Our District receives Federal funding (called Title I) on the condition that we adhere to the state standards in identifying for each grade level what a child should know and be able to do in English-Language Arts and Mathematics.  In order to measure Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), a state test is given each year to determine the percentage of students scoring at the “proficient’ or “advanced” level school wide and in each subgroup of students at each school.  Additionally, 95% of the students in each school and in each subgroup must be tested.   The Federal Government, under the No-Child-Left-Behind legislation, has set the expectation that all students in our country will reach “proficient” by the year 2014.  In order to reach that goal, there are required annual benchmarks that each school must meet for students and their subgroups. 

Like many California public schools, some RUSD schools are identified as Program Improvement (PI) because a subgroup or subgroups did not meet participation or achievement targets in both of the last two years. A subgroup is defined as “50 or more students who make up at least 15 percent of the total population.”  Subgroups include English language learners (students who grew up speaking a language other than English), socio-economically disadvantaged students, students with disabilities, and all students grouped by race/ethnicity.

As the targets for achievement rise significantly each year until 2014, more and more California schools are being identified each year as PI. In Rescue Union School District, Green Valley Elementary and Rescue Elementary were identified as a Year I Program Improvement (PI) School for the 2011-2012 school year. Steps were taken to ensure increased student achievement.

Both Green Valley Elementary and Rescue Elementary had significant increases in their 2011-2012 state test scores and met the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) targets in all areas. A school that successfully meets all AYP targets for one year maintains its PI status. When the school makes AYP for two consecutive years, it will exit PI status. Therefore, Green Valley Elementary and Rescue Elementary will continue to be identified as PI Year 1 for the 2012-2013 school year.