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The final ABCs of Public Education accountability report was presented to the State Board of Education on August 2, 2012. This is the 16th and final year of the ABCs program, which will be replaced in the 2012-13 school year by the READY school accountability model.
Davie County Schools had 91.7 percent of our schools meet or exceed their academic growth goals this past school year, compared to the state average of 79.5 percent. Growth is one part of the three-part ABCs model. The second part of the model is the performance composite, where the school system increased proficiency from 84.7 in the 2010-11 school year to 85.6 percent. Annual Measureable Objectives (AMOs) have replaced the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) measures this year as the third part of ABCs model. Two thirds of schools in Davie County met all of their AMOs, while only 46.2 percent of schools in the state met all of their AMOs.
By a waiver from the United States Department of Education, North Carolina is allowed to set AMOs rather than follow the all or nothing AYP model where every subgroup had the same proficiency target. Under AMOs, each subgroup is given different proficiency targets for each subject. These targets will change every year, with the goal of reducing the non-proficient students in each subgroup by half within the next six years. The goal is to reduce the achievement gap while increasing proficiencies in all subgroups. The proficiency targets for each subgroup are available online at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/reporting/abc/2011-12. As a school district, Davie County Schools met 56 of 57 targets or 98.2% of AMOs, ranking 13th out of 115 school districts in NC.
The other two parts of the ABCs model are also based on assessments students take at the end of the year in grades 3 - 8 and at the end of certain courses in high school. Additional measures used when available are the cohort graduation rate and the performance on alternate assessments for certain students. Based on their achievements, each school is given a status. Davie County Schools is proud to have two Honor Schools of Excellence, Shady Grove Elementary and William Ellis Middle School. Less than three hundred schools in the state earned this recognition for the last school year. Schools of Distinction include Cornatzer, Mocksville, and Pinebrook elementary schools, North and South Davie middle schools, and Davie County High School. Cooleemee and William R. Davie elementary schools are designated Schools of Progress. Although not recognized with a category, Davie County Early College High School boasts a 98.4 percent performance composite.
"As I review this report, I am extremely pleased with the academic progress of our students. Our teachers and administrators have used data from the ABCs model over the years to make adjustments to meet the needs of students," Superintendent Darrin Hartness said. "These results are further evidence that our schools are on the right track, and students in Davie County are receiving a quality education. Curriculum changes and new assessments are scheduled for 2012-13, and we will work together to implement these higher standards to ensure that our students are even better prepared for life after graduation. Congratulations to our students and teachers for a job well done!"
Complete results for all schools are located online at http://abcs.ncpublicschools.org/abcs. A background packet containing an overview and more explanation about the ABCs program is also available at this location.
Since the mid-1990s, the ABCs accountability model has been used to measure school-level performance. The new READY accountability program for North Carolina Schools begins in the 2012-2013 school year and will be reported in the fall of 2013. This new program will focus on all students being college and career ready by the time they graduate from high school and will include new assessments, including the ACT. For more information on the READY initiative, please visit http://www.ncpublicschools.org/ready.
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