School officials eye test results

A state report on school achievement is packed with good news for Albemarle County, school officials say, but there’s plenty of room for improvement.

Six county schools fell below 2008 federal education progress benchmarks established by the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act. Albemarle School Board members briefly discussed the county results Thursday, a day after the state Department of Education released the information as part of the Virginia School Report Card.

Superintendent Pamela Moran said she believes all of the schools in Albemarle’s district can meet the Adequate Yearly Progress benchmarks next year, but before that happens, “we’ve got some issues that we absolutely have to address.”

Nineteen of 25 county schools met all 29 benchmarks, compared with 18 last year.  Twenty-one schools achieved overall year-to-year gains.
The six schools that didn’t meet all of the benchmarks: Jack Jouett, Burley, Henley and Walton middle schools, and Greer and Agnor-Hurt elementary schools.
As a whole, 91 percent of the school system’s students passed English Standards of Learning exams, and 89 percent passed math, said Luvelle Brown, Albemarle’s executive director of school and division improvement.

But Moran said there has to be a focus on improving education for “every student at every school.”
The only benchmark that the county school division as a whole did not meet this year is a graduation rate requirement for economically disadvantaged students. The state figures show that the school division is less than 1 percent shy of meeting that threshold, but county school officials say their records show a slightly higher graduation rate.

The school division is appealing the state department’s decision, and officials say they’re confident that the Department of Education will ultimately conclude that the school division made Adequate Yearly Progress.
In 2006-07, the Albemarle school division failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress because black and economically disadvantaged students didn’t meet performance standards in math.

As a division, English scores in Albemarle for black and economically disadvantaged students each improved by 5 percentage points in kindergarten through 12th grade, according to county schools spokeswoman Maury Brown.
Officials have attributed the improvements, in part, to the schools hiring of math specialists to provide additional help to some students. “That showed this year. Our math scores went up dramatically,” School Board member said Diantha McKeel.
Individual schools that fail to meet benchmarks repeatedly could be forced to allow students the option to transfer elsewhere in the division. However, Albemarle is part of a program that first requires schools to offer tutoring after repeated shortfalls.

Greer Elementary — which is targeted as having low-income students — failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress for a third consecutive year. Greer will be required to offer federally funded tutoring to low-income and low-achievement students.

School Board members plan to discuss the report’s results in detail at a September meeting.