SCHOOLS CELEBRATE SUCCESS
Jenkins school system makes AYP

The Jenkins County school system has made Annual Yearly Progress for the first time in the past five years. Jenkins County High School students shown celebrating are, from left, first row: Principal Dr. Joseph Kirkland, Tommy Minchener, Cody Banner, Robbie Sipes, Devander Smith, Patrick Moody and Robert Deason; and second row: Seddrick Holmes, Yolanda Snelling, Jerion Sapp, Nemes Gordon, Skiliar Moore and Andrian Diaz. (Photo contributed)

The Jenkins County school system is celebrating. For the first time in the past five years, the system, as a whole, has made Annual Yearly Progress (AYP).

The Georgia Department of Education has released information concerning the AYP status for schools and school systems across the state.

Joan Blackwood, superintendent of Jenkins County schools, says, "The Jenkins County school system has shown enormous success. The ever-demanding AYP goals that are placed on our school system require harder and smarter work by everyone - system administrators, school administrators, teachers, parents and most especially students. However, if you look at the goals that we are required to meet each year, I am proud of our educational family in that we met almost all goals. Additionally, Jenkins County Elementary School (JCES) received the status of "Distinguished" for their outstanding performance. There may be many reasons why we as a system do not make 100 percent of the goals; however, there are no excuses. We will continue to work to make sure all of our students achieve."

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires that information concerning public school performance be released to the public. In Georgia, AYP information is released as an AYP Report detailing how Georgia public schools have performed on statedeveloped accountability standards in accordance with federal requirements. NCLB requires the determination of AYP for both schools and districts as a way of ensuring that all children have an equal opportunity to receive a quality education.

The AYP Report for Jenkins County students reflected areas of strength as well as areas in need of improvement. The system report indicated that JCES met AYP in all areas which include Participation Rate, Academic Measurable Objectives on the Criterion Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) and Attendance.

Jenkins County Middle School students participated in taking the CRCT at a rate that surpassed the state requirement of 95 percent. All Academic Annual Measurable Objectives in Reading/English Language Arts and Mathematics were met with the exception of one area. In addition, all criteria were met on the second indicator (Attendance) required for AYP at the middle school level- 15 percent or less of students absent for more than 15 days.

Jenkins County High School met all requirements for AYP. All high schools in Georgia are required to meet the AYP benchmark of 95 percent participation rate on the Enhanced Georgia High School Graduation Test (EGHSGT) in all subgroups. They must also meet the state standard of 84.7 percent of students in each subgroup passing the English Language Arts section of the EGHSGT and 68.6 percent in the area of Math. The third area that high schools are held accountable for is the newly increased 65 percent graduation rate benchmark.

Mrs. Blackwood stated, "I commend the teachers, administrators, students, and parents for all of their hard work and dedication to our students. We will continue to work to provide opportunities for our students to be successful."