From: "Suzanne Heath" To: Subject: Re: Schools making AYP Date: Thursday, September 29, 2005 9:06 AM Dear Debbie, If the subgroup size is 50, and there are less than 50 children with disabilities in the grade tested, then the scores for that subgroup do not need to be reported separately. The scores are still included in calculations for the school as a whole.. The statewide testing is done to determine if a child has been taught the material in the state academic content standards. These standards can be found on a state's department of education website. They are sometimes called curriculum, standards, or something similar. These standards are what a state has determined that every child needs to know and be able to do in each grade. The real accountability happens one child at a time. If a state has detailed academic content standards (some are very detailed for the early grades) it will be easy to see if a child ahs been taught the required skills and knowledge. Unless an evaluation says the child cannot learn grade level material even with the best instruction, then the team will look at the content standards, look at eth child's present level of performance from individual evaluations and design the specialized instruction and appropriate placement so that the child regains lost ground and remains at the level of his peers. Be sure to look at the academic content standards for previous grades. as well as for the grade for which you are writing the IEP. The fourth grade curriculum may talk about comprehension goals for reading, but you may find detailed descriptions of the phonemic awareness and decoding skills necessary for comprehension in the standards for earlier grades. The amount of detail in the standards and the amount of information on sate websites varies greatly between states. Sue Heath ----- Original Message ----- From: Pam Wright To: D. Jones Cc: Suzanne Heath Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 12:02 PM Subject: Re: Schools making AYP Debbie: I am referring your question to Sue Heath, as requested. Pam ----- Original Message ----- From: D. Jones To: webmaster@wrightslaw.com Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 8:55 AM Subject: Schools making AYP For Sue Heath if possible, Our local school division [in Virginia] has 5 schools, all of which made AYP despite the poor performance of students with disabilities at many of the schools. The school division did not make AYP and of course none of this is advertised - only the "pretty" report card that is sent out to all residents. Are schools able to make AYP because there have to be at least 50 students [in Virginia] in order for the numbers to be statistically meaningful and when divvied up by grade and subject area, they are able to make the numbers work for them? This is so frustrating to see the scores and then hear all the accolades at school board meetings, etc. about how each school made AYP and yet are children are being failed. Any suggestions on how to still make our kids scores meaningful in the midst of all this fluff? Debbie Jones Phone: 804-598-2118 Email: debbiemjones@adelphia.net