Forty-five students to date have transferred out of Langston Chapel Middle School.
Langston Chapel Middle is the only school in Bulloch County that is on the Georgia's Needs Improvement list. In order to be on the list, the school must fail to meet AYP standards for a specific category for two years in a row.
If a school is on the Needs Improvement list, parents are allowed the option to transfer their child to a different school. However, the parents are required to transport their child to and from school.
Principal Elizabeth Williams said that there are 11 different categories for AYP and that Langston Chapel only missed one. She also said there is a plan in place to address the issue so that the school won't be on the list next year.
"We found that children are not successful academically in many areas because they have reading problems," Williams said. "We've identified the children that have problems with their reading, who are reading significantly below grade level, and put them in a program called FastForward."
FastForward is a reading improvement program for any child that has reading problems, Williams said.
Langston Chapel's problem stems from the fact that only 28.5 percent of students with disabilities meet or exceeded the passing score for the math portion of the CRCT (Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests). This is down from 35 percent score last year. A passing score is 58.3 percent.
"It's systemwide and it's nationwide," said Jody Woodrum, assistant superintendent for Teaching and Learning K-5. "Nationwide that tends to be an area where there is a gap for most schools as we work with No Child Left Behind. It's very typical but something we're targeting as a system."
The number of schools, statewide, that are in the Needs Improvement category numbered 387.
Portal Middle School also did not make AYP for the same reason as Langston Chapel. However, they are not on the Needs Improvement list since this is the first year they did not make AYP.
AYP stands for Adequate Yearly Progress. It is an annual measure of student participation and achievement of statewide assessments and other academic indicators. AYP is the accountability method required by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The scores determine who is eligible to receive federal funding to help educate low-income children.
The number of school districts/systems not meeting AYP was 118 compared to 67 who did. For a school system to meet AYP standards, it must meet a 95 percent success rate in participation, academic performance and a second indicator.
Bulloch County school system made AYP this year.
During the first three years Georgia recorded AYP scores, Statesboro High School did not measure up. The school was placed on the Needs Improvement list due to poor academic performance in a number of areas, particularly minority, disabled and economically disadvantaged students.
For the last two years, SHS made AYP, which removes it from the Needs Improvement list. They have made steady improvements in test scores the last three years and have made strides toward reducing the achievement gap among different student groups.
All Georgia schools are ranked based on the average percentage of students who passed the reading and math portions of the 2006 CRCT. Brooklet Elementary was the highest ranked elementary school in the county at No. 39. Other rankings were as follows: Nevils No. 74, Stilson No. 100, Portal No. 219, Sallie Z. No. 346, Julia P. Bryant No. 501, Langston Chapel No. 550, Mattie Lively No. 559 and Mill Creek No. 594. There are 1,176 elementary schools in Georgia. Bulloch elementary schools had at least 88 percent of their students pass.
As for middle schools, Portal Middle ranked the highest in Bulloch at No. 34. Southeast Bulloch was close behind at No. 38 and followed by William James at No. 66. These three schools had at least 92.5 percent of the student pass. Langston Chapel Middle came in at No. 262 and had 82 percent of its students pass. There are 476 middle schools in Georgia.
In the high school division, Southeast Bulloch ranked No. 88, followed by Portal High at No. 98 and Statesboro at No. 155. There are 369 high schools in Georgia. All area high schools had at least 94.5 percent of their students pass.
Langston Chapel Middle is the only school in Bulloch County that is on the Georgia's Needs Improvement list. In order to be on the list, the school must fail to meet AYP standards for a specific category for two years in a row.
If a school is on the Needs Improvement list, parents are allowed the option to transfer their child to a different school. However, the parents are required to transport their child to and from school.
Principal Elizabeth Williams said that there are 11 different categories for AYP and that Langston Chapel only missed one. She also said there is a plan in place to address the issue so that the school won't be on the list next year.
"We found that children are not successful academically in many areas because they have reading problems," Williams said. "We've identified the children that have problems with their reading, who are reading significantly below grade level, and put them in a program called FastForward."
FastForward is a reading improvement program for any child that has reading problems, Williams said.
Langston Chapel's problem stems from the fact that only 28.5 percent of students with disabilities meet or exceeded the passing score for the math portion of the CRCT (Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests). This is down from 35 percent score last year. A passing score is 58.3 percent.
"It's systemwide and it's nationwide," said Jody Woodrum, assistant superintendent for Teaching and Learning K-5. "Nationwide that tends to be an area where there is a gap for most schools as we work with No Child Left Behind. It's very typical but something we're targeting as a system."
The number of schools, statewide, that are in the Needs Improvement category numbered 387.
Portal Middle School also did not make AYP for the same reason as Langston Chapel. However, they are not on the Needs Improvement list since this is the first year they did not make AYP.
AYP stands for Adequate Yearly Progress. It is an annual measure of student participation and achievement of statewide assessments and other academic indicators. AYP is the accountability method required by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The scores determine who is eligible to receive federal funding to help educate low-income children.
The number of school districts/systems not meeting AYP was 118 compared to 67 who did. For a school system to meet AYP standards, it must meet a 95 percent success rate in participation, academic performance and a second indicator.
Bulloch County school system made AYP this year.
During the first three years Georgia recorded AYP scores, Statesboro High School did not measure up. The school was placed on the Needs Improvement list due to poor academic performance in a number of areas, particularly minority, disabled and economically disadvantaged students.
For the last two years, SHS made AYP, which removes it from the Needs Improvement list. They have made steady improvements in test scores the last three years and have made strides toward reducing the achievement gap among different student groups.
All Georgia schools are ranked based on the average percentage of students who passed the reading and math portions of the 2006 CRCT. Brooklet Elementary was the highest ranked elementary school in the county at No. 39. Other rankings were as follows: Nevils No. 74, Stilson No. 100, Portal No. 219, Sallie Z. No. 346, Julia P. Bryant No. 501, Langston Chapel No. 550, Mattie Lively No. 559 and Mill Creek No. 594. There are 1,176 elementary schools in Georgia. Bulloch elementary schools had at least 88 percent of their students pass.
As for middle schools, Portal Middle ranked the highest in Bulloch at No. 34. Southeast Bulloch was close behind at No. 38 and followed by William James at No. 66. These three schools had at least 92.5 percent of the student pass. Langston Chapel Middle came in at No. 262 and had 82 percent of its students pass. There are 476 middle schools in Georgia.
In the high school division, Southeast Bulloch ranked No. 88, followed by Portal High at No. 98 and Statesboro at No. 155. There are 369 high schools in Georgia. All area high schools had at least 94.5 percent of their students pass.