York County School Division schools made great strides toward meeting the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act's new educational standard, Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), with 205 of 208 targets met well before the legislation's proficiency requirement date of 2014. Seventeen of the division's 18 traditional schools met AYP, and one school missed making AYP by only one target. The division missed making AYP by two targets.

(Because less than 50 students attend the division's charter school, York River Academy, the division will submit a plan to the state that will determine whether the school meets AYP.)

NCLB requires annual testing of at least 95% of all students to measure progress in reading and math, and requires schools and school divisions to meet targets for achievement in four subgroups:

NCLB sets annual objectives (or targets) for student participation and performance on these reading and math tests. As we move closer to 2014 - the 100%-proficiency deadline - the AYP bar will be raised each school year. For a school or school division to "make AYP" it must meet or exceed all targets for participation in statewide testing, achievement in reading and math, and attendance (elementary and middle schools) or graduation (high schools). Missing a single target results in a school or school division not making AYP.

In addition to NCLB's AYP, the state's Standards of Learning (SOL) testing program continues to be an important part of school accountability. Schools and divisions will need to meet both state and federal accountability standards, and preliminary information indicates that York County's public schools have earned full state accreditation for two years in a row.

"While the division is well on its way to meeting the federal NCLB requirements, this is a new way of looking at test data and we anticipate that it will take time for the division to meet AYP in all areas," Steven R. Staples, Ed.D., division superintendent, said. "We have begun to focus our efforts on addressing specific challenges for specific subgroups, and although the standards do not have to be met for another 11 years, I think we are on track for meeting the national goals for student achievement by 2014.

"I am pleased with the fact that out of 208 targets our division missed only three," he said.

"NCLB focuses attention on the public schools in some positive ways. It's important for our schools to be accountable and to meet the needs of all students. However, there are some aspects of NCLB which do not make sense at this point," Staples said. "For example, when calculating the percentage of teachers who are not highly qualified at a school, a fine arts teacher at one of our elementary schools was counted 33 times while core teachers at that school were counted only once. This does not align with the English and math focus of NCLB. To improve our rating in this category, we would be better off to make the classroom teacher provide fine arts instruction instead of having hired an expert in the field with a college degree."