Students statewide appeared to show a dip in reading and math proficiency last year, according to the state Department of Education’s annual report detailing which school districts met proficiency standards in reading and math under the No Child Left Behind Act. Districts must have all students meet benchmarks in 40 different areas, including proficiency and participation, to show Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP. The annual report was formally released at noon today. Schools that do not make AYP for two consecutive years in math or reading are placed on a ‘Schools in Need of Improvement’ list. The number of schools statewide with that designation increased by 20, from 440 to 460, the education department said.
Statewide, approximately 64 percent of 2,222 schools statewide made AYP in tests administered in spring 2009, a decrease from 70.2 percent of schools making AYP in 2008, a release from the department said today.
The statewide decrease of 1,420 schools making AYP, versus 1,554 in 2008 is due to two factors – an increase in the number of questions that must be answered correctly to attain proficiency, and required increases for the percentage of students in subgroups that must be deemed proficient for a school to make AYP, the release said.

Schools are placed on an ‘early warning’ list if they have not made AYP for one year; no corrective action is required in those schools.

Seventeen Ocean County schools, and 47 Monmouth County schools, including four in the Freehold Regional High School District and five in the Howell district, are on the early warning list. APP