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The Waynesboro, Virginia, school district has been working with preschoolers and their parents for years to help children be ready for school and relies on a School Improvement Team when they fall behind. But expanded testing could mean problems with AYP. Included: Descriptions of the district's early readiness and student support programs.

By emphasizing early learning and readiness for school, the Waynesboro (Virginia) School District expects to ensure that all students in all subgroups and content areas will achieve adequate yearly progress (AYP.)

However, when students of all grade levels are tested and the AYP of subgroups is included, there could be a difference in the performance.

Virginia tests students in grades 3, 5, and 8 and administers end-of-course tests in high school. Under the current test system, Waynesboro students appear to be progressing sufficiently from grade to grade. The testing of students in three more grades (4, 6, and 7) could make a major difference in determining adequate yearly progress of all students.

Looking at AYP by subgroups may bring out some differences that were not previously apparent. The Title I schools will see their poor students noted as subgroups, and some schools may also have enough English language learners to constitute a subgroup. Since most of the English language learners are speakers of Spanish, a subgroup of Hispanic students may also be counted toward AYP. These changes to how AYP is calculated could make big differences in the determination of the academic progress of Waynesboro students.

District staff members believe that the combination of preschools connected to primary grades and a full day kindergarten are significant success factors for the ongoing achievement of Waynesboro students.

Waynesboro Public Schools pay a lot of attention to the early readiness of children for learning. Preschool programs have been part of the district focus since 1978, and the district has taken several other steps to help ensure that children become capable and competent readers by the end of the primary grades. One such step is the requirement that preschool teachers be highly trained and extremely well qualified. Preschool teachers in Waynesboro have college degrees, unlike many preschool teachers elsewhere who are only required to have two years of college. Because they have these qualifications, preschool teachers are paid on the same salary schedule as other teachers in Waynesboro, and this, too, assures a high quality of instruction in the pre-kindergarten years.

In its preschool instruction, the district also emphasizes phonological awareness and readiness for formal reading, again not the typical fare for preschool programs. All children who turn four before September 30 are invited to enroll in the preschool program. Assessment screenings determine which children have the greatest needs, in terms of academic readiness and social and emotional development. Children are placed in the program based on these needs. About half of entering kindergartners participated in this preschool program, which is supported with district and Title I funds.

Kindergarten in Waynesboro is a full-day program, designed to prepare children for the acquisition of reading and other skills in grade 1. District staff members strongly support this combination of a full-day kindergarten with preschool in the preceding year. They believe that this contributes significantly to the strong learning base of Waynesboro students that leads to their ongoing academic success.

School Improvement Teams are a Waynesboro innovation designed to focus on helping every child learn. An individual student becomes the focus of a child study team when the student enters the first level of risk. This could be because of academic, behavior, or attendance problems. The team identifies reasons for the problem and possible solutions and interventions. Next the team sets up counseling and parent involvement and makes arrangements for tutoring and academic assistance for the student. The student's progress is monitored on a regular basis until the student is no longer at risk.

In the past, Waynesboro has emphasized the two content areas of history and science at all grade levels, and these have been identified by staff as achievement strengths, especially in the secondary schools. However, district staff has recognized the need for higher math achievement in the middle and high school to meet No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act academic goals.

The district has assigned a full- time staff person to oversee an intensive program of algebra readiness in the middle school; the program includes staff training and online assessments for students.

The district is also undertaking extensive teacher training to improve reading and writing instruction across the grades. As part of a renewed emphasis on reading through grade 5, the district has developed a school wide reading project that includes literacy benchmarks at all grade levels and helps make teachers aware of reading practices that get results.

Reading specialists observe teachers in classrooms and help them to implement effective practices. The specialists also share their observation indicators with staff, so that everyone is working together to raise student achievement. With the addition of disaggregated student assessment data, teachers will be able to focus their efforts on specific areas of need at various grade levels and for certain groups of students. Title I funds are used to support a math teacher at the middle school and three full-time reading specialists in the Title I school wide schools.

In addition to parents coming to school, the school comes to the parents in the Waynesboro district, through a new program to improve parent involvement and prepare children for academic success. Under this program, a Parent Resource Van makes regular visits to various neighborhoods and apartment complexes two to three times a week in the afternoons and evenings.

Parent resources, such as books, instructional materials, and handy homework hints, are distributed to parents to use in the van or check out. Monthly meetings are also held to provide parents with specific information on how they can help their children succeed in school. These meetings are held at different times of day to better meet family needs. When the Virginia lieutenant governor came to Waynesboro to speak at the district's high school graduation in spring 2002, he took a ride on the van to dramatize the importance of reaching out to parents.

SOURCE: Center on Education Policy

To read the full report, see A Look Inside 33 School Districts: Year 2 of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Share Your NCLB Strategies Education World's Working With NCLB feature highlights schools or districts with stories to share about how they are implementing requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. If you have a Working With NCLB story to share, send an e-mail toEllen Delisio.

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