The high school was one of only 25 percent in the state that met the goals set by No Child Left Behind.
By: Linda Seida
WEST AMWELL South Hunterdon Regional High School is the only high school in the county and one of only 25 percent of high schools in the state that has met the benchmarks of progress demanded by the federal law known as No Child Left Behind.
Seventy-five percent of high schools in New Jersey, or 271 out of a total of 361, failed to meet a standard known as Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, according to a report from the state Department of Education released last week.
Many failed to meet the federal benchmark because of the testing of special education or non-English speaking students, state and local education administrators have said.
"Kudos to our students and staff," South Hunterdon Superintendent Cheryl Simone said during a meeting of the Board of Education held last month.
The federal testing mandates specify the inclusion of such subgroups as special education students, students for whom English is not their first language, American Indians, Hispanics, Asians/Pacific Islanders and the economically disadvantaged.
"We’re doing well because we don’t have all those sub-genres," Dr. Simone said. "The larger you are, the harder it is."
To gauge AYP, 11th-graders were tested in March in math and language arts in the High School Proficiency Assessment tests. At South Hunterdon, 36 11th-graders, including some special education students, were tested, according to William Panella, the school’s director of pupil personnel services.
In language arts, more than 97 percent of the 36 tested 11th-graders achieved the status of proficient or advanced proficient, according to Mr. Panella. In math, more than 91 percent were judged proficient or advanced proficient, he said.
Schools that did not pass the AYP were placed on an early-warning list. No penalties are assessed for landing on that list. If future consecutive years, if the schools fail to meet the AYP benchmark, they will face sanctions. Also, parents will be given the option of transferring their children to schools with a better performance record, according to NCLB.