By Staff
Celebrating AYP
Escambia County schools barely have time to celebrate their academic progress before diving into a new school year.
The school system achieved "adequate yearly progress," the state's term for meeting annual academic and attendance goals. In Escambia County, all of the individual schools achieved AYP, except for W.S. Neal High School and Escambia County High School.
The superintendent for the school system said this week they do not plan to rest on the achievements. Billy Hines said teachers and administrators will be looking at the test scores on which AYP is based to determine how the schools can improve next year.
The state standards schools must meet are set up because of the federal No Child Left Behind law, a controversial piece of legislation designed to do just that – leave no child, no matter his or her economic background or race or ethnicity, behind.
While the law is flawed in many ways, the intent is not. And as our local schools continue to improve, they will likely find it harder and harder to get better every year.
That's why we're glad to see that school officials are not resting on their laurels. Each school still has work to do to help all students of all backgrounds achieve their highest potential. Escambia County and W.S. Neal high schools in particular must work to improve both school's graduation rates, a goal that is calculated based on the school's dropout rate and students' performance on the Alabama graduation exam.
Overall, though, parents sending students to Escambia County schools this year can be reassured that their students will be getting the best education possible. We salute the teachers whose hard work, patience and perseverance helps every student achieve his or her potential.