All nine Bryan County schools met the 2008 criteria for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), one of the cornerstones of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Associate Superintendent John Oliver said Tuesday.

Seven of Bryan County’s schools have consistently met AYP since its 2003 inception, Oliver said, but in 2006 BCHS did not meet AYP due to its graduation rate, and in 2007 did not meet due to graduation test results.

Bryan County Middle School met AYP in 2006, but did not meet the second indicator of attendance, Oliver said.

According to Oliver this is the first time that all nine Bryan County Schools have made AYP since its beginning.

Bryan County Middle School met AYP for 2008 based on the eighth grade mathematics retest.

Each local school district and each individual school are held accountable for the academic success of students, Oliver said.

"The federal law requires that each State set high academic standards and implement an extensive student testing program which measures students achievement based on the standards," he said.

AYP requires schools to meet standards in three areas: test participation in math and reading/English language arts, academic performance for both math and reading/English language arts and a second indicator that can vary by school. BCHS second indicator is graduation rate, while BCMS’ is attendance.

"We are really proud of our schools and what our teachers and students are doing," Superintendent Sallie Brewer said.

Oliver said if the schools are to be on target by 2014, the deadline set by performance goal one of the states consolidated plan for all students to reach high standards, they need to continue on the current track.

Graduation rate, the second indicator for high schools, increases the requirement by 5 percent each year with an ultimate goal of 100 percent graduation by 2014.

Last year the required graduation rate requirement was 70 percent. This year it will be 75.

"We can only take it one year at a time, but based on current figures we are thinking the graduation rate will increase next year," Oliver said.

A complete report is available at http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/.