WILLIAMSON – Fifteen counties of West Virginia met criteria for Adequate Yearly Progress under the “No Child Left Behind” program but Mingo, Logan and Wayne Counties fell short of making such progress in 2007-2008.

This was reported to the Mingo County Board of Education at its last meeting during a presentation by Karen Canterbury, county test coordinator. Mingo’s AYP status was based on 50 indicators. This county met 43 of them.

Canterbury said this county’s problem areas involve Reading and Math scores for special education students in elementary, middle and high schools, and Math scores for economically disadvantaged students in high school.

She said “No Child Left Behind” criteria include percentage of proficient students in reading and math on WESTEST and APTA, and testing of at least 95 percent of the students. WESTEST last year included third through eighth graders and tenth graders, and this year includes third and eleventh graders.

The attendance rate at elementary and middle schools must be at least 90 percent, or show improvement. The graduation rate at high schools must be at least 80 percent, or show improvement, said Canterbury.

The percentages of students scoring Mastery or higher in Reading and Math have remained the same since 2007. This is one of West Virginia’s annual measurable objectives.

In Reading, elementary schools had 76.67 percent Mastery during the years 2007 and 2008, and now into 2009. Middle schools’ score for the same three years was 79.17 percent, and high school scores were at 75.83 percent.

The percent of students scoring Mastery or higher in Math at the different levels for 2007, 2008 and 2009 was: Elementary, 72.50; Middle school, 70.00, and High School, 65.83. Canterbury said improvements are anticipated for each year with the students reaching 100 percent by the year 2014.

Mingo County’s problem areas in Math, Reading and Language for the preceding three years were in Special Education for all three school levels. The low Socio Economic Status (or economically disadvantaged) in Secondary grades was noted in those three subjects in the last two years.

The percentage of proficient students in Math, Reading and Lang-uage Arts show improvement since 2004. For example: proficiency among all students rose from 61 percent in 2004 to 71 in 2008; Economically disadvantaged improved from 55 to 68 percent, and Special Education students im-proved from 31 to 46 percent during that five-year period.

All students rose from 74 percent to 79 percent proficiency in Reading and Language Arts (RLA) in the same five-year period; Economically disadvantaged students improved from 69 to 75 percent, and Special Education students advantaged from 34 to 43 percent in that same time frame.

In a comparison of the All Students Group’s performance in Math, Canter-bury presented figures showing West Virginia had 75 percent proficiency in 2006 while Mingo County had 70; West Virginia had 76 percent in 2007 and 75 percent in 2008, while Mingo County had 69 and 71 percent, respectively, for the last two years.

In 2008, West Virginia had 80 percent of proficient students in Reading/Lan-guage Arts - All Students Group, the same as in the two previous years. Mingo County had 78 and 77 percent, respectively, in the years 2006 and 2007, rising slightly to 79 percent in 2008 (one percent below the state figure).

Other figures show Mingo County on a par with the state in Math (Low SES Students). Both the state and the county show 68 percent proficiency. These students scored 75 percent of proficiency in 2008, higher than the state average of 73 and two percent higher than in 2006.

Special Education students show at 46 percent proficient in Mathematics, compared to the state rating of 42 percent. Other comparisons show those same students with 43 percent proficiency in 2008, compared to the state rating of 42.

Mingo County’s attendance rate was 94 percent in 2008, two percent lower than the West Virginia rate of 96. West Virginia’s 2008 attendance rates by subgroup was the same in three categories (96). Mingo County’s attendance rates by subgroups show 94 percent for all students and for Special Education students, and 93 percent for Low SES students.

Mingo County students scored 83 percent on its graduation rate, slightly lower than the state rate of 94. The 2008 graduation rates for Mingo County by subgroup are: All students and Low SES, each scoring 83 percent, and Special Education, 76 percent. The state rates in the respective groups were 84, 77 and 77 percent.

Canterbury said various actions have been taken to improve achievement, such as an accelerated reader program in grades Pre-K through 12; Waterford programs, Pre-K through 2; Ashlock stratagies and DIBELS formative assessment in grades Kinder-garten through third grade; Appalread reading coaches in grades K through 3, and “Sidewalks” supplement to county-adopted reading program, grades K through 6.

Other actions use professional development on research-based instructional strategies; a summer 2009 math academy planned for K-12 teachers, intensive training on standards based math instruction, and Cognitive Tutor research-based interactive software by Carnegie Learning with a consultant working directly with teachers (used in the Algebra support course).

Other attacks on improving achievement involve a Project math/science partnership grant with consultants working in the classrooms with high school math teachers. Benchmark testing, analyzing data and adjusting instruction round out the efforts to bring about improvements.