today as initially not making AYP, this number is projected to drop to only four schools not making AYP on the final report. The updated No Child Left Behind report is expected in September. 

The second and final state AYP report will recalculate school AYP status to take into account the scores of 3rd, 5th, and 8th grade students who passed a retest of the Criterion Reference Competency Test in reading and math. Across the state, a larger number of elementary and middle school students statewide had to retake a new version of the math test this year. 

In Coweta County, 46 percent of 5th graders and 50 percent of 8th grade students who retook the math section in June passed. This passage rate will raise the overall number of students in specific subgroups who passed the test and therefore change schools’ AYP reports.  While the majority of students who passed the retest moved from not meeting to meeting expectations, a small number of students moved from not meeting to exceeding expectations on the retest.

The 10 schools on the June 23 list did not meet AYP because of student CRCT passage rates in one or more student subgroups that were below the Annual Measurable Objective (AMO).

On the state’s June 23 list, the schools not making AYP (and the reasons for the designation) are:

• Arnall Middle School (for CRCT Math test passage rates in the Students with Disabilities subgroup)

• East Coweta Middle School (for CRCT Math test passage rates in the Students with Disabilities, Economically Disadvantaged and African-American subgroups, and for CRCT Reading and English/Language Arts test passage rates in the Students with Disabilities subgroup)

• Evans Middle School (for CRCT Math test passage rates in the Students with Disabilities subgroup)

• Lee Middle School (for CRCT Math test passage rates in the African-American subgroup)

• Madras Middle School (for CRCT Math test passage rates for the Students with Disabilities subgroup)

• Smokey Road Middle School (for CRCT Math test passage rates in the Students with Disabilities subgroups and for CRCT Reading and English/Language Arts passage rates for the Students with Disabilities subgroup)

• Ruth Hill Elementary School (for CRCT Math test passage rates in the African-American subgroup)

• Welch Elementary School (for CRCT Math test passage rates in the Economically Disadvantaged subgroup)

• Western Elementary School (for CRCT Math test passage rates in the African-American and Economically Disadvantaged subgroups)

• White Oak Elementary School (for CRCT Math test passage rates in the Economically Disadvantaged subgroup)

  The consequences announced by the school system for Coweta’s four Needs Improvement schools are:

• Arnall Middle School (NI-2): Limited School Choice transfers to Lee Middle School, and supplemental services available to eligible students.

• East Coweta Middle School (NI-2): Limited School Choice transfers to Smokey Road Middle School, and supplemental services available to eligible students.

• Evans Middle School (NI-2): School Choice transfers to Madras Middle School and Lee Middle School, and supplemental services available to eligible students.

• Welch Elementary School (NI-1): Supplemental services available to eligible students.

Supplemental services are essentially outside tutoring services that are approved by the state of Georgia and offer services in Coweta County.  Every school offering supplemental services will have lists of available providers at the school, and parents can request services at their school within 45 days if they are interested.

Following the release of the second state report on AYP status in September, Welch Elementary is expected to be rated as having met AYP for 2007-08, and thus will be taken off the Needs Improvement list.  Supplemental services offered to Welch students, however, will not be revoked following a change in Welch’s AYP status.

If parents wish to request transfers from the three middle schools on the NI list, they must submit a transfer request form to Kristy Chaffin at the 167 Werz Industrial Drive Central Office in Newnan.

The request form must be submitted by Monday, August 4, to be considered for the new school year beginning on August 6.

The form can be found online on the school system’s www.cowetaschools.org website.

Parents can also pick up the form at the Central Office. For more information, call Kristy Chaffin at 770-254-2800.

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