Several Brick Schools 'In Need of Improvement'

This article is part three in a series of articles on Brick's school system we will feature this week on Brick Patch. Monday, we examined the state's progress ranking for our district. On Tuesday, we featured a breakdown of the scores, and today, we will look into which schools are in need of improvement according to the state.

Seven schools in the Brick Township school district were classified by the state as being in need of improvement last year pursuant to the federal No Child Left Behind law, state data shows. Some improved test scores for the 2011-12 school year, but others did not.

Earlier this week, Brick Patch provided statistics to readers on how Brick schools are in test scores, as well as a breakdown of how Brick students' scores . In our final segment of "Brick Schools by the Numbers," we take a look at which schools have been classified by the state as being in need of improvement, and whether the most recent data shows any such improvement.

Schools are listed as being in need of improvement after failing to make what the state calls "adequate yearly progress" for multiple years. Each year the school fails to make adequate yearly progress after being classified as in need of improvement brings various sanctions and mandates that the district must implement. Adequate yearly progress is determined by whether or not a minimum percentage of students achieve a passing grade on standardized tests.

The sanctions break down down as follows, according to the state Department of Education:

• First year: "Early warning" status is given to a school.
• Second year: A school that does not make AYP for two consecutive years in the same content area is designated as a "school in need of improvement." The content areas under which students are tested are language arts and math. Several Brick schools failed to make adequate yearly progress during the 2010-11 school year after the state raised its minimum percentage of students who must pass by 10 to 20 points, districts officials have said. Parental notification is required in year two.
• Third year: A district must offer technical assistance, Title 1 school students must be given a chance to move to another school within the district and parents will continue to receive notification of the school's status.
• Fourth year: If a school does not make AYP for four consecutive years, it is considered by the state to be a "school in corrective action." All of the measures in place for the previous years apply, and the district must put one of seven corrective actions into place, which include staff development, instituting a new curriculum, decreasing management authority at the school, restructure the internal organization of the school and appoint an outside expert as a consultant.
• Years 5-7: Restructuring plans must be put into place.

For a school to be removed from "in need of improvement status," its students must achieve AYP for two consecutive years in the subject area that first caused the school to be classified. If a school is listed as being in need of improvement but achieved AYP the previous year, it retains its status but is put in a "hold" year.

The chart below compares the schools listed as being in need of improvement during the 2010-11 school year with the recently-released results of AYP rankings as determined by standardized tests administered last school year.

LANGUAGE ARTS - YEAR 3

MATH - YEAR 1 (HOLD)

LANGUAGE ARTS - YES

MATH - NO

LANGUAGE ARTS - YEAR 3

MATH - YEAR 3

LANGUAGE ARTS - NO

MATH - NO

LANGUAGE ARTS - YEAR 1

MATH - YEAR 1

LANGUAGE ARTS - NO

MATH - NO

LANGUAGE ARTS - YEAR 1

MATH - YEAR 1

LANGUAGE ARTS - NO

MATH - NO