OUR VIEW: Kudos to Spencer for job well done
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Staff Editorial
Published: September 2, 2008
» SUMMARY: Hunter Spencer did an excellent job managing the construction of Eastern View High School and Yowell Elementary; Culpeper County Public Schools’ AYP problems not as serious as they might seem.
Being in charge of the construction of two new schools in one year is a challenge that few people could manage effectively. Yet Hunter Spencer, construction projects manager of Eastern View High and Yowell Elementary schools, did just that.
EVHS opened to about 1,200 students on time Aug. 20 and Yowell — while delayed a week — greeted about 600 students Aug. 27. Spencer’s efforts played a significant role in the success of the projects.
As David M. Wolfford Jr., president of a local electrical contracting company, said in an Aug. 28 “How I See It” column in the Star-Exponent, “The efforts of Mr. Spencer and the general contractor, Caldwell and Santmyer, should be recognized and applauded.”
We agree. After years of hard work, we’re glad to see both schools up and running.
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AYP STANDARDS: News that six of eight Culpeper public schools missed Annual Yearly Progress standards, as defined by the federal government, should not cause parents to panic.
AYP, a component of the No Child Left Behind Act — which requires all students to be 100 percent proficient in reading and math by 2013-14 — sets unrealistic goals.
AYP ratings are based on tests in grades three through eight and in high school. There are subgroups and 29 benchmarks. Missing a single target in one subgroup can disqualify a school from meeting AYP. The goal is noble, but increasingly unattainable.
In Culpeper, Emerald Hill and Pearl Sample met 28 of 29 requirements while A.G. Richardson and Culpeper Middle School met 27 of 29. Sycamore Park met 25 of 29 and Binns Middle School met 23 of 29. Farmington Elementary School and Culpeper County High School met all AYP goals.
The primary subgroups where schools missed standards included English performance, students with disabilities and disadvantaged students.
While we certainly don’t accept missing AYP as satisfactory performance, neither do we feel that it’s cause for undue concern.
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Posted by ( wonderbread ) on September 03, 2008 at 5:04 am
RE: Missing AYP - in the original article from last week, CCPS’s Jim Allen stated that the goals are unrealistic. Remember, these are federally mandated benchmarks and targets that nearly every state is attempting to work at and adapt to. As budgets tighten for what can be offered, and what schools can afford to do, the NCLB noose gets tighter. This is why many in education - and their supporters - feel an overhaul is needed. Accountability and measurements are good things; but they have to be rooted in the reality in which the teachers teach, the schools have resources and the economy will allow.
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