Decatur City Schools Meet AYP Standards

The City of Decatur school system met the state’s adequate yearly progress (AYP) standards, according to a report issued by the department on Thursday.

The Georgia Department of Education released its initial AYP report, which is the formula used to determine if schools are meeting expectations under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

"Each year students in grades 3-8 take the CRCT in multiple areas," said Matt Cardoza, spokesman for the department. "But for purposes of AYP, the state only uses the math and english/language arts sections of the CRCT."

The department said that fewer Georgia schools made AYP this year due to the academic bar being raised in reading and math.

The percentage of all schools making AYP in 2011 is 63.2 percent, compared to 71 percent in 2010. The percentage of schools falling into "Needs Improvement" status this year is 17.5 percent, compared to 15.4 percent last year.

, l, , , and all measured as meeting or exceeding the state’s AYP.

The system’s 1,353 students had a 99.8 percent participation rate in the report. Just over 90 percent, or 1,143 students, met/exceeded the AYP standards in CRCT math, and 96.1 percent (1,212 students) met/exceeded AYP standards in CRCT reading/language arts.

Among Decatur High's 180 test takers for the Georgia High School Graduation math test, 148, or 85.5 percent, met/exceeded state standards. In the English/language arts test, 97.1 percent, or 167, met/exceeded standards.

The final AYP report will be released in the fall and will include summer retest scores, summer graduates and appeals.