by Leah Schroeder ’13 and Darby Whitehair ’12

For the second year in a row, Sherwood did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements in reading proficiency for the Limited English Proficient (LEP) subgroup.  As a result, Sherwood is under the Developing Stage, a label designated by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE). This requires Sherwood to develop a formal action plan of steps the school will take to make AYP. The school also took these measures in 2010 when it failed AYP the first time.

In 2011, 47.8 percent of the LEP subgroup was proficient in reading, which is a 17-percent increase from 2010, but is still 15.1 percent below the minimum proficiency requirement of 62.9 percent. The main aspect of determining AYP status is a school’s performance and participation on the English and math HSAs.

“We look at each individual student, and we look at what resources we have to provide that student in order to help that student achieve his or her best. It killed me that we didn’t make AYP this year, and it killed me because we did do a lot of work,” said Principal Bill Gregory. “[Improvement was evident] because we missed it in several categories the previous year and we only missed it in one this year. Unfortunately, we were a few students short of [62.9 percent proficient] because it’s a tall order.”

The major requirement of the federally legislated No Child Left Behind Act, AYP is the improvement that schools, school systems and states must make each year in achieving proficiency in reading and math. To make AYP, schools and school systems must meet targets in reading and mathematics overall and for each student subgroup, and meet the testing participation requirement of 95 percent.  A graduation rate of 81.5 percent is another requirement for high schools.

In 2010, Sherwood also failed to meet reading participation rates by the LEP, Free and Reduced Meals (FARMS) and Hispanic subgroups in addition to reading proficiency in LEP. This year, the participation rate of each of the subgroups was improved by over 14 percent, four percent and two percent, respectively, putting them in the required range of at least 95-percent participation.

Unlike last year, FARMS did not reach the target proficiency rate to meet AYP requirements. The reason FARMS was still able to meet the requirement was because of the application of a “safe harbor”. To receive a safe harbor, the school overall must attain AYP proficiency standards in math and reading and 95-percent participation. Additionally, the percentage of students achieving below the proficient level in that subgroup must have decreased by ten percent.

As a result of not meeting AYP standards in 2010 in participation and reading proficiency, efforts were undertaken to improve both areas. The Extended School Improvement Team (ESIT) was established, and it chose to focus on the needs of individuals. Those students who did not pass and who represent multiple subgroups received increased attention. ESIT’s efforts included the implementation of HSA workshops during the day and HSA blitzes after school. ESIT also focused on how to improve instruction to better prepare students for standardized testing. Over the course of the year, slight adjustments were made to increase effectiveness.

“We perceive ourselves as having been very successful last year because the ESOL students greatly improved.  It is pretty frustrating that the law considers our school a failure because we did not make AYP even when our ESOL pass rate [more than doubled over a span of three years].  We put pressure on the kids to pass, and the government considers them failures if they don’t pass, even though some of them improved their scores as much as 100 points,” said English Resource Teacher Shelley Jackson, who is a member of the ESIT team.  “I think the government has unrealistic expectations of some students who have been speaking, reading, and writing English for a fairly short period of time.  I don’t know that there is anything else that we should be doing that we are not doing to help kids improve.”

As progress was made, ESIT has decided to continue its endeavors from last year to boost HSA scores. However, there will be one new addition to the course of action this school year. Because, the school system provided Sherwood with a 0.4 academic intervention allocation, Staff Development Teacher Catina Wist has been given two periods to provide mentoring to ESOL students in grades 11 and 12 for the HSAs and SATs. Another aspect of these periods will be to provide support for life after high school, including college and career.

“I really think we will make AYP this year because after a year of taking a look at how we did things, we saw vast improvements from last year … We have the right formula in place. It just always takes some time when you put something new in to see how it results and get all of the kinks worked out,” said Assistant Principal George Awkard, chairperson of ESIT.

AYP targets are set to increase every year, so this year’s goal will be to reach 86.3-percent reading proficiency.  With these increasing targets, ESIT members acknowledge that every subgroup must be monitored and assisted to ensure that Sherwood meets AYP this year.