Why Meadowview Made AYP

Meadowview Elementary School was the only East Atlanta Patch school in DeKalb County that met Adequate Yearly Progress standards.

But students didn't meet the Reading/English language arts or the mathematics testing standards the Georgia Deparment of Education said.

Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, is one of several benchmarks established by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 to continually evaluate students, teachers and schools. Those AYP scores are expected to improve on a year-to-year basis.

On the mathematics criteria, only 70.5 percent of Meadowview students either met or exceeded the proficiency requirements on standardized tests. In English language arts, 77.9 percent of students met the standard on tests.

AYP calls for of at least 75.7 percent and 80 percent in math and English, respectively.

So how did Meadowview pass?

Schools have an opportunity for "second looks" through three additional benchmarks, explained Trenton Arnold, executive director for assessment and accountability with the DeKalb County public schools.

Those three benchmarks are:

• Confidence interval calculation — a statistical formula that looks to see if the percentage of students who meet and exceed the testing standard fall within an acceptable range.
• Multiyear average results — takes this year's testing results and that of the prior two years for a three-year average. If that average meets or excceeds the goal, the school makes AYP.
• Safe harbor — to see if there's a decline of at least 10 percent in the number of students who are rated "level 1" on standardized tests. That would be those students who score 799 or below.

Meadowview made AYP because it met the confidence interval calculation, Arnold said.