DPS meets more than 90 percent of No Child Left Behind goals

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Dr. Carl Harris, Associate Superintendent Instructional Services, 560-3716 DPS meets more than 90 percent of No Child Left Behind goals DURHAM—Durham Public Schools met 92.2 percent of its total goals for making Adequate Yearly Progress as part of the No Child Left Behind legislation. Durham Public Schools is required to strive for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), which is based on students’ performance on North Carolina end-of-year tests. For a school to meet AYP, subgroups of students must meet AYP standards. More diverse schools have a tougher time meeting AYP standards because they have more subgroups. For the 2003-04 school year, DPS had a total of 784 AYP goals, of which the school system achieved 723 goals, for an overall percentage of 92.2 percent. This is an increase of nearly five percentage points over last year’s results, when DPS met 87.3 percent of its total goals. Twenty-two schools, or slightly more than half in the system, met AYP by meeting 100 percent of their goals. Ten schools failed to meet AYP by missing only one or two goals. “The No Child Left Behind results are a clear indication that what we are doing in Durham Public Schools is working. Our focus remains on providing high quality instruction for all students,” said Superintendent Ann T. Denlinger. “Our students, teachers, principals, parents and community supporters have held firm in their commitment to ensure that we continually increase achievement levels for all students. We will continue to develop and implement programs and initiatives that will ensure our success in meeting AYP standards, as well as moving us toward our district’s dual goals of at least 95 percent of third-graders reading proficiently and eliminating the Achievement Gap by the end of the 2006-07 school year.” ### Attachment: 2003-04 AYP Status for Individual Schools2003-04 AYP Status for Individual Schools If a school met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), the number in parentheses shows the total number of goals the school had to achieve. If a school missed AYP, the first number indicates the number of goals achieved, and the second number indicates the number of goals that the school would have needed to achieve AYP. The following are the 22 schools that made AYP by meeting all of their goals, up from 15 last year: Eastway Elementary School (21) Lakewood Elementary School (13) Easley Elementary School (13) Oak Grove Elementary School (29) Eno Valley Elementary School (19) Pearson Elementary School (13) Fayetteville Street Elementary School (13) Pearsontown Elementary School (21) Forest View Elementary School (29) Southwest Elementary School (17) R.N. Harris Elementary School (13) Smith Elementary School (13) Hillandale Elementary School (17) Spaulding Elementary School (13) Holt Elementary School (15) Watts Elementary School (15) Little River Elementary School (19) Brogden Middle School (25) Mangum Elementary School (9) Shepard Middle School (17) Morehead Elementary School (5) Jordan High School (17) The following 10 schools missed AYP by only 1 or 2 goals (11 did so last year): Club Boulevard Elementary School (16/17) Hope Valley Elementary School (24/25) Merrick-Moore Elementary School (20/21) Parkwood Elementary School (19/21) Carrington Middle School (24/25) Chewning Middle School (23/25) Rogers-Herr Middle School (20/21) Northern High School (16/17) Riverside High School (16/17) Southern High School (15/17) These seven schools missed AYP by 3 or 4 goals (7 last year): Bethesda Elementary School (16/19) Burton Elementary School (10/13) Glenn Elementary School (22/25) Powe Elementary School (15/19) Lowe’s Grove Middle School (19/23) Neal Middle School (22/25) Hillside High School (9/13) Durham School of the Arts (29/35) and Githens Middle School (22/29) missed AYP by five or more goals. Both schools were among the four schools with the highest number of goals to meet. DSA is also accountable for AYP goals for both middle and high school students. The Lakeview School met none of its 11 goals, due to the transient nature of the school’s population. Last year, there were nine schools which failed to meet AYP by missing five or more goals.