Nearly 10 percent fewer schools in Georgia made Adequate Yearly Progress this year under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, according to the state Department of Education.

That was the case locally, as well.

In 2010, only Bryan County High came up short on AYP. But this year, Bryan County High, Bryan County Middle, Bryan County Elementary and Richmond Hill Middle failed to meet AYP, according to an initial report from the DoE.

A final AYP report will be released in the fall after retest scores, summer graduations and appeals. Bryan County Middle is expected to meet AYP at that time, Bryan County Schools Superintendent John Oliver said.

Meanwhile, Bryan County Elementary and Richmond Hill Middle failed to reach AYP standards for the first time – in both cases because students in special needs categories didn’t meet enough AYP requirements, Oliver said.

In RHMS’ case, though 91 percent of its students met math requirements and 96 percent met the English Language Arts standards, absences among students with disabilities were too high.

“We’re obviously very concerned about it and we’re working to address it” Oliver said. “Individually, our children continue to progress, and we continue to make gains overall. It’s a particular subgroup of children. and we’re going to have to work more with them.”

Oliver said he expects Bryan County High to come close to reaching the state’s required 85 percent graduation rate by the time the final AYP results are in, and he noted that only about 30 percent of Georgia’s high schools are projected to make AYP – Richmond Hill High School included.

Read more in the July 30 edition of the News.