Two Snellville Schools Fail to Make AYP

(Editor's Note: This article was originally published July 22, 2011.)

In a year where standards increased by 80 percent, two Snellville schools did not make Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP.

Both Anderson-Livsey Elementary and South Gwinnet High failed to meet standards, along with 23 other schools in Gwinnett County. At Anderson-Livsey, the school failed to meet AYP in the areas of math and language arts for students with disabilities. At South Gwinnett High, the school failed to make AYP because of its graduation rate.

However, there are no immediate consequences at these schools allowing parents to choice another public educational facility for their children to attend. These schools did not miss AYP for the past two consecutive years. Anderson-Livsey is a new school, therefore no sanctions are warranted at this time.

Adequate Yearly Progress requires schools to meet standards in three areas. They are test participation (for both Mathematics and Reading/English Language Arts), academic performance (for both Mathematics and Reading/English Language Arts), and another indicator.

Four other schools -- Hopkins Elementary, Sweetwater Middle School, Berkmar High School and Phoenix High School -- will face actions. Most will have to offer choice as an option to parents and students, and at least one school, Phoenix High School, faces corrective action, according to data from the state Department of Education and a press release from the Gwinnett County school district.

More than 100 other educational facilities in Gwinnett County Public Schools did make AYP, including many in the Snellville area.

Snellville Middle School was among four local schools that made AYP this past school year after not meeting standards in 2009-2010. The three other schools in this category where: Lilburn Elementary, Berkmar Middle and Lanier Middle.

“We realize that the standards for making AYP continue to increase and as a district we are committed to raising student achievement and meeting those standards," said Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks. "While we are pleased that the vast majority of our schools made AYP, we cannot overlook the fact that we did see an increase in schools not meeting the state’s standard. 

"Specifically, we need to look at achievement at the middle and high school levels, focusing on increasing achievement for individual students and subgroups of students who are struggling to meet the higher standards.”