Out of the 25 schools in Surry County, 24 of them achieved Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, according to the preliminary results from the 2008-09 school year.

AYP refers to the goals set by the state Board of Education for each school to meet under the No Child Left Behind federal legislation. These goals indicate the percentage of students performing at grade level or better according to the results of the state’s testing program.

Each school is responsible for achieving goals as a group, but there are also subgroups within each school responsible for meeting AYP as well. Subgroups that could exist within a school include Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, Hispanic, Native American, Multiracial, White, Limited English Proficient, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students.

In order to qualify as making AYP, each school must meet all of the target goals set by the state. If a school fails to meet even one goal, it does not qualify as making AYP.

Millennium Charter Academy had nine target goals to meet in order to make AYP. The school met all nine of its goals.

“I am pleased that we made AYP as we’ve made it every time since it started,” said Headmaster Kirby McCrary. “I am pleased with the faculty and most appreciative of our parents who are very supportive of us. This is our 10th year and we will continue to do our best to make those standards.”

The Mount Airy City Schools district had 46 target goals to meet in order to achieve AYP according to the number of subgroups across the district. The school system was able to meet all 46 goals.

B.H. Tharrington Primary School, for the purposes of AYP, is counted with J.J. Jones Intermediate School because the tests apply to students only beginning in grade three. Tharrington is a K-2 school. The schools met all 17 target goals to achieve AYP.

Mount Airy Middle School had 25 target goals to meet but only met 24 of them, meaning the school did not achieve AYP by one goal.

Mount Airy High School achieved AYP by meeting 13 of 13 target goals.

“2008-2009 was an excellent school year. We did extremely well under the No Child Left Behind AYP measure,” said Dr. Darrin Hartness, superintendent. “We have 55 school level goals and met 54 of the 55 as a district. We’re going to strive to do even better next year.

“I would contribute the success to quality planning and instruction by the teachers, hard work by the students and quality instruction staff.”

Hartness encouraged parents to visit the school system’s Web site at www.mtairy.k12.nc.us for more information about the importance of AYP.

The Surry County School System had 17 of its 17 schools make AYP for the 2008-09 school year.

Cedar Ridge Elementary met 13 of its 13 goals. Copeland Elementary and Dobson Elementary both met all 21 target goals. Flat Rock Elementary met 13 of 13 target goals. Franklin Elementary met 21 of 21 goals. Mountain Park Elementary and Shoals Elementary met all 13 target goals. Westfield Elementary and White Plains Elementary also met 13 or 13 goals.

Central Middle School met all 25 target goals. J. Sam Gentry Middle School met 21 of 21 goals. Meadowview Middle met all 17 target goals, as did Pilot Mountain Middle School.

East Surry and North Surry high schools met 13 of 13 target goals each. Surry Central High School met all 17 target goals. The Surry Early College High School of Design met eight out of eight goals.

The Surry County Schools district as a whole had 54 target goals to meet according to the number of subgroups across the school system. As a district, Surry County met 51 of those goals. The three it did not meet dealt with students with disabilities in the high schools because the federal government does not count the Occupational Course of Study assessment as a valid one and has yet to create a replacement assessment.

“Students, parents and educators have worked hard to meet the challenge of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation, and we are very proud of the success of each of our schools,” said Dr. Ashley Hinson, superintendent. “We will continue to focus on the needs of each child as we strive to achieve future standards and prepare students for success in the 21st Century.”

The Elkin City school system also met all of its target goals for AYP. Elkin Elementary School met 17 of its 17 target goals. Elkin Middle School met all 13 target goals. Elkin High School met all nine of its nine goals.

This year’s AYP results are not comparable to previous years’ results because of a change in policy for students in grades three through eight. This year, these students’ first retest was counted as part of AYP results. The higher of the two scores was added to the results. Students who scored at Achievement Level II were automatically retested while the parents of students at Achievement Level I had the option of having their children retested. This change will expand to students taking end of course tests in high school for the 2009-10 school year.

It is the goal of North Carolina to have all students proficient on the state reading and mathematics assessments by the 2013-14 school year in order to comply with No Child Left Behind.

Contact Morgan Wall at mwall@mtairynews.com or 719-1929.