Half Of Wetzel Schools Make AYP

With half of Wetzel County Schools meeting Adequate Yearly Progress in the last school year, the county’s results are similar to schools across the state.
A total of 370 West Virginia schools, or 57 percent, met AYP this past school year.
Director of Secondary and Vocational Education, Student Assessment, and Strategic Planning Tammy Wells delivered a report at Tuesday’s Wetzel County Board of Education’s meeting on the local system’s AYP results. The short report is that Hundred High School, Magnolia High School, Long Drain School, and Valley High School made AYP, while New Martinsville School, Paden City Elementary, Paden City High School, and Short Line School came up short in the nationwide measure.
But of course there is more to the results than a simple pass and fail grade. Wells explained that students in grades three through 11 are required to take the West Virginia Educational Standards Test (WESTEST 2) to determine yearly progress for the students, schools, and school systems.
For Wetzel County, growth was close to statewide numbers in Reading/Language Arts. However, Wetzel County Schools did not make AYP status in Special Education in Middle School Mathematics. The schools also did not reach AYP status in the low socioeconomic subgroup at the elementary, middle, and secondary level in Mathematics. Wells said improvement plans are in place to address these issues.
However, Wetzel County schools did reach the target in both attendance and graduation rates, as the elementary schools did have attendance rates at or above 90 percent, and the secondary schools did have a graduation rate at or above 90 percent or showed an upward trend in graduation rates.
Student accountability information coming from WESTEST 2 and AYP scores for each subgroup are determined by ethnicity, socioeconomic level, English language proficiency, and disability to assess and determine school and school system AYP status for each year. The current state AYP is calculated at each school for every subgroup totaling more than 50 students. Any subgroup that contained less than 50 students was not factored into the equation.
Wells explained that a subgroup’s scores that do not reach mastery target percentages do not qualify for AYP status. However, AYP status can additionally be met if the school improves by the following: decrease in students not meeting mastery by 10 percent from the preceding school year, made progress on other academic indicators, or is at or above the target for that academic indicator, or attained a 95 percent participation rate. No Child Left Behind calls this tool “confidence interval.”
Four schools in Wetzel County made AYP status: Hundred High School, Magnolia High School, Long Drain School, and Valley High School
Hundred High School met AYP status in the All and White subgroups in Reading/Language Arts and Mathematics through confidence interval.
Long Drain School made AYP status in the All and White subgroups in Reading/Language Arts. Additionally, LDS met AYP status by the confidence interval in the All and White subgroups in Math, and in the Low Socioeconomic Status students in Reading and Mathematics.
Magnolia HIgh School met AYP status in all subgroups and categories with cell sizes 50 or above as defined by NCLB.
Valley High School met AYP status in the All and White subgroups in Reading/Language Arts and Mathematics through confidence interval.
The following schools in Wetzel County did not make AYP status: New Martinsville School, Paden City Elementary, Paden City High School, and Short Line School.
New Martinsville School did meet AYP status in the All and White categories in Reading/Language Arts by confidence interval. However, NMS failed to make status in the Special Education and Low Socioeconomic subgroup in Reading/Language Arts. MS also did not make AYP in the All, White, and Special Education, and Low SES subgroups in Mathematics.
Paden City Elementary did meet AYP status in the All and White categories in Mathematics and Reading/Language Arts by confidence interval. However, Paden City Elementary failed to make AYP status in the Low Socioeconomic subgroup in Mathematics and Reading/Language Arts.
Short Line School did meet AYP status in the All and White categories in Reading/Language Arts by Confidence interval. However, SLS failed to make AYP status in the Special Education and Low Socioeconomic subgroup in Reading/Language Arts. SLS also did not make AYP in the All, White, and Special Education, and Low SES subgroups in Mathematics.
Paden City High School made AYP in the All and White Categories in Reading Language Arts. They also made AYP through confidence interval in those categories in Mathematics. Paden City High School, however, failed to make AYP for graduation rate.