ROANOKE VALLEY �” The preliminary results show a mixed bag for schools in the Roanoke Valley.

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The 2009-2010 Adequate Yearly Progress results were released by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction Wednesday. The results are pending state board approval at its Aug. 5 meeting.

Lou Fabrizio, director of accountability policy and communications at DPI, said he will be making a detailed report at the meeting, discussing the drop in numbers in the Valley and statewide.

AYP is a federal standard required by the No Child Left Behind Act. AYP is an all-or-nothing model. If a school misses one target, it does not make AYP.

The scores are from end-of-grade and end-of-course testing.

Fabrizio said in order to meet AYP, schools must reach target goals for all subgroups that include 40 or more students in a school.

These subgroups include students with limited English proficiency, students who qualify for free or reduced lunch, students with disabilities and students of specific races or ethnic groups.

Each year the state must “raise the bar” in gradual increments so that by 2013-2014, all (100 percent) students will achieve proficiency in each subject area.

Fabrizio noted last year was the first year the state board allowed retest scores to be used to calculate AYP.

When EOG and EOC tests are administered, students who do not score high enough are allowed to take a retest. He said those scores allowed more schools to make AYP through safe harbor status last year.

Safe harbor status is when a school shows 10 percent improvement, even if its score doesn’t reach the benchmark.

“This year, retesting was included but you will not see dramatic improvement,” he said.

In the charter schools, KIPP Gaston College Preparatory made AYP by meeting all 29 target goals.

Principal Tammi Sutton thanked parents and the community, then said, “Your unwavering commitment and faith in our mission is the backbone of our students’ success,” she added, “You should feel extremely proud of your children seeing all of their hard work continue to transform into tangible results.”

Another Valley charter school, Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School, did not meet AYP.

According to DPI, only one of 11 Halifax County Schools made AYP. Enfield Middle School met 13 of 13 target goals.

Northampton County Schools saw only one school, Central Elementary, make AYP out of seven schools.

In the Roanoke Rapids Graded School District, none of the schools met the AYP goals, but officials there say there’s nothing to be alarmed about as far as student achievement.

“AYP is all or nothing,” stated Chairman of the RRGSD Board of Education Vernon Bryant. “You have to meet all the target goals. We met 88 percent of ours. We did improve in six areas of AYP overall this year.

“This is not a sign that we’re not making great progress in the district,” Bryant added. “I do feel we’re moving in the right direction. The superintendent along with the administration is going to have a plan in place to ensure we improve in those areas where we didn’t meet the goals.”

Bryant went on to say concerned parents should understand the district’s preliminary ABC numbers �” state scores, with results due next month �” will have them pleased. “Preliminary indications are all the schools met the ABC goals,” Bryant said. “Parents shouldn’t be alarmed about the AYP; our school district historically and currently is making significant progress, and our preliminary ABC numbers indicate that.”

The news was good in Weldon, where Weldon Elementary School, Roanoke Valley Early College and Weldon Middle School all met their AYP goals.

Dr. Elie Bracy III, superintendent for Weldon, was pleased by the results.

“That means we’re making progress as far as meeting the federal standards and it is an improvement over last year when two of the four schools met the goals,” Bracy said. “We are pleased with the results and it does show continuing improvement in our district.”

Bracy added Weldon City Schools is committed to keeping on top of the numbers all year.

“We did a lot of work throughout the year identifying those subgroups and trying to keep focus on those areas of need, so we were able to keep the efforts on those groups that needed attention,” Bracy said.

Weldon’s results also demonstrate attention to standards, according to Bracy.

“Not only do we take state standards seriously,” he said, “but we also take the federal standards seriously in our district as well. We know student achievement is measured in different areas, but we try to satisfy the standards that are put upon us.”

Phone calls were made to Northampton County Schools Superintendent Dr. Eric Bracy. No comment was available before press time.