School Board Talks AYP Results

Even though most Salem schools did not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) based on recent standardized testing, officials expressed both optimism about the future and frustration about the process Tuesday night.

. No other schools, nor the district as a whole, made AYP on either subject.

SAU 57 Assistant Superintendent Edith Soley explained Tuesday 2012 AYP is measured by results from the October 2011 New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) testing, the May 2011 Alternative Learning Program (ALP) testing, student participation, attendance and graduation rate.

Soley said all schools, and the district, met their index targets overall on the both reading and math portions. However, there are numerous subgroups within each school, including educationally disabled, economically disadvantaged and also by ethnicity.

"If any of the subgroups don't make their target, the whole school doesn't make it," Soley said.

Soley said the district has made a concentrated effort to "close the gap" between special education students and all others. She was pleased with the progress made at Salem High School in reading, where educationally-disabled students went from 64.3 percent proficient in 2011 to 81.6 percent proficient in 2012, hitting their index target.

However, the reason why Salem High did not make actually AYP in reading was because the graduation rate among that subgroup was 82.4 percent, below the 85 percent requirement.

SAU 57 Superintendent Michael Delahanty explained that about 85 special education students entered Salem High in the fall of 2007. That represented the group taking the 2011 ALPs considered for this year's AYP.

Delahanty said the district knew at least four of these students would require an Individualized Education Program (IEP) that would extend until those students were 21 years old, and they would be unable to receive a diploma before that.

For the purposes of the test and its evaluation, Delahanty said those four students had to be included as non-graduating seniors, a fact Delahanty called "abominable."

"We had to do the right thing by the students who have this special education requirement," Delahanty said.

"If I had my druthers I would rather do what is best for the students in spite of what the rules say," said School Board Secretary Peter Morgan. "If that means we don't make AYP but we're doing right by the students, that's fine with me."

Chairwoman Pamela Berry said it seemed like two federal laws, No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, were seemingly at odds in this instance.

Soley said that this will be the first year the school district will be a District in Need of Improvement (DINI) for reading. As a result, a district plan for getting out of DINI status will need to be written. A DINI plan that currently exists for math for the district will need some alterations, Soley said.

"We need to continue to stay the course," Soley said. "We're making nice improvements."