While final results are pending state board approval on Aug. 6, preliminary Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for the Sampson County School system is up from last year’s results.

Ten of the 17 schools in the system, including the Sampson Early College, made the AYP goals during the year, whereas just three schools in the system were successful in making those same goals in 2008.

AYP measures the yearly progress for each of 10 No Child Left Behind-defined student groups toward the NCLB goal of all students being at or above grade level (proficient) in reading and math by the end of the 2013-14 school year.

With the exception of Lakewood High, even the schools that did not make AYP goals for this year — Charles E. Perry; Hobbton Middle; Hobbton High; Plain View Elementary; Salemburg Elementary and Union High — all improved on meeting their 17 target goals from the 2007-08 school year.

Lakewood High wasn’t far behind, however, meeting 15 (or 93.8 percent) out of 16 target goals, as opposed to 2008’s results where they met the same amount of goals but their percentage was a little higher (94.1 percent) — in both years, they failed to meet AYP goals, despite being over 90 percent effective in their target goals.

Plain View Elementary made AYP goals in 2008, but failed to do so in 2009. Last year, the school met 13 of 13 goals (or 100 percent); this year, the school met just 16 (or 94.1 percent) of 17 target goals.

Of the seven schools which did not make AYP goals, six were above 90 percent and just one was below 80 percent — Union High School, which met 13 (76.5 percent) of 17 target goals.

“We are all happy with the past year’s growth, but we are not anywhere near satisfied,” said county schools superintendent Dr. Ethan Lenker, adding that it was noteworthy that they could see visual progress.”

“Every school showed improvement as far as AYP is concerned, meaning more kids were successful,” Lenker said. “Keep in mind, one student means the difference between making AYP or not. Our expectation is all schools and all students will make the NCLB requirements.”

Despite the successes, Lenker said that efforts to improve will not slow down anytime soon.

“This year we will continue the same processes as last year, making data-directed decisions for continuous improvement,” he said.

To reach Doug Clark call 910-592-8137 ext. 123 or send e-mail to sisports@myclintonnc.com.