Holly Area Schools achieve AYP status at all levels

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Dr. Noni Miller

HOLLY, Michigan – It was difficult for Dr. Noni Miller, superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction for the Holly Area Schools to contain herself during Monday’s Board of Education meeting as she informed board members that HAS students at all grade levels have in fact, achieved Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status for 2010.

Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is one of the cornerstones of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) signed into law January 2002, as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.

In order to attain AYP status, 59 percent of elementary students must attain competency levels in reading and at least 64 percent of those students must do the same in math. A 54 percent competency level is required for middle school reading and math students alike, while high school students must be at a 61 and 56 percent competency level for reading and math respectively.

Miller said the district must test 95 percent of its students enrolled in the district as a whole and in each “subgroup.”

“We have to have 95 percent of our students that were enrolled that day,” Miller explained. “There might be students who have only been with us for less than a year, but we have to test everyone as a whole, and as each subgroup which breaks down to African American, Hispanic, Special Education and Free and Reduced.”

Elementary and middle schools must meet the attendance rate, while the high school must meet the graduation rate, Miller said.

In order to comply with NCLB Act of 2001 and, as defined in The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) Consolidated State Application Accountability Workbook, the state of Michigan must move to an accountability system for high schools in which a graduation rate includes only "on-time" graduates who earn diplomas in four years. For 2010 Michigan high schools, that rate is 80 percent.

In addition to achieving AYP status across the board, Miller said all HAS students also achieved Ed Yes! Status, or Michigan’s accreditation. Miller said that besides measuring success in math and reading, Michigan’s system also takes science and social studies into account.

“I was very pleased to see the high scores because our kids and our teachers have been working very, very hard,” Miller said on Tuesday. “We’ve been working hard on curriculum, too, and we have to stay on that – we can’t rest here,” she added. “We have to keep moving on and doing what’s best for our students.”

Board president, Tony Mayhew was also pleased by the results. “These results are outstanding,” Mayhew said. “They showcase the results of a lot of work over the past few years on curriculum and development -  using new learning techniques like the Feuerstein principles and striving to improve our classroom technologies.”


Elementary AYP Status
Grade Level                   Reading    Math    Attendance
Davisburg Elementary        96.3%      96.3%    95.7%
Holly Elementary                 91.9%      96.3%    94.9%
Patterson Elementary          91%         91.4%   95.1%
Rose Pioneer Elementary    95.5%      96.3%   95.1%



Middle School AYP Status
Building                          Reading    Math    Attendance
Richter Intermediate         94.8%        99.2%       96.2%
Sherman Middle School      94.8%        93.8%       95.7%



High School AYP Status
Building                         Reading    Math    Grad Rate 08-09
Holly High School             94.5%        88.1%       82.23%



Ed YES! Grade
Building                          Adjusted Score    Grade
Davisburg Elementary              96%                  A
Holly Elementary                       92%                 A
Patterson Elementary                94%                A
Rose Pioneer Elementary          96%                A
Richter Intermediate                 96%                A
Sherman Middle School             94%                A
Holly High School                      90%                 A