Education Commissioner Dr. La Verne Terry made the official release of the 2009-2010 Territorial Report Card on Monday. The commissioner said, “Schools meeting Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) have shown an increase over the past two years, stepping up from 10 schools in 2007-2008 to 16 in 2009-2010.”
In order to make AYP, elementary and junior high schools must attain a 95 percent attendance rate for grades three through eight, a 95 percent participation rate, and meet the required Annual Measurable Objective (AMO) for Mathematics (38.4 percent students must test at proficient or above); and reading (37.7 percent of students must test at proficient or above).
“High schools must also attain an increase in cohort graduation rate from school year 2007-2008 to 2008- 2009, attain the 95 percent participation rate, and meet the AMOs in reading of 40.8 percent and 36 percent in mathematics for all students to include all subgroups,” she said.
The subgroups, which include special education, limited English proficient, hispanic and black student groups, must attain the same attendance, participation and academic requirements.
“Schools may also meet AYP by the application of safe harbor. A school may achieve safe harbor if it did not achieve the required AMO but has been able to reduce the number of students who tested at basic and below basic the previous testing year by 10 percent” said Dr. Terry.
Schools making the grade with AYP are as follows:
St. Thomas-St. John District:
Charlotte Amalie High, Bertha C. Boschulte Middle, Leonard Dober, Joseph Sibilly, Ulla Muller, Evelyn Marcelli, Joseph Gomez, Gladys Abraham, E. Benjamin Oliver, and Guy Benjamin Elementary Schools
St. Croix District:
Lew Muckle, Claude O Markoe, Pearl B. Larsen, Alfredo Andrews, Evelyn Williams and Ricardo Richards Elementary Schools
The department has implemented a new automated system for determining AYP and for No Child Left Behind (NCLB) reporting. This system is a Web-based, point-and-click interface that allows school principals and other department officials to access a variety of reports. The No Child Left Behind Actof 2001 requires the V.I. Department of Education to have a strong accountability system that relies on precise information.
“Because of this need for accurate data, the application incorporates a secured partition where reviews, verifications and approvals are done within the department. Given the overwhelming amount of data that must be collected and reported for determining adequate yearly progress, it is imperative that we produce accurate, reliable information,” said Terry.
The application also has a public site where the reports can be viewed while protecting students’ confidentiality rights. “In implementing this new application and process, there were application developmental and data quality issues that prolonged the AYP determination process,” she said. “We have worked out the kinks and are positive that next year’s report process will be more efficient and of better quality now that the system is performing well.”
Deputy Commissioner for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Sarah Mahurt said, “This online NCLB report card application provides the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Education with the technical infrastructure required to produce quality student achievement data. Information collection, processing, and reporting, all previously executed manually, are now fully automated and transmissions are handled electronically.
“The most immediate and notable effect of the new NCLB report card application has had on the education system has been an increase in administrative engagement with student achievement data. This strong interest from administrators will have a positive effect on future student performance.”
