Falls Church City Public Schools
Assessment Report
School Year 2005-06
October 2006

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Introduction

Accreditation and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)

The VDOE has established Standards of Accreditation (SOA) for Virginia public schools.  Currently, schools must achieve minimum pass rates, as shown in Table 1, in all content areas to be considered fully accredited.  All students, unless exempted by specific protocols, are normally expected to take any SOL assessments for the relevant grade level or course in which they are enrolled.  However, the scores for certain students may be excluded from accreditation calculations.  For example, scores for students with limited English proficiency (LEP) may be excluded from accreditation calculations, if they have been in a Virginia school for less than eleven (11) semesters.  Also, scores of students who transferred into a school after 20 instructional days (or 20 hours for end-of-course assessments) are also eligible for exclusion.  These exclusions are referred to as SOA adjustments or the adjusted results.  On the other hand, to date, students who failed a reading or mathematics SOL assessment, but who were promoted and received remediation during the following year, may contribute twice to accreditation calculations, if they are successful.  Thus accreditation rates may vary depending on the degree of exclusions and/or remediation contributions to the equation.

Table 1 -         Accreditation Pass Percentages Established by the Virginia State School Board

Grade(s)	Reading	Mathematics	History	Science
3	75%	70%	50%	50%
4	70%	70%
5	75%	70%	70%	70%
6-12	70%	70%	70%	70%

The NCLB annual measurable objectives require that scores in reading and mathematics for all students be included in the adequate yearly progress (AYP) computations.  While accreditation calculations are done at the school level, AYP also requires that scores be disaggregated by subgroups.  The subgroups agreed on by Virginia and the US Education Department are:

a)         all students,
b)         Black,
c)         Hispanic,
d)         White,
e)         ESL/LEP,
f)          Special Education and
g)         Economically disadvantaged students.

Economically disadvantaged students are generally taken to be those students receiving free or reduced-price meals.

A participation rate of at least 95% is also required by each subgroup in the assessment program.  Additionally, one other academic indicator (attendance, science pass rate or graduation rate) must be determined.  Effective Spring 2006, students in grades 3 through 8 and 11 are to be included in the assessments.  Within Virginia, subgroups with fewer than 50 students may be excluded from AYP consideration, but these students must still be accounted for in the “all students” category.  If a school, or Division, fails to meet the performance target in a given content area for a specified subgroup, that school, or Division, may still make AYP if it fulfills all other criteria and reduces the failure rate by 10% of the previous year.  There are consequences if a school, or Division, fails to make AYP for two consecutive years in the same content area.  Targets for AYP are shown in Table 2.

Table 2 -         NCLB Adequate Yearly Progress Targets Established by the Virginia State School Board

Year	Reading	Mathematics
2005	65%	63%
2006	69%	67%
2007	73%	71%
2014	100%	100%

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