Now That's Progress

Wednesday evening, Sept. 25, brought in over 250 community members to celebrate Frazer School’s adequate yearly progress (AYP) accomplishment for the 2012-13 school year. The school made a 20 percent gain in reading and math and also was above the AYP attendance threshold of 80 percent, with the elementary at 87 percent and the junior high and high school at 81 percent.

Students performed, cheerleaders cheered and the administrators praised and congratulated the school community in the Frazer gymnasium. The gym was filled with voices of celebration as they sang the Frazer school song and Harlan Hall provided musical accompaniment while the traditional meal was served.

Speakers included 90-year-old elder Freda Fourstar, Trustee Joe Raining Bird, Superintendent Corrina Guardipee-Hall, Principal Melanie Blount and state Office of Public Instruction representative Don Wetzel Jr., as well as Daniel Horsman, a high school junior who performed highly on the test.

They all praised the students, teachers and parents for their hard work in supporting and performing to reach AYP standards. Horsman stated that this is only the beginning of what we can do and that we can keep raising the bar each year.

The adequate yearly progress reports are required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Schools are required to meet 41 benchmarks for student achievement. A school’s adequate yearly progress is calculated based on test participation, academic achievement, graduation rate and other statistics.

But every few years, the percentage of students who must pass state tests increases. The law’s ambitious goal is that every student be able to read and do math at their grade level.

The Oshkade Celebration was funded by the School Improvement Grant (SIG) and the 21st Century Learning grant. The school trustees were also thanked by the SIG team and presented gifts for their visionary work toward the betterment of the school.