Six Fulton County schools have earned Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, status following successful re-test efforts over the summer. As a result, all of the district’s elementary schools have met AYP for the 2008-09 school year. Nearly 95 percent of all Fulton County schools have now earned AYP for the previous school year.

“This is exciting news – news that should be celebrated by every elementary school in Fulton County,” said Superintendent Cindy Loe, Ph.D. “AYP standards increase every year, making it more important than ever that our students and teachers put forward their best efforts to meet the challenge. This announcement shows that our schools are doing just that.”

Love T. Nolan Elementary School, Hamilton E. Holmes Elementary School and Heritage Elementary School, as well as Elkins Pointe Middle School and Paul D. West Middle School, each made AYP after students re-took the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) during the summer. Tri-Cities High School regained AYP status after students performed better on sections of the Georgia High School Graduation Test following summer school.

The elementary and middle schools originally did not meet AYP benchmarks due to lower performance in math and/or reading among some student subgroups during the spring administration of the CRCT. After a 15-day summer school program for grades three, five and eight, students were allowed to re-take the math and/or reading sections of the test. Improved scores on the re-test resulted in the schools making their AYP goals.

Similarly, high schools are measured by their math and English/language arts achievement on the Georgia High School Graduation Test as well as for test participation and graduation rates. Following summer school re-tests, Tri-Cities High School met AYP benchmarks in English/language arts achievement.

Adequate Yearly Progress is a measure of how a school, school system or state is doing in achieving the goals set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. In Fulton County, AYP is measured by specific test performance, participation rates and attendance levels, which are broken down by nine different subgroups of students. If even one of the nine subgroups does not meet the set benchmarks, the entire school or school system does not make AYP for that year.