Adequate Yearly Progress Results 2007-2008

What is the District’s Status?

The Winnisquam Regional School District did not make Acceptable Yearly Progress (AYP).  We are in the third year designated as a District In Need of Improvement for mathematics.  State and federal school accountability laws (No Child Left Behind) require  that the New Hampshire Department of Education identify districts not making AYP for two consecutive years in the same content area at each level existing in the district (elementary or middle, and high school).

What is AYP?

AYP is a measure that states use to determine if schools and districts are meeting the high expectations for student performance set forth in state and federal accountability law.  These expectations include the percent of students participating in the annual state assessment, the percent of students meeting the state performance targets for reading and mathematics, as well as performance targets for attendance and graduation rates.

How Did the District’s Schools Rate on Adequate Yearly Progress?

On the federal ratings, the New Hampshire Department of Education set performance index scores in reading at 86% (an increase from 82% in 2006-2007) and math 82% (an increase from 77% in 2006-2007) for all schools to meet in order to show Adequate Yearly Progress in student learning.  The index scores for elementary, middle and high schools are calculated using the 2006-2007 New England Common Assessment Program Testing (NECAP) results.  The attendance rate is set at 95% for all schools.

• Union Sanborn exceeded the state’s targets with an index score of 87.7% in reading and 83.6% in math.  They met AYP. 
• Sanbornton Central’s whole school exceeded the state’s index scores by achieving 91.2% in reading and 83.7% in math. Sanbornton Central also showed increases on the index scores from last year in every subgroup. However, Sanbornton Central did not meet AYP because they did not show enough growth in the subgroup of special education in the reading and math cell. 
• Southwick’s whole school scored 90.3% in reading and 83.8% in math.  Southwick met AYP requirements and showed remarkable index score improvements and growth in the cells of economically disadvantaged and special education in both reading and math.  The school will remain a School In Need of Improvement in reading and math until they show improvement for two consecutive years.
• The Winnisquam Regional Middle School also exceeded the state’s reading score by making 86.2% in reading and by making an index score of 80.2% in math met the state’s requirement for the whole school.  The WRMS also made reading and math gains in the cell of special education.  However, the gains were not enough in special education and did not meet the state’s index target.  The middle school is in year three of being a School In Need of Improvement in reading and year four in math due to not meeting the index scores in special education.
• The Winnisquam Regional High School did not meet the index scores in reading or math.  The participation rate of students taking the NECAP test was 89% and the state’s target is 95%.  We are appealing the participation rate due to the possible miscoding of students.  The high school’s graduation rate is 87.6% which is above the state’s target of 75%.

*In Need of Improvement in Reading or Math

What is the District’s Plan?

As a district identified for improvement in math, we have developed an Improvement Plan in consultation with school staff and parents.  Currently, the district is involved in a variety of activities to help all our students be proficient learners.  This includes:

• Offering supplemental tutoring services to students that qualify
• Providing summer school programming at the elementary and middle schools
• Implementing READ 180 at the middle and high school
• Implementing RAVE-O reading program at all our schools
• Increasing math and reading instructional time at all schools
• Adding math labs at the high school
• Using best practice instructional strategies across the district beginning in 2008-2009 such as Open Ended Questions for Critical Thinking and Focused Vocabulary Development
• Providing professional development  for teachers on reading/math content knowledge and instructional practices
• Providing inclusive practices for special education students in the regular classroom

The district is making growth in student achievement as indicated in the index scores from last year to this year.  We must stay grounded and continue our efforts of what’s working for increasing the rate of student learning from year to year.  We will continue to expand, refine and define what we need to do for improving student achievement through our strategic plan.