Essay on Management Information System

Submitted By Kezline
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For Immediate Release November 1, 2010

Contact:

Julie Johnson Thompson (501) 683-4786 / (501) 766-7976 julie.thompson@arkansas.gov

LITTLE ROCK: Forty-one percent, or 446, of Arkansas public schools made Achieving status this year on the state’s 2009-2010 adequate yearly progress (AYP) list, which is required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Achieving schools made AYP as determined by the performance of their students on the state’s Benchmark exams. The bar for meeting AYP is higher than last year, with more than 64 percent of students required to score proficient or better on the exams for schools to meet adequate yearly progress this year to meet AYP. Another 209 schools missed the mark for AYP for the first year, placing them in Alert status, while 420 Arkansas public schools are now in some phase of school improvement. For a complete list of schools and their school improvement statuses as well as other resource documents concerning AYP and the state’s Smart Accountability system, go to http://arkansased.org/programs/nclb/ayp.html. The state as a whole has met the targets for AYP. No Child Left Behind dictates that all children score proficient on the state Benchmark exams by 2013-2014. In Arkansas, the bar for making AYP moves higher each year, as illustrated in this table which shows the percent of students required to score proficient or better by subject and grade: Starting Point 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008=2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 K-5 Math 40.00 47.50 55.00 62.50 70.00 77.50 85.00 92.50 100 K-5 Literacy 42.40 49.60 56.80 64.00 71.20 78.40 85.60 92.80 100 6-8 Math 29.10 37.96 46.83 55.69 64.55 73.41 82.28 91.14 100 6-8 Literacy 35.20 43.30 51.40 59.50 67.60 75.70 83.80 91.90 100 9-12 Math 29.20 38.05 46.90 55.75 64.60 73.45 82.30 91.15 100 9-12 Literacy 35.50 43.56 51.63 59.69 67.75 75.81 83.88 91.94 100

“Obviously it is becoming more and more difficult to make adequate yearly progress. However, we know our school districts and schools are working hard to make sure children have the best possible opportunity to achieve proficiency,” Tom W. Kimbrell, Arkansas commissioner of education, said. “They’re not doing it to avoid a label, but

because they know the best thing for each child, as well as for the state as a whole, is for all students to graduate equipped with the skills and knowledge it takes to succeed in today’s world.” The federal government approved the state’s differentiated accountability model, which is named Smart Accountability, in January 2009. The model divides schools into the following categories: • Achieving, meaning the school has made adequate yearly progress for two or more years. • Alert, meaning the school did not meet adequate yearly progress this year after meeting it last year and therefore is not in a phase of school improvement • Targeted School Improvement, meaning a school has been identified as being in school improvement status because one or more, but fewer than 25 percent, of its student subgroups failed to meet adequate yearly progress for two or more consecutive years • Targeted Intensive Improvement, meaning that a school has remained in Targeted School Improvement status for four or more years. • Whole School Improvement, meaning that a school has been identified as being in school improvement status because the full test-taking population and/or more than 25 percent of its student subgroups failed to meet adequate yearly progress for two or more consecutive years. • Whole School Intensive Improvement, meaning a school has remained in Whole School Improvement status for four or more years. • State Directed, meaning that a school has remained in school improvement status for five or more years. At this level, the state requires schools and districts to implement more interventions and to work with a school