MNPS Press Release AYP for 2006

Here's this year's AYP Press Release from MNPS. I'll blog about my perspective on the briefing this morning at Kirkpatrick later today.

Tennessee Adequate Yearly Progress Results

Show Achievements And Challenges For MNPS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Aug. 17, 2006) – The administration of Metro Nashville Public Schools today briefed current and soon-to-be seated members of the Metropolitan Nashville Board of Public Education on 2005-2006 Tennessee Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) results. The presentation reviewed data for every school in the district, and included some remarkable achievements and some continuing challenges.

“For the third consecutive year, the majority of our schools earned the Good Standing rating, the highest of 12 categories for a school to achieve,” Garcia said. “In the other categories we saw a mixture of movement, with some schools stable and some rated slightly up or down. We had 81 schools in good standing last year and 81 in good standing again this year. While we’re pleased to celebrate some significant achievements, we’re disappointed with the results in some areas.”

Garcia said he was particularly pleased by some high poverty schools moving into the Good Standing category for the first time ever.

“Kirkpatrick and Napier elementary schools hit all the performance benchmarks to achieve the Good Standing rating for the first time, showing a lot of hard work by many people,” Garcia said. “These are two of our highest poverty schools, with many of the students in each not having the advantages of some of our more affluent students. The Good Standing ratings for these schools reflect students, parents, teachers, principals and others working well together, with the right programs in place to ensure academic success.”

Garcia said the AYP results also showed some challenges, where schools had missed performance standards in some areas, placing them in the same category as last year or, in some cases, a lower category.

“We won’t be satisfied until every school achieves the Good Standing rating,” he said. “We know where improvements are required and we are already working to impact next year’s scores. There are many factors that determine a school’s rating, and a percentage point in one area can change a standing. We’re going to continue our efforts to seek improvements in every measurable area, so more of our schools will earn the Good Standing rating.”

Metro Nashville Public Schools provide a range of educational opportunities to nearly 74,000 students in Nashville and Davidson County. The governing body for MNPS is the Metropolitan Nashville Board of Public Education, a nine-member group elected by residents of Metropolitan Nashville. For more information, please visit www.mnps.org or call the MNPS Customer Service Center at 259-INFO.

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