Twenty-four of the 25 public high schools in Montgomery County met all of their Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) school performance targets for 2008. One school, Watkins Mill High School, missed meeting AYP in just one subject, reading, for its special education subgroup.

The State’s 2008 AYP reports for each school are based on the results of grade 11 students’ scores on the Maryland High School Assessments. AYP determinations released this week by the Maryland State Department of Education are only for high schools and for some special programs or centers that serve high school students. The AYP data for middle and elementary schools was released in August.

In addition to reporting the high school results, MSDE also released school performance results for seven special schools in Montgomery County. Five of the seven made AYP in 2008. One of the special education schools that missed AYP for its graduation rate, Mark Twain, was closed by MCPS at the end of the 2007-08 school year. The other special education center, Stephen Knolls – which serves students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, most of whom are severely disabled and medically fragile – made AYP in all categories except on the state standard for student attendance. As a result, the school will be placed on the state’s list among schools identified for improvement, in year one of the program.

While Montgomery Blair High School met AYP in 2008, it will remain on the school improvement list and will exit the program if it meets its AYP again in all categories in 2009. Two special Montgomery County schools for high school students exited school improvement by meeting AYP for two consecutive years – the Gateway to College Program and the Longview School.

Additional information about how AYP is calculated for each school is found on the “School Improvement in Maryland” website at www.mdk12.org and the Maryland State Department of Education website at www.marylandpublicschools.org.