Staff Report

Six Lindbergh schools met annual proficiency targets on the 2010 state assessment, according to preliminary data from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Lindbergh High School, Sperreng Middle School and Crestwood, Kennerly, Long and Sappington elementary schools achieved adequate yearly progress, or AYP, on the 2010 Missouri Assessment Program — MAP — test.

The six schools achieved AYP because they met the annual proficiency targets for communication arts and math across eight student subgroups: All Students, Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, Hispanic, White, Stu-dents with an Individualized Education Pro-gram, Students Receiving Free or Reduced Price Lunches and Students with Limited English Proficiency.

However, Lindbergh Schools as a whole did not achieve AYP in 2010 under the guidelines of the 2001 federal No Child Left Behind Act. Overall, Lindbergh met 15 of 16 subgroup scores, which resulted in the district not achieving AYP.

The goal of NCLB is to have 100 percent of U.S. students perform at the proficient or advanced levels on state tests by 2014. Therefore, school districts must meet annually increasing proficiency targets in communication arts and math to achieve AYP.

For a Missouri school or school district to meet AYP, proficiency targets in both communication arts and math must be met on the MAP test by all student subgroups. If a subgroup in one school does not meet the NCLB-mandated proficiency target on one of the two subjects, the school — along with the entire school district — does not meet AYP that year.

No school district in St. Louis County achieved AYP for 2010. Lindbergh was one of two school districts in St. Louis County to meet AYP in mathematics in all eight sub-groups. The other district to achieve AYP in mathematics was Valley Park, which was the only school district in St. Louis County that met AYP in 2009.

No St. Louis County school district achieved AYP for communications arts this year. Lindbergh met seven of eight subgroups in communication arts.

This year’s proficiency targets were 67.4 percent of students performing at the proficient or advanced levels in communication arts and 63.3 percent of students performing at proficient or advanced levels in math. Overall, 74.1 percent of Lindbergh students performed at the proficient or advanced level in communications arts on the 2010 MAP test, and 79.7 percent performed at the proficient or advanced level in math.

Lindbergh’s scores exceeded the state averages of 53.6 percent for communication arts and 52.7 percent for math. They also improved over the district’s 2009 MAP test scores of 70.2 percent in communication arts and 72.5 percent in math.

In a letter to parents, Superintendent Jim Simpson wrote, “The No Child Left Be-hind Act requires a district to notify parents if their child’s school district does not meet Adequate Yearly Progress — AYP — on the state assessment test for two or more consecutive years. When a district does not meet AYP for two years or more, a district is placed into district improvement status. Lindbergh Schools is required to send all parents a standardized letter notifying you of our district’s improvement status.

“When you read the attached letter, you may wonder why Lindbergh Schools, a high-performing district with some of the best test scores in the state, has been placed on ‘District Improvement Level 3’ under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. In fact, Lindbergh Schools was recently named the No. 1 district for student achievement in Missouri by Schooldigger.com, based on state assessment scores.

“While Lindbergh scores continue to exceed the performance standards set by the Missouri Department of Education, one of our 16 subgroup scores fell short of the very aggressive standard set for groups of students that fall into specific categories. That is why we did not meet AYP.

“We want to assure you that Lindbergh’s academic performance continues to be among the best in the state and the nation,” Simpson wrote.

In the standardized letter sent to parents, the superintendent wrote, “We will evaluate and update the plan for improvement that has been developed. One important component of this plan is parent involvement in the implementation of the plan. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will review the district’s progress toward meeting the goals and objectives of the plan and may impose additional sanctions.

“You can also help by increasing your understanding of the assessment, understanding the importance of good attendance and graduating from school, visiting schools and becoming a volunteer and engaging in reading and math strategies at home.”

State and district MAP scores and AYP results can be viewed in their entirety at

.