AYP

Many of you have heard that this year Henley, and a number of other county and state middle schools, fell short in our goal of achieving something called "Adequate Yearly Progress" or AYP.  When people hear this, most immediately think that there must be some big problems with the school system or with a particular school if they can't make the grade that the Federal Department of Education has set for them.  So let me share some data on Henley's AYP performance (most of which is measured via SOL testing results).  This year Henley had 96% of our students pass their reading tests, 95% passed their math tests, 95% passed writing, 93% passed history and 96% passed science.  Hardly what I would consider failing scores, yet we did not make AYP.  Why is that you ask?  In order for a school to be considered to have made AYP, the school must meet twenty-nine different student achievement benchmarks.  This year, we had too few special education students pass their reading tests to make AYP.  We were close, but not quite close enough.  So--is Henley a failing school because it did not make AYP last year?  Absolutely not.  Our overall academic performance clearly places us among the highest achieving middle schools in the state of Virginia.  Do we have some more work to do to get even better?  You bet, and this is always going to be the case even if we achieve 100% SOL pass rates.  Every morning you send your children to an amazing school with a staff who's dedication to student achievement and learning is unparalleled.  Don't let the failure to make AYP fool you--Henley is a top tier school that will keep getting better every year.