The Auburn Enlarged City School District has made steady progress, yet the high school has been designated as a School Requiring Academic Progress under the No Child Left Behind requirements for accountability. This designation is the result of not meeting the state guidelines for Adequate Yearly Progress in both English language arts and mathematics.

There are a number of accountability measures, and a key one is that 95 percent of any component group have 40 or more students tested in ELA and math. This is called the “participation rate.” Another measure is that any component group of 30 or more students must have test scores that meet a certain level. Auburn High School students met all of the accountability measures except one #- the participation rate in the group of economically disadvantaged students. Eighty-three percent of our economically disadvantaged seniors in the 2005-2006 school year completed the ELA and math regents. If eight more students took those exams by the time they were seniors, we would have met the 95 percent threshold.

As a first step, the district has created its SRAP Plan. Some specific actions that should improve student participation and achievement are differentiated instruction, early identification of struggling students, providing students with more remedial resources and support, placement on a Counselor Watch list, and involvement in an Academic Peer Mentoring program.

Additionally, a district team has created a Graduation Plan to address the unique needs of students in component groups. Specifically, the plan details requirements for success in all forms of communication and reasoning, for early identification, and for targeted intervention. School personnel completed research and created an at-risk profile to identify students who may be struggling, to discover their specific needs, and to provide the appropriate support earlier so that all students will take the exams and finish their high school careers with a diploma.

We all know that students having difficulties with reading and writing generally struggle in core subjects (English, social studies, science, math, foreign language). The plan recognizes this and takes steps to match students with the necessary support. Remedial labs provide consistent services to meet individual student needs. We define our goal of literacy in terms of facility in reading/writing/thinking at each grade level to prepare for post-secondary education and careers. As we make the learning more relevant to all students, they will remain fully engaged, will do well, and will stay in school.