CARDWELL — The Southland C-9 Board of Education heard about Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) in their regular meeting on Thursday, September 11, at the Southland Library/Media Center.
Southland Superintendent Raymond Lasley informed the board that although a couple of areas at the high school did not do very well, the overall scores were highly improved and that the district met both AYP categories, thus passing the AYP.
“If you look up at the Southland High, the AYP for all students, there’s an N, which means not met,” said Lasley, “If you look at the ones that it is, it’s the white students who are not on free or reduced lunch. That normally doesn’t happen with a large group of people, but it happened here at Southland. That kept us from getting in the Met category in Communication Arts at the high school, but if you look right at the top, Southland C-9, our entire school met both categories.”
Lasley went on to inform the board that the percentage of students in the Advanced and Proficient categories was well above what is required by the state.
“Our percentages of students in the Advanced or Proficient was above what was required by the state,” said Lasley, “In fact, it beat it by a good number. In Communication Arts, for example, there has to be 19.4 percent of the students that scored in Advanced or Proficient, our students scored around 21 percent.”
Lasley closed by explaining the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s plans for the future concerning the MAP test.
“This year we had to have a 19.4, next year you have to have a 20.4, then the next year you have to have a 38.8, then 39.8,” said Lasley, “Then eventually, when you stretch this thing out, in 2014, 100 percent of the kids must be Advanced or Proficient. By definition, the State School Board says that Proficient is ‘One grade level above grade placement.’ For an eighth grade student, they have to operate at a ninth grade level to be Proficient.”
Also brought to the board:
– Lasley informed the board that the Future Farmers of American (FFA), led by Dean Lackey, did very well at their first ever hog show in Cape Girardeau, winning Grand Champion hog, and various other awards, also that the school had become more handicapped accessible, and that four-fifths of the bathroom stall doors had been installed.
– The board discussed the installation of soap dispensers at the junior high and, in executive session, hired Martha Rylant as a personal aide.
