Fewer schools across the state were able to make Adequate Yearly Progress, according to initial AYP results released today by the Georgia Department of Education. The statewide trend was mirrored locally as the Bartow County and Cartersville City schools had fewer of its sites achieve AYP over last year’s results.

Thirteen of Bartow County’s 19 schools made AYP — all 12 of its elementary schools and South Central Middle. The six not meeting standards were the middle and high schools of Adairsville, Cass and Woodland.

The district fared better last year, when 17 of its schools made AYP — only Cass and Woodland high schools were absent from the list.

Cartersville also showed a decline from the previous year’s results. Only Cartersville High was unable to make AYP last year; this year, Cartersville Elementary as well as the high school were not able to make the mark. The system’s middle and primary schools made AYP.

Statewide, more than 71 percent of Georgia’s public schools made AYP, a drop from the previous year’s 79 percent rate. State education officials attribute the dropoff to an increase in the academic bar in math that students in elementary and middle school must meet in order for a school to make AYP. The graduate rate that high schools must meet also increased this year to 80 percent.

The percentage of schools making AYP could increase when the final AYP report is released this fall. That report will include summer retest scores, summer graduates and appeals.

AYP is the formula used to determine if schools are meeting expectations under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. It consists of three parts — test participation, academic achievement and another statistic, called a “second indicator.” The academic goals continue to rise every few years toward a goal of 100 percent proficiency for all students by 2014. This year, the academic goal for grades 3-8 increased in mathematics and the graduation rate bar went up.

See Tuesday’s edition of The Daily Tribune News for more coverage.