Five out of six Appling County Schools met requirements for adequate yearly progress (AYP) in 2009. Altamaha Elementary, Fourth District Elementary, Appling County Primary, Appling Elementary and Appling Middle School all met requirements for AYP. Appling County High School (ACHS) did not meet AYP, which also means the Appling County School System did not meet AYP as well.

According to the Georgia Department of Education’s annual AYP report, the school failed to meet academic performance in Reading/English Language Arts in the black subgroup portion of the Georgia High School Graduation Test. According to the state website each school (or system) as a whole and each student group with at least 40 members must meet or exceed the State’s Annual Measurable Objective (AMO) regarding the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced on selected state assessments in Reading/English Language Arts and Mathematics.

ACHS Principal Gene Starr explained that the graduation test is taken by 11th graders headed to their senior year every year as part of AYP. He further added that if a student fails either the math or reading portions of the test, or both, the student is given other opportunities to pass the test. Principal Starr stated that the school only needed a few additional students to pass the test to meet AYP and shared that the school has been helping students in the group during the summer break, that did not pass the test, to prepare to retake the test. Starr points out that if these students pass the test the status of ACHS not meeting AYP will change. As present, the students have retaken the test and the results should be available in the coming weeks.

Last year the high school did not meet AYP due to the school’s graduation rate. In 2009 the school made vast improvements and exceeded the required 75 percent graduation rate with an outstanding 78.3 percent. Out of a class of 258, 202 received diplomas.

What is Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)?

Adequate yearly progress (AYP) is a series of annual performance goals set by the state for each school district and school as well as for the state as a whole. By participating in Title I, a voluntary federal program that provides more than $11 billion to participating states to help educate low-income children, states agree to commit themselves to the goal of the federal No Child Left Behind Act: that all students will be proficient in Reading/English Language Arts and Mathematics, as determined by state assessments, by 2014.