Salem Schools Remain 'In Need of Improvement'

All eight Salem schools will continue to be designated "in need of improvement" with the release of preliminary Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) figures by the state Department of Education Tuesday.

According to a statement from DOE, the AYP reports "are based on the October 2011 New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) results for grades three through eight and eleven, together with the 2010-2011 NH Alternate Learning Progressions Assessment (NH-ALPs) results for grades two through seven and ten, and the Class of 2011 graduation rate."

made AYP in both reading and math, while made AYP in math.

However, no other Salem schools made AYP in either subject. Each will remain a "School in Need of Improvement" (SINI) in at least one subject (see full table below) for the upcoming school year.

In addition, the SAU 57 school district will be a "District in Need of Improvement" (DINI) for the 2012-2013 school year for both reading and math. The district enters DINI status for reading and will be in its third straight year of DINI for math.

All schools remained in AYP for attendance and graduation rate.

SAU 57 Assistant Superintendent Edith Soley said the schools and the district as a whole have made "some nice gains" in areas through the last few years but that is not often reflected by the final analysis.

She gave an example at the high school, where 11th graders had an index score of 94.6 proficient in reading. This is up from a 2011 index score of 89.3.

However, Soley explained AYP is based on proficiency in nine different subgroups of those 11th graders and if just one subgroup is not proficient, the school will not make AYP, as was the case.

Soley said the NECAPs will soon be a thing of the past, with Salem and many other schools switching to a new test in spring 2015.

"We made some nice gains in making sure all grade level content is taught to all students," Soley said. "It just hasn't been enough to make AYP...I'm very comfortable with the progress and we're very much moving in the right direction."

For a school to become a SINI, it must fail to make AYP for two consecutive years in the same subject. To exit SINI, it must succeed in making AYP for two consecutive years in the subject that caused it to become a SINI.

DINI Year 1 Reading, DINI Year 3 Math

The DOE reported that statewide over 70 percent of schools and over 65 percent of districts failed to make AYP in 2012.

"This is ample evidence that the accountability system is broken, not that the vast majority of schools in New Hampshire are failing," said Education Commissioner Virginia M. Berry in a statement.

All of the data for Salem and the rest of the state can be found by searching here.