The Arizona Department of Education recently released the federally mandated Adequate Yearly Progress rankings, and its own AZ Learns profiles for the four schools within Page Unified School District, and Tse’yaato’ High School.

Out of the district’s four schools, only Lake View Elementary met AYP for 2008. Page High School, Page Middle School and Desert View Elementary all failed to meet AYP, making them three of the 516 schools in Arizona who failed to do so. There were 1875 schools in the state evaluated for AYP.

Adequate Yearly Progress determinations are a No Child Left Behind requirement. The labels measure data from the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards test, requires 95 percent of a school’s students are tested, and takes into account attendance rates or graduation rates. If a school meets one or the other allowable rate in attendance or graduation, it is used to determine AYP, effectively giving it two opportunities to get a yes in the final category.

The determination of meeting the criteria is given out as a yes or no label. If any one of the categories is given a no label, the school fails to meet AYP.

Lake View achieved across the board yes’s for meeting AYP, meeting the percentage of students tested, meeting the test objectives and meeting the attendance rate.

Page High School was given a no for meeting the percentage of students tested, but a yes for meeting the test objectives and a yes for meeting the graduation rate.

Page Middle School received a yes for meeting the percentage tested, a no for meeting the test objective and a yes for meeting the attendance rate.

Desert View Elementary earned a yes for meeting the percent tested, a no for meeting the test objective and a yes for meeting the attendance rate.

Tse’yaato’ received a yes for meeting the percentage tested, a yes for meeting the test objective and a no for meeting the graduation rate.

No Child Left Behind requires 100 percent of schools meet AYP by 2014. Currently, 72 percent of Arizona schools meet AYP.

Desert View met AYP in 2007, while Lake View recovered from failing to meet it last year. Page High School last met AYP in 2006, and Page Middle School last met it in 2005. Tse’yaato’ High School has never met AYP.

The four PUSD schools and Tse’yaato’ faired much more favorably in the AZ Learns profiles released by the state’s Department of Education. Only Desert View failed to receive at least a performing grade on the profiles, instead receiving an underperforming profile from the state.

This is the first time Desert View has failed to receive a performing ranking, and it was only two school years ago that the school received a performing plus ranking.

Lake View on the other hand was the only district school to receive higher than a performing profile, earning a performing plus profile. The school has received at least a performing ranking every year since 2003.

Both Page Middle School and Page High School, along with Tse’yaato’, received performing profiles from the state. The high school and middle school both also received performing profiles from the state last year.

According to a press release from the Arizona Department of Education, the components for evaluating schools in determining their annual AZ Learns profiles are AIMS and Dual Purpose Assessment scores, measure of academic progress, graduation and dropout rates for high schools, the reclassification of English Language Learner students and the school’s AYP.

The schools were labeled in one of six profiles: failing to meet test standards, underperforming, performing, performing plus, highly performing and excelling.

Desert View was one of 158 schools statewide receiving an underperforming profile, while Lake View was one of 392 receiving performing plus profiles. Page High School, middle school and Tse’yaato were three of 734 schools in the state to earn performing profiles. Overall, 20 schools statewide were given failing to meet academic standard profiles, 250 were highly performing and 321 schools were excelling.

The state’s AZ Learns profiles are meant to be in response to the tougher federal standards under No Child Left Behind.

“No Child Left Behind has 253 categories, and if a school performs spectacularly on 252 and fails one, the whole school fails,” Arizona Schools Chief Tom Horne said in a press release. “The Arizona system by contrast is a comprehensive, fair and accurate assessment tool.”

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