Dothan high schools under gun for AYP performances

By Jim Cook

Published: August 4, 2008

School name — Reason for not making AYP

Ariton School—80 percent graduation rate
Dale County High School —66 percent graduation rate
G.W. Long High School —83 percent graduation rate
Abbeville High School —64 percent graduation rate
Headland High School —64 percent graduation rate
Houston County High School —66 percent graduation rate
Wicksburg High School —88 percent graduation rate
Daleville High School —77 percent graduation rate
Dothan High School—70 percent graduation rate, reading scores in its black and free and reduced lunch populations
Northview High School—81 percent graduation rate, reading scores in its black and free and reduced lunch populations
Elba High School—82 percent graduation rate
Enterprise High School—reading scores in its special education population
Geneva High School —75 percent graduation rate
Carroll High School —free and reduced lunch reading scores

The city’s two high schools have one year to improve their performance, or else.

Dothan High School and Northview High School have missed federal No Child Left Behind act goals for adequate yearly progress for the fourth year in a row.

About 15 schools statewide are in year four of school improvement, and if they don’t meet AYP next year, the state department of education could take a number of actions, including replacing school staff, removing the decision-making authority of principals, hiring an outside firm to run the schools or taking control of the schools from the local board of education.

“They need to get busy,” said Gloria Turner, state director of assessment and accountability said.

Dothan High and Northview missed AYP because their graduation rates were too low and because of poor performance by their black and free and reduced lunch students on standardized reading tests. About 14 local high schools didn’t make adequate yearly progress as defined by the federal No Child Left Behind act. As has been the case in the past, low graduation rates were the culprit in many schools’ failure to make AYP.

The No Child Left Behind act’s AYP requirements are all-or-nothing, so if a school misses just one goal it’s listed as having failed to make AYP. When schools miss AYP, they’re placed on a school improvement list and must take certain actions to improve their performance, such as creating and implementing a school improvement plan.

Dothan City School Superintendent Sam Nichols said that the two high schools are working to address their performance problems by implementing a new seven-period schedule, creating ninth grade academies and advising programs, more teacher training and a school restructuring plan. Nichols said the restructuring plan could include staff and administration changes at the two schools. The state is also helping out by providing an improvement mentor to help the schools with their efforts.

“We’re going to get some things done,” Nichols said. “We’ve just got to get this reading taken care of.”

One factor that may help improve the city’s graduation rate is a new credit-based diploma recently approved by the state. The diploma would allow students who passed all their classes but who haven’t passed all parts of the Alabama Graduation Exam to graduate if they pass three of four segments of the exam.

State officials expect a small number of students to graduate under the credit based diploma, but that small number may help systems struggling to raise their graduation rates.

While Dothan High and Northview have struggled with AYP, the school system as a whole has made significant progress toward meeting federal No Child Left
Behind act goals. In 2004, little more than half of the city’s schools made AYP. Since then, the system’s elementary and middle schools have buckled down and improved. Now, Nichols hopes the high schools can do the same.

The city’s improvement in meeting AYP mirrors a statewide trend. This year 83 percent of Alabama’s public schools made AYP. Four years ago just 23 percent did. Overall, 1,140 of Alabama’s 1,367 schools made AYP this year.