A second wave of data showing schools that passed No Child Left Behind standards known as Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, is just in from the State Department of Education office.

This time the data reveals how the three Newberry County high schools measured up.

Of Newberry High, Mid-Carolina High and the high school section of Whitmire Community School, only Whitmire met all of its AYP objectives.

A school's size and makeup determines how many AYP objectives it must meet.

Forty or more students in one subgroup establishes a new AYP objective for the group and school to meet.

With more subgroups like African-American students and students who qualify for subsidized meals at Newberry and Mid-Carolina High, these schools had more hurdles to clear than Whitmire.

Newberry and Mid-Carolina both had 17 objectives to meet compared to Whitmire's five.

Adequate Yearly Progress is an all-or-nothing goal that says if a school misses just one of its objectives it does not make “adequate yearly progress” overall.

Mid-Carolina High School fell short in one of 17 areas, and so failed to meet the standard altogether.

Newberry High also came close, meeting 15 of its 17 subgroup objectives.

AYP FYI

Newberry High, Mid-Carolina High and the high school section of Whitmire Community School are measured against a goal of all students-including those with learning disabilities and limited ability to speak English-score proficient on state assessment tests in math and English language arts by 2014.

A proficient score in South Carolina is roughly B+ work.

To reach 2014 with proficient scores-or at least get schools looking that way-the state has set “pushpins” that stair step from No Child Left Behind's birth in 2001 to 2014, showing where student progress should be each year.

For elementary and middle school students, the goal, or pushpin, jumped this year.

For high school students, the state raises the bar next year.

The “moving target,” as it's called by the state, changes from 52 to 71 percent of students required to make proficient scores in English language arts, and 50 to 70 percent for math for adequate progress.

AYP AROUND

Of the state's 200 high schools, 50 met all of their federal AYP goals. Last year, 60 South Carolina high schools made AYP.

Overall, Newberry County met 18 of its 29 objectives, down from last year when it met 20 of 29.

Compared to the statewide summary, Newberry met roughly 62 percent of the standards, where districts overall met 27 of the 37 categories, or 73 percent of the standard.

“We are by no means where we need to be, but we are making improvements,” said Downs.

“Our principals are working very hard and closely with their teacher and leadership teams within their schools” to hone in on the specific student needs,” said Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Cynthia Downs.

View all of Newberry's AYP scores at the state Department of Education Web site at http://ed.sc.gov/topics/assessment/scores/ayp/2008/default.cfm