State of Alabama
Department of Education
Joseph B. Morton
State Superintendent of Education

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 18, 2005

Contact: Michael O. Sibley
334-242-9950
msibley@alsde.edu

MAKING AYP
PAYS OFF FOR SOME STATE SCHOOLS
Schools Overcoming Certain Challenges
Receive Monetary Rewards

Montgomery, AL – The unprecedented and rigorous guidelines of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) has raised the performance bar for public schools across America. For those schools that have met the challenge of making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in 2005, reward for their hard work and determination is being given in the form of recognition and monetary awards.

A taskforce comprised of Alabama educators and stakeholders developed the Rewards and Sanctions plan for the state’s public schools. The taskforce used information from 2004-2005 student test data, released in August 2005, to determine which schools were eligible for recognition and monetary rewards. The schools eligible are in two categories which are consistent with the Rewards and Sanctions plan approved by the State Board of Education on November 13, 2003, and are consistent with No Child Left Behind.

One of the principles included in the Rewards and Sanctions plan is that the criteria should reward schools that overcome the greatest challenges. With this in mind, the following criteria were used as a result of the recommendations from this working group for identification of schools eligible for rewards based on 2004-2005 test data:

1. SCHOOLS THAT MEET OR EXCEED AYP FOR TWO CONSECUTIVE YEARS
a. “Honor Roll Schools” – Schools that met or exceeded AYP for two consecutive years. These schools will receive recognition.
b. “Meeting the Challenge Schools” – Schools that met or exceeded AYP for two consecutive years and had at least 80% poverty rate. These schools will be rewarded $1,400 from the state. Title I schools will be rewarded an additional $7,500 from Title I.

2. SCHOOLS THAT CLOSE THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP
a. “Gap Closer Schools” – Schools that significantly closed the achievement gap between student groups. These schools will be rewarded $450 from the state for each gap that is closed. Title I schools will be rewarded an additional $2,500 from Title I for each gap that is closed.

In Alabama there are 113 Honor Roll Schools, 43 Meeting the Challenge Schools, and 73 Gap Closer Schools. Of those, three schools are both Meeting the Challenge and Gap Closer schools. The monetary rewards will be made available to individual schools to be used as the entire faculty determines.

State Board of Education Vice President Sandra Ray, District 7, said while this much deserved reward will help, the biggest reward is one these schools have given themselves. “Making AYP is a challenging goal under the best of circumstances. Schools with a poverty rate of more than 80 percent that still manage to make AYP stand as an example of how dedication and commitment can overcome any obstacle,” Mrs. Ray said. “More importantly, it dispels the notion that poor students cannot perform academically on the same level as everyone else.”

NCLB establishes firm objectives for schools across America to make AYP. In Alabama, schools and systems are evaluated based on student performance with Alabama content standards, attendance rates (elementary and middle schools) and drop-out rates (high schools). Depending on any combination of variables, a school and/or school system could have anywhere from three to thirty-eight AYP goals.

According to NCLB regulations, if a school were to miss even one AYP within any of its goals, the school is not considered to have made AYP. These challenging obligations increase regularly, moving the target of acceptable yearly progress higher every year. The goal on NCLB is for all students to achieve grade-level proficiency in reading and mathematics by 2014.

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Gordon Persons Building • P.O. Box 302101 • Montgomery, AL 36130
Telephone (334)242-9700 • Fax (334)242-9708 • Web site:www.alsde.edu