The Michigan Department of Education published on Aug. 5 the 2004 Education YES! School Report Cards, along with the federal No Child Left Behind required Adequate Yearly Progress status for all the state’s public schools.
All seven Lake Orion elementary schools and the three middle schools demonstrated proficiency in reading and mathematics in 2003-04. All of the elementary and middle schools met the target goals for 2003-04 for AYP.
‘The Education YES! School Report Card, although only a snapshot of what we do throughout the year, reaffirms the performance our students are able to achieve with the support and direction of our professional staff,? LO School District Superintendent Dr. Craig Younkman said.
‘We certainly are proud of their accomplishments, but also recognize there is always room for improvement and the opportunity to grow.?
NCLB, signed into law by President Bush in January 2002, requires states to set target goals for AYP based on 2001-02 student achievement data.
States are required to ‘raise the bar? for AYP each year to meet the NCLB goal of having all students, including nine different subgroups of students, proficient in reading and math by 2013-14.
The Michigan Education Assessment Program test serves as the basis for calculating AYP in Michigan.
Under NCLB, it’s important for schools as a whole to meet target AYP goals. Additionally, all subgroups in a school must meet the target goals. If even one group doesn’t meet the AYP target goals, the school will not make AYP.
Schools receiving Title 1 funding, a federal program that provides resources to schools in areas of economic need, could face sanctions under NCLB if the school doesn’t make AYP for two or more years in a row.
Sanctions increase in severity for every year a Title 1 school doesn’t make AYP.
The district’s Education YES! Report Card may be viewed at http://www.michigan.gov/mde.