School Officials Say Bristol, Va., Washington County, Va., Made AYP

ABINGDON, Va. – The Washington County and Bristol, Va., school systems both achieved Adequate Yearly Progress during the 2007-2008 school year, school system officials said Wednesday.

Data released Wednesday by the Virginia Department of Education show results of last school year’s achievement of No Child Left Behind objectives. The federal program measures schools and school systems against ever-rising requirements for the percentage of students who must pass grade-level proficiency tests.

However, according to the data, Bristol, Va., achieved AYP but Washington County, Va., did not.

Washington County School Superintendent Alan Lee said the discrepancy in the data showing non-attainment was “a coding issue.”

He believes the issue has been resolved to result in the Washington County system achieving AYP.

“It looks like Washington County, in fact, as a school system will make AYP,” he said, “but any time we’ve got a kid that doesn’t pass the SOLs [Standards of Learning], I’m not happy about it, so that means we’ve got more work to do.”

Charles Pyle, spokesman for the education department, could not confirm the system had indeed attained AYP. He said Washington County was listed as not making AYP because the system as a whole fell one point short of English achievement by black students.

Eighty-seven percent of Washington County’s schools individually made AYP – compared with 74 percent of schools statewide.

Lee said the school system is working on developing a curriculum that will attempt to elevate every student above basic SOL requirements. Meanwhile, he said, there’s a need to focus on fundamentals.

In both Washington County and Bristol, Va., it means a focus on math. Two individual schools in Washington County and one in Bristol fell short of making Adequate Yearly Progress because of math scores below the standards.

The three that failed to meet all the benchmarks were Abingdon High School, Abingdon Elementary School and Virginia Middle School.

“I really think when you meet 28 out of 29 benchmarks, how [much] closer can you get? That’s really good. So we’re proud of it, and we’re going to move forward,” said Ina Danko, acting superintendent of Bristol, Va., schools.

“We increased our percentage in so many areas. ... I’m very pleased with the results, and I think the people in Bristol should be pleased.”

Danko said Bristol, Va., schools increased math scores by nearly 10 percent over last year’s. And with other schools around the state also having difficulty meeting math requirements, the test may also have room for improvement.

Pyle said testing changed three years ago, from one eighth-grade assessment test to three levels of testing, one at the end of each middle school year. He said it made the testing more rigorous but, after a study of 2006 test results, the education department concluded that the content matched the standards.

Both Bristol, Va., and Washington County, Va., school officials said they are investing resources in math education to help increase the scores and, though standards will rise again, officials in both school systems say all their schools will “absolutely” pass next year.

Foney Mullins, director of academic operations for Washington County schools, said math scores have already gone up in middle schools, and as a result Glade Spring Middle School, which did not make AYP last year, did so this year.

He said the school system has, for more than a decade, focused attention on a program to make sure all children could read by the end of third grade. Now, he said, a math focus is being added.

He said the Abingdon results “came as a surprise” to him and educators in the schools.

“This is what I call a glitch, I guess,” he said. “Abingdon High School and Abingdon Elementary are good schools.”

Lee said in an e-mail announcing the results that “percentages and test scores do not tell the whole story.”

Mullins added in a later interview that the testing results from an individual school will vary some because different groups of kids are tested each year and other factors are also at play.

While he warned against trying to compare schools based on one set of test results, he added some of the county’s strongest scores came from schools in the outlying areas.

He noted that Valley Institute and Rhea Valley elementary schools – at the west and east ends of the county respectively – scored well.

Still, Lee said school officials are working toward improvement to bring all the county’s schools to a higher educational level.

“Just because somebody passes an SOL doesn’t assure me that they know what they need to,” Lee said, “and we’re going to focus on developing a curriculum ... that elevates them above the SOLs.”

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School Division   -  AYP   -  Schools Making AYP   -  Schools Not Making AYP

Bristol City       -        yes   -  5             -          Virginia Middle

Buchanan County   -    yes   -  8, with one TBD     -    Hurley High

Dickenson County   -    yes   -  7             -          Clintwood Elementary

Lee County       -        yes   -  12           -            Lee High

Norton City       -      yes   -  2           -            none

Russell County     -      yes   -  7             -          Honaker High; Lebanon Middle; Castlewood, Cooper Creek, Givens and Swords Creek elementary schools

Scott County     -      yes   -  12           -          none

Smyth County     -      no   -  10             -          Marion Intermediate, Marion Primary, Sugar Grove Combined

Tazewell County     -    no   -  15           -            none

Washington County   -  yes   -  13           -            Abingdon High School, Abingdon Elementary School

Wise County     -      yes   -  15             -          none