Schools

T.C. Williams Fails to Make Coveted 'Yearly-Progress' Rating, but Shows Strong Improvement in Some Areas

Ratings for AYP are based on achievement of students on tests taken during previous academic year.

T.C. Williams High School did not achieve the Adequate Yearly Progress rating from the Virginia Department of Education for the 2011-2012 school year. However, students overall showed continued improvements in test scores over previous years.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires states to set annual benchmarks for achievement in reading and mathematics to 100 percent proficiency by 2014. Schools, school divisions and states that meet or surpass those benchmarks are labeled as having made AYP.

"We are not at all satisfied with this year's NCLB AYP results, event as we reject the present system and eagerly await for Congress to approve long-needed changes toward a growth model," said School Superintendent Morton Sherman.

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The state's most recent report shows T.C. Williams population was 3,062 in the 2010-2011 school year, an increase from 2,987 in 2009-2010.

While the rating was not reached, 95% of students at T.C. passed the English Performance test, an improvement over 90% last year. Additionally, student subgroups including Black, Hispanic, White, Students with Disabilities, the Economically Disadvantaged and those with Limited English Proficiency all showed significant improvement over prior years.

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Mathematics also showed significant improvements across the board with 83% of all students passing rather than the 75% in 2009-2010.

In 2009-2010, 20.76% of the school's population took Advanced Placement tests compared to 24.98% in 2010-2011. However, both years show a significant drop from the 42.92% of students taking the tests in the 2008-2009 school year, according to state data.

Sherman said the school system "must do better with our special education students and our English Language Learners. We have made progress in closing the achievement gaps but so much more remains to be done."

The data includes a report on school safety, which shows there were 14 weapons offenses in 2009-10 at T.C. Williams versus seven reported in the 2008-2009 school year. There was a huge spike in "disorderly or disruptive behavior offenses" from 151 in 2008-2009 to 684 in 2009-2010.


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