Garcia briefs school board on state test results

District science test scores above state average
Wa-Hi graduation rate 16% points higher than state average
District assessment Coordinator Maria Garcia briefed the school board on results from last Springs state testing. Spring state test scores revealed positive trends in elementary reading, math and science and results for high school assessments were above the state average in all but one subject.

WWPS 5th grade science scores were above the state average for the second year in a row. Blue Ridge and Prospect Point Elementary results were at or above 87 percent. Especially notable is Blue Ridges improvement from only 11 percent meeting science standards in 2010.

Wa-Hi continues to vastly out perform the state graduation rate with an impressive 92 percent on-time rate. The state graduation rate is 76.6 percent.
With the ESEA waiver, there are substantial changes to the way the state uses results from these assessments to hold schools and districts accountable for student achievement, according to Garcia. The concept of "AYP", or Adequate Yearly Progress has been replaced by the more fair and realistic system of "AMO", or Annual Measurable Objectives. Under the old AYP provisions, all groups of students (e.g., Limited English, Low Income, Special Education) were to meet the same achievement targets regardless of where they started, with increasingly severe penalties when they didn't.

Garcia says under the new AMO system, improvement is much more fine-tuned. Each school has its own set of AMO targets for each subgroup of students, and for each subject area. Further, rather than an ultimate (and unrealistic) goal of reaching 100% proficiency, the aim is to close the achievement gap by half for each subgroup by 2017.
" Reading AMO targets met in 10/11 subgroups
" Math AMO targets met in 2/11 subgroups

For a complete listing of state test scores, visit www.wwps.org.