GCS Special Friday Notes from the Superintendent

September 6, 2007

GCS Outperforms State and Major NC School Districts with ABC/AYP Measures

In 2003, the federal government required the states to implement the No Child Left Behind legislation. The new federal law established proficiency benchmarks for reading and mathematics for the nation’s schools. The expected number of students to perform at or above grade level increases every three years. The law also contained specific requirements for student attendance and high school graduation rates.

Today, the State Board of Education released the state’s 2006-07 ABC results. We are pleased to announce in 2006-07, ABCs results for GCS showed that 83 of 112 schools (74.1 percent) attained Expected Growth or High Growth. Of those, 40 (35.7 percent) attained High Growth and 43 (38.4 percent) attained Expected Growth. These results show a substantial increase in performance for GCS compared with 2005-06.

Of the six largest school districts in the state, GCS had the highest growth and the second highest overall score in ABC measures. GCS also had the highest percentage of schools making AYP, while exceeding state averages in both ABC/AYP categories.

Click here to view comparative charts on both ABC and AYP performance measures.

ABCs Highlights include:

• Percentage of schools state wide that made ABC Expected Growth or High Growth was 71.8 percent, compared to 74.1 percent of GCS schools in 2006-07
• In 2006-07, 74.1 percent of Guilford County schools attained Expected Growth or High Growth, compared with 45.9 percent in 2005-06
• Only 10 schools fell in the No Recognition category in 2007 compared with 35 schools in 2006. These schools failed to meet Expected Growth but had 60 to 79 percent overall proficiency

AYP Highlights include:

• Percentage of schools state wide that made AYP was 44.7 percent , compared to 55.9 percent of GCS schools in 2006-07
• The percent of schools that made AYP increased 11.5 percent, from 44.4 percent in 2005-06 to 55.9 percent in 2006-07
• The percent of elementary schools that made AYP increased 4.6 percent, from 49.2 percent in 2005-06 to 53.8 percent in 2006-07
• The percent of middle schools that made AYP increased 4.7 percent, from 28.6 percent in 2005-06 to 33.3 percent in 2006-07
• The percent of high schools that made AYP increased 30.7 percent, from 47.6 percent in 2005-06 to 78.3 percent in 2006-07
• Eighteen out of 23 high schools (78.3 percent) made the percentage proficiency achievement part of AYP
• Five Mission Possible schools made AYP for the first time since the implementation of NCLB, including: Washington Elementary, Aycock Middle, Welborn Middle, High Point Central High and The Middle College at NC A&T
• All 10 subgroups of elementary and middle school made progress in percentage proficiency for math in comparing 2006-07 to 2005-06

Please join me in congratulating our entire school community for a job well done.