DATE: August 13, 2009       
CONTACT: Billy Haun, Asst. Superintendent for Student Learning
PHONE: (434) 296-5820

(ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Virginia) -- The Virginia Department of Education announced today that Albemarle County Public Schools has met the 29 benchmarks and indicators of student achievement under the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and has made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for 2008-09.  Students in Albemarle County surpassed the state benchmarks by wide margins, posting greater than 90 percent pass rates for both mathematics and reading.
 
According to VDOE, only 45 percent of school divisions in the Commonwealth made AYP for 2008-09, while 55 percent did not.
 
For 2008-09, the Virginia Department of Education mandated that 79 percent of students needed to show proficiency on the Commonwealth’s Standards of Learning (SOL) examinations in mathematics, and 81 percent of students must show proficiency on the SOL tests in reading.  In Albemarle County, 91 percent of students in grades K-12 passed the mathematics exams, while 93.6 percent of students passed the reading assessments.
 
In addition to reporting the achievement levels of students in the Division as a whole, reports for each of Albemarle County’s 26 elementary, middle and high schools were released.  Twenty-three of the 26 schools in Albemarle County made AYP. The schools that did not make AYP are Sutherland Middle School, Paul H. Cale Elementary School and the new Community Public Charter School, which finished its first year of operation serving at-risk middle school students in 2008-09. Both Cale and Sutherland made AYP in 2007-08, and missed the designation for 2008-09 due to scores in mathematics for certain students.
 
“This is the greatest percentage of schools to make AYP since NCLB began,” said Superintendent Pam Moran. “We are especially pleased as NCLB measurable targets increased annually, our student performance continues to meet and exceed those targets. We attribute our success to our excellent teachers who work together in professional learning communities. They access and use real-time student assessment data through our learning management system, SchoolNet, and they challenge and engage learners through strong instruction. Research points to the quality of the teacher in the classroom as the most important factor affecting achievement. Our young people are fortunate to be served by a great teaching staff in all of our schools.”
 
“Our goal is and always has been for all students to achieve at or above the benchmark levels, and for all schools to make AYP,” said Asst. Superintendent Billy Haun. “We are very pleased with the tremendous strides our students have made, but we recognize that we must improve our elementary and middle school mathematics instruction, and provide more support for our economically disadvantaged students.”
 
Virginia L. Murray Elementary, a No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School, had 100 percent pass rates in both reading and mathematics. Greer Elementary School had a 13 percentage point gain in overall reading performance, moving from 78 percent pass rate in 07-08 to a 91.42 percent pass rate in 08-09. Performance by black students at Greer Elementary surged from 59 percent in 07-08 to 85 percent in 08-09. Greer Elementary also posted a 21.5 percentage point gain in reading for economically disadvantaged students, a 15 percentage point gain for Hispanic students and a 25 percentage point gain for students with disabilities in reading performance. Greer reported more than 25 percentage point gains in mathematics performance for black students, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students. Agnor-Hurt Elementary School also made significant gains since last year, making AYP in all areas. Agnor-Hurt staff intensified focus on their collaborative teamwork to involve all students in rigorous learning projects that increased problem-solving opportunities and literacy engagement after barely missing the target last year.
 
“Last year, Greer Elementary did not make AYP, and in 2008-09 it is one of our top performing elementary schools, while also being our most diverse,” Haun said. “Their focused efforts on improving student achievement and creating a culture of success have really paid off. We will be looking to replicate the initiatives Greer has successfully piloted in schools across the Division.”
 
Haun highlights several initiatives recently begun by the School Division that will continue to improve achievement. The Mathematics Specialist model, which includes teachers who specialize in teaching mathematics in engaging, concept-based instructional methods that lead to greater problem-solving skills and achievement, has been expanded into the Instructional Coaching model. The Instructional Coaching model gets underway next week as teachers return for the 2009-10 school year, and includes teams of teachers who will mentor and support classroom teachers as they implement instructional practices that lead to greater student interest and achievement in all content areas.
 
Using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the School Division will also implement additional early intervention programs in 09-10 to target at-risk students in pre-school and in the early elementary years so that they do not have a chance to fall behind.  
 
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