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Politics & Government

Nazareth Schools Meet AYP Goals for Third Straight Year

Each of the six schools that make up the Nazareth Area School District achieve Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, for 2012.

All six schools in the Nazareth Area School District made their achievement goals based on standardized state tests in 2012 -- .

Assistant Superintendent Michael Roth outlined the results, school by school, in a brief but enthusiastic presentation to the on Monday. Full details will be available in October, when the district receives its so-called “report card” from the state Department of Education, Roth said.

Each district school achieved Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, goals for this year, based on average test scores on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment Test, better known as PSSA. The standards, which grow harder to achieve each year, are outlined in the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

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“All six buildings met AYP targets for the third consecutive year,” Roth said. He attributed the district's steady string of academic success to the hard work of Nazareth's teachers, staff and students.

School board member Darrell Crook agreed.

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“My hat's off to the staff and administration,” Crook said. “This is almost like winning a gold medal, to compare to athletics,” he added.

As required by the No Child Left Behind Act, the PSSA is Pennsylvania's statewide standards-based assessment. The goal is for all students to be "proficient" or "advanced" by 2014 -- meaning they have mastered Pennsylvania's assessment content standards at their grade level.

A school or district's performance on statewide math and reading assessments is the primary factor in determining AYP. The math and reading tests are given in grades 3 through 8 and 11th grade.

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