Like 45 percent of schools across the state, many local schools failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress goals.

According to the Minnesota Department of Education, 1,048 schools out of 2,303 did not make AYP in 2009, up from 931 schools in 2008.

AYP and the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment tests are required by the No Child Left Behind Act, and the goal is for 100 percent of students to be proficient by 2014.

Three Albert Lea schools failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress: Hawthorne Elementary School, Halverson Elementary School and Southwest Middle School.

At Hawthorne, 72 percent of students tested were proficient in math and 64 percent tested were proficient in reading. At Halverson, 65 percent of students tested were proficient in math and 68 percent were proficient in reading. At Southwest, 60 percent of students were proficient in math and 70 percent were proficient in reading.

Alden-Conger Elementary and Secondary schools both failed to meet goals. At the elementary school, 61 percent of students were proficient in math, and 72 percent were proficient in reading. At the secondary school, 43 percent were proficient in math and 62 percent were proficient in reading.

Glenville-Emmons High School failed to meet goals with 44 percent of students proficient in math and 54 percent proficient in reading.

United South Central Elementary School failed to meet goals, scoring 59 percent proficiency in math and 73 percent proficiency in reading.

Albert Lea

The district is evaluated on 385 cells or groups of students separated by things like race, special education, English-speaking students and students with limited English skills. Albert Lea Superintendent Michael Funk said Albert Lea schools made AYP on 374 out of 385.

Students with limited English skills comprised a group that failed to meet standards.

At Halverson, 25 percent of students with limited English skills were proficient in reading, and 33 percent of students with limited English skills were proficient in math.

Students without language limitations scored 68 percent proficiency in math and 76 percent in reading.

Students from low-income households were also identified as a group with lower test scores. At Southwest, 45 percent students from low-income households were proficient in math, and 53 were proficient in reading. For students not from a low-income home, 68 percent were proficient in math and 81 percent were proficient in reading.

“What this data does is it identifies certain trends,” Funk said. “It identifies subgroups of students, but it also identifies areas we as teachers can improve on.”

Judy Knudtson, Albert Lea director of curriculum, said she was pleased the district met the standards in math.

Knudtson said the district will need to work to improve reading skills next year, but she said the district will still work to improve in math, too, so the district doesn’t fail to meet math standards next year.

Knudtson referred to a motto she learned in 4-H: You take the best and you make them better.

“We’re going to keep focusing, very diligently on reading and math, but we’re also going to focus on science and social studies and art and music and phy ed, because we have students who are going to leave here as graduates ready to go on to whatever their next phase of life is, and they need to have a comprehensive education,” Knudtson said.

Albert Lea has an overall district improvement plan where each school will identify site goals, and teachers also have individual plans.

Other schools

USC Superintendent Jerry Jensen said he was pleased that many student groups met the proficiency goals. However, one group that didn’t in USC was special education.

Jensen said there is a high number of special education students at USC with a high level of need.

For USC elementary students, 31 percent of special education students were proficient in math and 36 percent were proficient in reading. For elementary students not in special education at USC, 64 percent were proficient in math and 79 percent were proficient in reading.

“For most of our students, I think we’re doing real well,” Jensen said. “The negative sign is we’ve got this one group of students, the special needs students, that did not quite make it. And we need to go back and take a look at why that is and try and figure out what corrective measure we can put in place to bring them up.”

Glenville-Emmons Superintendent Mark Roubinek said continuous improvement can be difficult for special needs students.

“We’re going to try to improve. We’re going to do our best to improve. Sometimes it may be very difficult in the category we’re in,” Roubinek said.

At Glenville-Emmons Secondary school, 13 percent of special education students were proficient in math and in reading. For students not in special education, 50 percent were proficient in math and 63 percent were proficient in reading.

Jensen said administrators and the teachers plan to look over the test results to find ways to improve.

“If people can keep kind of the big picture in mind here of what we’re trying to do, I think it’s a good law in that it does segregate out these different groups to make sure we’re meeting the needs of all groups in our schools, not just the overall average of the students,” Jensen said.

While the AYP results are only one of many testing programs used in schools, area schools will use the data to improve the schools.

“I care about doing what’s best for our kids, and if I can get any data out of the MCAs I can use to help our kids be successful, I will do that,” said Alden-Conger Superintendent Joe Guanella. “I don’t spend much time worry about the state and the issues they may have.”