Five schools fail to meet No Child Left Behind standards

Despite the efforts of students, faculty, staff and parents, five schools in the San Juan School District did not make “Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)” in the 2006-08 school year, according to federal No Child Left Behind requirements. They are five of 256 schools in the state that did not meet the stringent federal requirements.

Local schools failing to make AYP are Blanding Elementary, Whitehorse High, Montezuma Creek Elementary, Mexican Hat Elementary and Albert R. Lyman Middle schools.

High schools making AYP status are San Juan High, Navajo Mountain High, Monument Valley High and Monticello High schools. Elementary schools making AYP status are Monticello Elementary, Bluff Elementary and La Sal Elementary schools.

Requirements for a school to make AYP increase every year, making the AYP status a tough stretch each and every year. In the 2005-06 school year, every school in the sprawling San Juan School District made AYP, in part because the district objected to a number of anomalies in the state reports.

To meet AYP in Utah, a school must have at least 93 percent attendance, graduate at least 85.7 percent and test at least 95 percent of students.

At the high school level, 76 percent of students must pass the language arts test and 59 percent must pass the math test. At the elementary and middle school level, 77 percent must pass the language arts test and 71 percent must pass the math test.

Some schools may not meet the absolute limits, but they find “safe harbor” by making progress over the prior year.

Each school that failed to make AYP status were tripped up by the math testing. In addition, Mexican Hat Elementary failed to meet the language arts requirement.

Students in a host of groups are tested on language arts and math. Each of the 40 subgroups need to make the federal standard in order for the school to earn the AYP status.

Each of the 40 subgroups, except students with limited English proficiency (LEP), met the requirements or found safe harbor at Montezuma Creek and Whitehorse schools.

Economically disadvantaged students did not meet the requirements or find safe harbor at Blanding Elementary. Students with disabilities and LEP students did not meet the requirements or find safe harbor at Albert R. Lyman and Mexican Hat schools.

San Juan School Superintendent Doug Wright said that the results “do not say that the schools as a whole are failing, but are an indication that we clearly have more work to do.”