One school, Southern Pines Elementary, did not make AYP and has been designated as a “Title I School Improvement” school. The results are preliminay.

The goal of the federal standards is for all public school students to perform at grade level in reading and mathematics by the end of the 2013-2014 school year. To meet this goal, certain performance standards must be met each year.

Making AYP is not just a matter of overall improvement for a school’s population. Schools must show improvement in each of 10 subgroups.

If the standard is not met for reading or math in any of the 10 subgroups, then, according to federal standard, the entire school has not made AYP.

The subgroups are whites, blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asians, multi-racial, economically disadvantaged, limited English proficiency, those with disabilities and the total school population.

The subgroups must have at least 40 students within individual schools to be held accountable to the AYP standards. The number of standards that must be met varies from school to school.

The school system has released a summary of the progress reported for 19 of the 22 schools for 2003-2004. Pinckney Academy is not included because it has too few students for the formula to apply. Its progress will be determined by a special evaluation.

Aberdeen Elementary is included with its feeder school, Aberdeen Primary, and Southern Pines Elementary is included with its feeder school, Southern Pines Primary. (Testing begins in third grade. Primary schools are K-2).

Overall, 14 of 19 (73.7 percent) schools made AYP.

• Aberdeen Elementary made AYP, meeting 21 of 21 target goals.

• Cameron Elementary made AYP, meeting 13 of 13 target goals.

• Carthage Elementary made AYP, meeting 17 of 17 target goals.

• Elise Middle made AYP, meeting 21 of 21 target goals.

• Sandhills-Farm Life Elemen-tary made AYP, meeting 13 of 13 target goals.

• Highfalls Elementary made AYP, meeting 13 of 13 target goals.

• New Century Middle made AYP, meeting 21 of 21 target goals.

• Academy Heights Elementary made AYP, meeting nine of nine target goals.

• Pinehurst Elementary made AYP, meeting 17 of 17 target goals.

• Robbins Elementary made AYP, meeting 21 of 21 target goals.

• Union Pines High made AYP, meeting 17 of 17 target goals.

• Vass-Lakeview Elementary made AYP, meeting 17 of 17 target goals.

• West End Elementary made AYP, meeting 17 of 17 target goals.

• West Pine Middle made AYP, meeting 21 of 21 target goals.

• North Moore High did not make AYP, meeting 12 of 13 (92.3 percent) target goals.

• Pinecrest High did not make AYP, meeting 13 of 17 (76.5 percent) target goals.

• Southern Middle did not make AYP, meeting 20 of 21 (95.2 percent) target goals.

• Southern Pines Elementary did not make AYP, meeting 20 of 21 (95.2 percent) target goals.

• Westmoore Elementary did not make AYP, meeting 15 of 17 (88.2 percent) target goals.

North Moore High missed one area — reading for economically disadvantaged students.

Pinecrest missed four areas — math and reading for economically disadvantaged students, percentage of black students tested and percentage of economically disadvantaged students tested. Schools must test 95 percent of their students in each subgroup and for the total population for each tested subject.

Southern Middle missed one area — reading for exceptional children.

For the 2003-2004 school year, state standards require that 68.9 percent of students in grades 3-8 must be proficient in reading. In 10th grade, 52 percent of students must score proficient on reading.

In math, 74.6 percent of students grades 3-8 must score proficient, while 54.9 percent of 10th graders must score proficient.

The standards will be tougher for the 2004-2005 school year. The reading requirements will climb to 76.7 percent proficient for grades 3-8 and 64 percent for 10th-graders. The math requirements will rise to 81 percent proficient for grades 3-8 and 66.2 percent for 10th-graders.

Of the schools that did not make AYP, Southern Pines Elementary is the only one designated for “school improvement,” which means that parents may choose to send their child to another school if they wish. To receive that designation a school must be a Title I school, which means it receives federal funding for disadvantaged students, and it must fail to meet AYP goals for two consecutive years.

Southern Pines Elementary missed meeting AYP in only one subject area for one group — reading for exceptional children (EC).

“It should be pointed out that the EC group is held to the same standards as everyone else,” said Dr. Sally Ward, director of staff development, accountability and quality training for the school system. “It is very commendable that Southern Pines Elementary met 20 of 21 standards this year.

Ward said Southern Pines Elementary achieved “high growth” on the state’s ABC’s testing for the 2002-2003 school year. Results for the 2003-2004 school year will be available later this summer.

Southern Pines Elementary also had the highest percentage of students proficient since the ABC’s testing began. Preliminary results indicate that additional improvement will be seen for the 2003-2004 school year, Ward said.

“Although our EC group did not meet the goal for one subject area, they still showed tremendous improvement,” said Principal Burgin Beale. “We have two goals for our school in the coming year — to work for continued improvement with the 20 groups who did meet their goals and to make sure our EC students meet their goals.

Once a school is designated for “school improvement,” revisions are made in the school’s improvement plan, additional staff development and training funds will be set aside for the school and district assistance will be provided to help meet AYP standards. Although Southern Pines Primary is a K-2 school and does not participate in ABC’s testing, which begins in third grade, it was given “school improvement” status because it is a feeder school for Southern Pines Elementary.

Parents of students attending a “school improvement” school who wish to send their children to a different campus will be provided with alternative transportation by the district if necessary. Letters of notification were recently sent to parents of students at Southern Pines Primary and Southern Pines Elementary.

Three other Title I schools were on the verge of being designated “school improvement” schools this year after failing to make AYP in 2002-2003. But Aberdeen Elementary, Robbins Elementary and Vass-Lakeview Elementary each made AYP this year.

Westmoore Elementary, also a Title I school, made AYP in 2002-2003 but did not for 2003-2004. If the school does not meet the standards for 2004-2005 it would be a “school improvement” school for 2005-2006.

Cameron Elementary, Carthage Elementary and West End Elementary are all Title I schools but are not in danger of receiving the “school improvement” designation after meeting AYP standards in each of the last two years.

Overall, schools in the district performed well on AYP this year meeting 318 of 327 (97.2 percent) possible standards. This was an improvement over 2002-2003 when 309 of 329 (93.9 percent) standards were met.

Ward said teachers and administrators are working diligently to assure that all students in all groups are showing improvement toward meeting AYP standards.