Thursday, October 6, 2011

Volume 95; Number 16

www.bladepublishing.net

A community newspaper serving Browerville, MN and surrounding areas. USPS 067-560

BHS Homecoming Royalty

75

Area schools 2011 AYP results are mixed

BERTHA-HEWITT, MENAHGA, SEBEKA, AND VERNDALE SCHOOL DISTRICTS LED THE WAY IN 2011 By Rin Porter On Sept. 30, the M i n n e s o t a Department of Education released results of the 2011 round of testing for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in schools across the state. The testing program is required by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The Minnesota Department of Education says AYP is a means of mea uring, through standards and assessments, the achievement of the NCLB goal of 100% proficient by 2014. According to the Minnesota Department of Education website, www.education.state.mn.us of 2,255 Minnesota schools, 1019 earned AYP status in 2011, while 1056 schools did not make AYP. In 2009-2010, 1,060 schools made AYP. Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 as amended is designed to assure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging state academic achievement standards and state academic assessments. According to Wikipedia, Title I is a set of programs set up by the U.S. Department of Education to distribute funding to schools and school districts with a high percentage of students from lowincome families. To qualify as a Title I school, a school typically has about 40% or more of its students that come from families that qualify under the U.S. Census definition as low-income. Several of the schools in the nine area school districts surrounding northern Todd County will receive Title I funding for the 2011-2012 school year to help them improve student performance. We gathered information on nine nearby school district AYP report cards to determine their 2011 performance. Four school districts Bertha-Hewitt, Menahga, Sebeka, and Verndale made AYP in both their elementary and secondary schools. Two school districts Long Prairie-Grey Eagle and Wadena-Deer Creek did not make AYP in either their elementary or their secondary schools. BERTHA-HEWITT SCHOOL DISTRICT Both Bertha Elementary and Bertha Secondary made AYP in 2010-2011. The Elementary School made improvements over 2009-2010, when four groups did not make AYP in math. BROWERVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT Browerville Elementary made AYP but Browerville Secondary did not. Three tested groups in Browerville Secondary did not make AYP in Reading: All Students, White Students, and Free and Reduced Price Lunch (FRP) Students. These three groups did not make AYP in Reading in 2009-2010 either. EAGLE VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT Eagle Valley Elementary made AYP, but Eagle Valley Secondary did not. Two testing groups did not make AYP in Math: All Students, and White Students. In 2009-2010, All Students and Hispanic Students did not make AYP in Math. LONG PRAIRIE-GREY EAGLE SCHOOL DISTRICT None of the schools in the LPGE district made AYP. In the Long Prairie Elementary school, five testing groups did not make AYP in Reading: All Students, White Students, Hispanic Students, FRP Students, and Special Ed Students. In Math, four testing groups did not make AYP: Hispanic, FRP, Limited English Proficiency (LEP). Students, and Special Ed Students. At Long Prairie Middle School, five testing groups did not make AYP: All Students in Reading; and Hispanic, Special Ed, LEP, and FRP students in Math. At Long Prairie-Grey Eagle Senior High, one testing group - FRP Students did not make AYP in Math. MENAHGA SCHOOL DISTRICT Both Menahga Elementary and Menahga Secondary made AYP. SEBEKA SCHOOL DISTRICT Both Sebeka Elementary and Sebeka Secondary made AYP. Both schools showed improvement over 2009-2010, when they did not make AYP. Continued on page 16.

The 2011 Homecoming King and Queen, Ben Dreher and Rachel Perish, were crowned on Monday, October 3rd. See additional Homecoming Photos next week.

Browerville hosts students from around the world

Browerville hosts eight foreign exchange students for 2011-2012 school year. They are: Pictured from left: Miguel Paz, Ecuador, Mackarena Meio Viel - Chile, Denise Weigl Germany, Karoline - Norway, Damaris - Belgium, Vivien Cziva - Hungary, Kelly Joo - Korea, Ricardo - Brazil. Meet the students inside. Photo by Tarissa Host.

WEEKLY WEATHER REPORT

Wed. Oct. 5 Mostly Sunny 83/53 Thur. Oct. 6 Sunny/Wind 80/57 Fri. Oct. 7 Pt Cloudy/Wind 81/56 Sat. Oct. 8 T-Showers 71/49 Sun. Oct. 9 Showers 63/45 Mon. Oct. 10 T-Storms 62/44