Staff Report
Last month the Indiana Department of Education announced Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) measures for schools and school districts under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
This week, the state released the placement of schools and school districts in performance categories as part of the statewide PL 221 accountability system.
Under the PL 221 accountability system, all accredited schools are placed in a category based on ISTEP+ passing rates and improvement.
There are three favorable categories in the system: Exemplary Progress, Commendable Progress, and Academic Progress. The system also has two categories showing that more improvement is needed: Academic Watch and Academic Probation.
The results released this week were based on the results of the Fall 2008 ISTEP.
Local results show that Mays and Milroy Elementary Schools both were placed in Exemplary Progress. Arlington Elementary, Rushville Elementary, Rushville Consolidated High School, and Rush County Schools were all placed in Academic Progress. Benjamin Rush Middle School was placed in Academic Watch.
None of the schools within Rush County Schools received Academic Probation.
Consequences for the PL 221 accountability system are limited to schools placed in the Academic Probation category. Consequences increase for each year that a school remains in Academic Probation.
“I am pleased that none of our schools received Academic Probation. The placements have been made for four years, and we have never had a school close to academic probation,” RCS assistant superintendent of school Dennis Chambers said.
“Schools passing at least 60 percent of the students on ISTEP can not be placed on Academic Probation. All of our schools are passing at least 70 percent. I do have concerns that placements are very volatile from year to year. Increases or decreases of 1 percent from one year to the next are enough to change categories. For example, Mays Elementary has received Exemplary Progress in three of four years. In 2006, they were put in Academic Watch. Rushville Elementary has received four different placements in four years. I like that the state factors in improvement, but the increments may be too low to give an accurate picture. We continue to collect long term data from a variety of assessments. I am proud of the improvements that have resulted by the efforts of our staff and our students,” Chambers continued.
For more information on PL 221 and category placements you can visit the Department of Education Web site at www.doe.in.gov/pl221.
