AYP Results for KCKPS and KCMSD
Making the Grade AYP Results Show Improvements for KCKPS and KCMSD

In mid-August, Kansas City media reported initial results for 2008-09 state assessments in Kansas and Missouri, including Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). AYP is an annual measure of academic school progress as mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

In order for a school to be designated as having met AYP standards, schools must meet the following requirements:

• Ninety-five percent participation in test taking for all eligible students and subgroups (by ethnicity, socioeconomic status, English language proficiency, etc.)
• A targeted percentage of all students and subgroups scoring “Proficient” or “Advanced”
• A graduation rate of 85 percent or higher (as measured by the state’s cohort measure) for high schools

For schools that serve high numbers of low-income students, English-language learners, and students who are first-generation high school graduates and/or college-goers, AYP is a challenging measure of progress.

PREP-KC has partnered with Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools (KCKPS) and the Kansas City, Missouri School District (KCMSD) to help improve outcomes for Kansas City’s urban students, including AYP progress. While there is still work ahead, the data show that the districts are moving in the right direction.

KCKPS High Schools Improve Math, Reading and Graduation Rates

In KCKPS, PREP-KC invests in improvement strategies in the four comprehensive high schools: J. C. Harmon, F. L. Schlagle, Washington and Wyandotte. Highlights of these initial results include:

• Schlagle and Wyandotte High Schools met all AYP targets.
  
• Washington met AYP targets in reading and graduation rates.
  
• The percentage of students in the four high schools who scored “Proficient” or “Advanced” in math increased from 48.3 percent in 2007-08 to 52.8 percent in 2008-09, with Schlagle increasing 17.1 percentage points in that year.
• The percentage of students who scored “Proficient” or “Advanced” in reading increased from 54.4 percent to 59.7 percent, with Wyandotte increasing 8.8 percentage points in one year.

KCMSD High Schools See Positive News in Math and Communication Arts

In the KCMSD, PREP-KC invests in improvement strategies in the following high schools: Central, Northeast, East, Southwest Early College Campus and The Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts. Promising news from these schools’ initial AYP reports* includes:

• The Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts met all AYP targets, including a preliminary graduation rate of 93 percent.
  
• Seventy-three percent of the students tested at Paseo scored "Proficient" or "Advanced" on the English II assessment, essentially matching the average performance (72.5 percent) of all Missouri students.
• Four out of five subgroups from Northeast met AYP targets in Communication Arts.
• Nearly 14 percent of all students who were tested scored "Proficient" or "Advanced" on the new Algebra I assessment. At Paseo, 20 percent of students tested scored "Proficient" or "Advanced" in Algebra I.
• Nearly 48 percent of all students who were tested scored "Proficient" or "Advanced" on the English II assessment, including 47.8 percent at Northeast and 43.4 percent at East.
• Southwest Early College Campus, after only one year of operation, saw 22.7 percent of its ninth graders who were tested score "Proficient" or "Advanced" on the Algebra I state assessment.

PREP-KC is proud to partner with both KCKPS and KCMSD and to support strategies that continue to improve critical student outcomes. While pleased with the progress, there is still significant work to be done in order to prepare all of Kansas City’s urban students for post-secondary education and/or high-quality employment.

*The Missouri state assessments changed in the 2008-09 school year. All Missouri students now take end-of-course assessments in Algebra I, English II, and Biology instead of taking a general Math assessment at the end of tenth grade and a general Communication Arts assessment at the end of eleventh grade. Because of the change in these assessments it would be statistically inappropriate to compare 2008-09 scores to scores from previous years. However, even with these changes in state testing, Missouri tests continue to be among the most rigorous in the country.