Paynesville Area Schools Makes Adequate Yearly Progress!!!

Hats off to Paynesville Area Schools staff, students, volunteers, parents, and community members!!! Paynesville Area Schools made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for the 2010-11 school year. Our staff has been working very hard to increase student achievement. Although I may not agree with all of the requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, it has enabled our staff to work collaboratively towards a common goal of student achievement. Our staff is working together analyzing test data, curriculum, and teaching styles to improve our approach to teaching. I can say that our staff has come together as a team to improve on our strengths and address our weaknesses, in providing the best education for our students.

The federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act requires that all schools in the nation make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) toward achieving the goal of all students being proficient in reading and math. As you may be aware, Paynesville Area Schools has been designated as a school in need of improvement due to not making AYP for the last three years.

The goal of No Child Left Behind has been to have all children in the United States reading and doing math at grade level by the 2013-14 school year. To accomplish that, the law required states to implement a system of standardized tests with achievement levels ramping up each year.

Schools and districts must meet the requirements in a variety of subgroups to make adequate yearly progress. If they fall short in one category, the entire district may be labeled as not making AYP. The categories include ethnic minorities, students learning English, low-income students and special education students.

AYP status is calculated by the growth each district makes from the previous year and the target achievement rates from the base line year of testing in Reading and Math. Once the bar is set, it incrementally increases to 100% for the 2013-14 school year. Districts receive points for growth and reaching the bar. Once a district is identified as Not Making AYP, they are designated as a District in Need of Improvement for at least 2 years or until the district makes AYP for two consecutive years. Our district will need to make AYP again this year to get out of the District in Need of Improvement designation. This year, 226 of 335 school districts did not make adequate yearly progress. We were one of 109 school districts who made AYP for the 2010-11 school year.

We are working together within the district to ensure that all students receive the best education possible. The Paynesville Area staff has implemented the following strategies to improve the quality of education: Power Half Hour, Paynesville Area Targeted Services (PATS), Core plus More, and Summer Boot Camp for reading and math. Once again, hats off to our staff, students and parents on a great achievement. It truly does take an entire village to raise a child. Paynesville Area Schools is making strides to become an excellent school for student growth and achievement.

To review our scores and to see how other districts around the state are performing please refer to the Minnesota Department of Education’s Website, School Report Cards at http://education.state.mn.us/ReportCard2005/index.do. If you have questions please contact me at 320-243-3410 ext. 1149.

Todd Burlingame
PAS Superintendent