Mat-Su schools not left behind

August 14, 2007

By John R. Moses

Frontiersman

MAT-SU - The Mat-Su Borough's schools paralelled overall positive statewide trends last school year as measured by national educational rankings under the No Child Left Behind Act. Seven more Borough schools met their adequate yearly progress (AYP) goals in 2007 than in 2006.

&#8220Even those schools who didn't make AYP in 2007 still improved their test results,” district spokesperson Traci Crotteau said of the newly released data. More complete numbers will give the board a district-wide snapshot in about 30 days. The school board will hear a full report on NCLB when it meets Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the upper library at Palmer High School.

&#8220We came up,” school board clerk Pat Purcell said of the scores. &#8220I'm really excited about that. You don't really know until you get the numbers back.”

Purcell has read the raw numbers and said she eagerly awaits a report from Borough Director of Education Susan McCauley early in the meeting.

The 2001 NCLB legislation was designed to accurately measure how well children are learning and ensure that America's students are educated equally. Its system of measuring progress is complex and includes statistical subgroups exist to compare performance by race and in different types of learning, such as language arts. Students from grades three to 10 take the test, which measures language arts (reading and writing) and math skills.

Because of the way numbers are analyzed by race, for instance, three or fewer students of one racial group's scores won't show up in the initial numbers, according to the act. There are 31 categories per school to be analyzed. A district-wide summary showing all students will more completely reflect final numbers, Crotteau said. Look for those in about a month.

Alaska Education Commissioner Roger Sampson announced last week that during 2006-2007 there were 326 Alaska schools whose students made their AYP goals, while 172 schools failed to meet those marks. Statewide, 19 more schools are meeting federal goals than the previous school year. The total number of campuses improving their scores is 34 greater than two years ago.

&#8220As Alaska educators focus on helping each student meet academic expectations, more students are scoring proficient on assessments and more schools are making adequate yearly progress toward the goal of all students being proficient,” Sampson says in a prepared release. &#8220The State Board of Education and Early Development believes that all students can meet the Alaska standards.”

Local schools making their AYP for the first time, according to the state's Web site, are: Correspondence Study School, Wasilla; Matanuska-Susitna Secondary School, Palmer; MidValley High School, Wasilla; Palmer High School, Palmer; Palmer Middle School, Palmer; Sherrod Elementary, Palmer; Swanson Elementary, Palmer; Tanaina Elementary, Wasilla; Teeland Middle School, Wasilla; Valley Pathways, Palmer.

Area schools not making the AYP, according to the state's Web site, include: Burchell High School, Wasilla; Butte Elementary, Palmer; Colony High School, Palmer; Colony Middle School, Palmer; Houston Middle School, Big Lake; Meadow Lakes Elementary, Wasilla; Snowshoe Elementary, Wasilla; Twindly-Bridge Charter School, Wasilla; Wasilla High School, Wasilla; Wasilla Middle School, Wasilla.

Contact John R. Moses at 352-2270 or john.moses@frontiersman.com.