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“Our graduation rate is near 72 percent, up from 62 percent just five years ago.”
– Superintendent
Carol Comeau |
A word from Superintendent Comeau
AUGUST 8, 2011
At the Anchorage School District, our mission is to educate all students for success in life. I truly believe we are doing that.
From a 5-year-old’s first day of school to that walk across the graduation stage 13 years later, we are dedicated to helping develop our next generation.
Now, more than ever, our young people are leaving school with a high school diploma. Our graduation rate is near 72 percent, up from 62 percent just five years ago. We still have a long way to go but our efforts are working and this is good reason to celebrate.
However, we can’t solely focus on our graduation rate. We must ensure that children in all grades are growing academically. Adequate Yearly Progress is just one of many data points and assessments we use to determine if progress is being made.
This year, 37 schools made AYP, as defined by federal standards, and 59 did not. We are disappointed that more schools did not make AYP this year, however the decline was somewhat expected because the qualification level increased this year. The threshold, called Annual Measurable Objective (AMO), is the percentage of proficient students each school must have in each subgroup in order to obtain AYP. This year, that bar increased language arts proficiency from 77.18 percent to 82.88 percent and math proficiency from 66.09 percent to 74.57 percent. Fewer schools making AYP this year is a trend that is seen nationwide and in Alaska. Some research shows that up to 85 percent of the nation’s schools are deemed as not making AYP during the 2010–11 school year.
Despite the AYP tally, we saw growth in many schools and there are many success stories. For the first time, the Alaska State School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing made AYP and Whaley Center, a school for students with severe emotional and behavioral needs, met the AYP threshold in language arts. North Star Elementary, a Title I school that has a large economically disadvantaged population made AYP in both math and language arts for the first time as well. Also, where we placed intentional efforts, we saw progress. For example, in middle schools there was a focus on improving writing proficiency. Test results show overall improvements in student language arts scores in nine of 11 middle schools.
We know the community values our schools and our educators. We know that when families work in partnership with the schools, children do better. And we know that we need to catch students before they fall through the cracks. We need to provide them interventions appropriate to their needs and educational activities that will keep them engaged. This year, we will begin implementation of Response to Instruction (RTI) in all elementary schools, two middle and two high schools. RTI provides a system for all students to receive instruction based on their needs, whether it’s those needing intervention, students who are right on track or those who require accelerated instruction. This system comes with student screening and monitoring tools to identify students’ needs and to track the effectiveness of lesson plans and interventions.
Our measure of overall student progress is based on complete test results found in the annual Profile of Performance. That information will be presented to the school board in October. I encourage you to review this document and become informed about the quality of education that children in our community are receiving.
The bottom line is that we do have great schools, but we can--and must--do better. The district is lucky to have a school board committed to excellence for all students and focused on making them career and college ready.
I’m looking forward to this coming school year, honoring the accomplishments of our incoming seniors who are preparing to graduate, and welcoming the class of 2025.
Most sincerely,
Carol Comeau
Superintendent |
