By Kevin Jefferies
Commerce – Commerce ISD received mixed results in this year's Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, report as part of the No Child Left Behind act. As a whole, the school district did meet AYP, but three of the four campuses individually did not. Only Commerce Elementary met the standard.
The schools are measured against 28 different guidelines in order to measure Adequate Yearly Progress. All three schools that failed to meet AYP missed just one of those standards. A.C. Williams and Commerce Middle School missed AYP due to exceeding the percentage of special education students allowed to take an alternative test to the T.A.K.S. test. The State of Texas and the federal government are still at odds over regulations on special education testing.
Commerce High School missed AYP because they did not meet a required rise in performance of economically disadvantaged students. The 10th graders tested showed a 6% increase in scores, but a 7% increase was required in order to meet the federal guidelines.
CISD is planning to appeal the ratings.