Crime & Safety

Petruzielo Notes Heightened AYP Standards in Cherokee Schools' Failure

A release to Cherokee parents said percentages had risen in Adequate Yearly Progress standards, but the areas changed were not the areas Cherokee schools struggled with.

In the wake of , Superintendent Frank Petruzielo released a statement to parents identifying higher state standards as the possible culprit to failing test scores. 

Eight Cherokee schools failed to meet the standards in 2011. Three of those schools—, and —fall in the Holly Springs-Hickory Flat area.

According to the statement released to parents, AYP standards require that “at least 75.7% of students (an 11.96% increase over last year) in each subgroup must meet or exceed the state standard on the math portion of the GCRCT.”

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Also, the statement said that AYP requirements included “at least 85% of students (a 9.3% increase over last year) must graduate within four years with a regular diploma.”

While the state standards increased in these two areas, they were not the areas that Cherokee County Schools struggled with. All schools passed the math portion of the GCRCT and the percentage of students who must graduate within four years.

Find out what's happening in Holly Springs-Hickory Flatwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

If standard increases were not the cause of the failure, where did Cherokee schools fall short?

Holly Springs Elementary School’s “Students with Disabilities” subgroup failed to meet the standards of the reading/language arts GCRCT.

According to the release, at least 80 percent of each subgroup must meet the state standard on the reading/language arts GCRCT.

At Creekland Middle and Dean Rusk Middle, the Students with Disabilities subgroup failed to meet the math standards of the GCRCT. 


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