When the state released data this week showing if state schools made Adequate Yearly Progress, it was like a mime was sent to make the announcement.

The hodgepodge of data is for the most part, a confusing indicator of progress or failure. To further confuse the stew of numbers and their meanings, at midnight last night, the state pulled back on releasing the high school results stating “problems” with the calculations.

“I'm disappointed,“ said Assistant Superintendent Cynthia Downs. “We've got all these areas of improvement but they don't show up in these particular accountability packages that we are held accountable to.“

Schools like Newberry Elementary, for example, improved in 12 of 13 categories, but only met 14 of 17 Adequate Yearly Progress or AYP objectives, down from last year when it met all 17.

“They have shown improvement, but they haven't shown enough improvement to meet AYP,“ said Downs.

Gallman Elementary met all of its 15 objectives last year, and again met 15 objectives this year, but had six more subgroups to factor in and therefore six additional objectives. It did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress this year.

“The bottom line is we are making improvement, but we're not keeping pace with the guidelines that the state and the federal government has established,” said Downs.

Even noteworthy AYP numbers are shaky.

Little Mountain Elementary, the only school in the district to meet all the objectives for “adequate yearly progress” in these results, has a relatively low number of objectives to meet. The school does not have enough students in subgroups that regularly score below proficient on assessment tests to create more objectives.

A school must have at least 40 students in a subgroup for that section to become an AYP objective to meet.

And since Adequate Yearly Progress is an all-or-nothing deal, when a school misses just one objective, it does not make Adequate Yearly progress overall.

WHAT'S IT ALL MEAN?

Adequate Yearly Progress is a measuring tool to judge if schools are progressing towards a federal goal set by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

The goal requires all students-including those with learning disabilities and limited ability to speak English-must score “proficient” on state assessment tests in math and English language arts by 2014.

Individual states were allowed to determine what exactly proficient meant for their students.

By the time No Child Left Behind passed in 2001, South Carolina had already set rigorous testing standards with the 1998 Education Accountability Act.

Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests, or PACT, measures third through eighth graders' achievement and the HSAP, or High School Assessment Program, evaluates high school students.

The state kept HSAP and PACT as its chosen No Child Left Behind assessment tests, but now bears the heavy yoke of its ambition.

“Proficient” in South Carolina means roughly B+ level work.

Where a HSAP score of 2 means a passing grade from the state towards graduation, an HSAP score of 3 is required by the No Child Left Behind goal.

With PACT, the same student scores that earn acceptable proficient scores in other states bring unacceptable scores of basic or below basic in South Carolina, studies show.

If all students are to make 100 percent proficiency by 2014, by this school year they should be halfway there with roughly 50 percent of students making proficient scores.

State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex says other states are seeing the same downtrend trends with Adequate Yearly Progress-improvement in test scores overshadowed by higher goals-but that the trend is “more dramatic here in South Carolina because our standards for proficiency are higher,” he said. “In other states, it's easier to clear the bar.”

“In order to meet AYP this year, South Carolina elementary and middle schools must have had 58 percent of their students proficient in English language arts, up from 38 percent last year,“ says a memo from the state. “In math, 57 percent had to be proficient, up from 36 percent last year.“

Next year, the “moving target,“ as it is dubbed by the state, will also be raised for high school students.

The bar will be changed from 52 to 71 percent of students required to make proficient scores in English language arts and 50 to 70 percent for math.

So while the number of Newberry schools to make AYP was down from last year, this year's goal was set higher for middle and elementary school students.

“We are by no means where we need to be,” said Downs, “but we are making improvements. But it's hard to see that within the accountability systems as they stand right now.”

“Our principals are working very hard and closely with their teacher and leadership teams within their schools” to identify the specific need of students and then working with those students, said Downs.

To see all of Newberry's schools AYP status, visit the state Department of Education Web site at http://ed.sc.gov/topics/assessment/scores/ayp/2008/default.cfm