Teachers and administrators at Woodrow Wilson High School can breathe easy on the first day of school this year as Woodrow has met the federal standard known as AYP for the first time since 2007.
The high school had missed the standard two years in a row for inadequate graduation rates in 2008 and 2009, low math scores in 2008 and low reading scores in 2009. This year, Woodrow met the federal standard, which is part of the No Child Left Behind Act.
As an overall district, DISD has missed AYP two years running.
The district blamed the 2010 shortfall on having allowed more than 3 percent of its special education students to take alternative testing. And that exceeds the cap of 1-2 percent to meet AYP. If that cap had not been applied, the district would have met the standard, a DISD media release states.
Schools or districts that miss the standard for two consecutive years are subject to corrective actions, such as offering supplemental education services and offering school choice. And ultimately, they stand to risk losing Title 1 funding.
Fifteen of 31 DISD high schools evaluated missed AYP in 2010, including Bryan Adams, Adamson, Hillcrest, A. Maceo Smith, Molina, Thomas Jefferson, Lincoln, Samuell, Sunset, Carter, North Dallas, Skyline and James Madison.
Woodrow is rated “academically acceptable” by the Texas Education Agency. And it is climbing the ranks of the Newsweek list of the nation’s best public schools. The magazine this year ranked Woodrow No. 422 in the nation. It was one of only two non-magnet DISD schools to make the list.
