Forty-five percent of West Valley schools improved their labels, 47 percent maintained their labels, 4 percent dropped by one label and 4 percent were too new to have a label in 2008.

Schools are evaluated on: the number of pupils who meet or exceed Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS); their Adequate Yearly Progress; and reclassification of English language learner pupils. Annual dropout and graduation rates are also factored into the labels for high schools.

Time to shine
Three additional schools received excelling this year, bringing the total at the top to 10. New to the label is Corte Sierra and Verrado elementary schools and Verrado Middle School, all in the Litchfield Elementary School District.

The district once again had the highest labels, with six schools excelling and five highly performing.

"Obviously, we're ecstatic," said Brian Owin, director of assessment for Litchfield. "Now that the schools have gotten there, of course their goal is to keep it."

A surprise success came from three West Valley schools that opened last year. Tres Rios Elementary in the Littleton Elementary District and Tartesso Elementary in the Saddle Mountain Unified District received a performing label, while Copper Trails in the Avondale Elementary District pulled off a highly performing status.

Historically, new schools have received underperforming labels after their first year simply because they don't have the data to back up higher results. Since the labels are partially calculated on yearly progress, which a new school can't show, it must rely on pupils' AIMS results.

Across the board, third- through eighth-graders in the Avondale district scored above the state proficiencies for reading and math on the AIMS tests, Superintendent Cathy Stafford said.

It also helped that Copper Trails opened with pupils who were previously enrolled at other schools in the district and also veteran teachers, Stafford said.

"They've set a high bar for baseline in moving forward, which means we're doing great things at all of our schools, because those kids moved to Copper Trails," she said.

On the rise
Sixty schools received a label of performing plus or above, which is up from 38 last year. Additionally, all seven schools that received underperforming in 2008 improved their ranking by at least one, and four jumped two labels to performing plus.

Trying to zero in on each child's needs was the big initiative for the Union Elementary District last year, which saw Dos Rios Elementary move up two labels from underperforming, Superintendent Pat Gillespie said.

"Take all your AIMS data, your testing data through the year, what you know about a child in the classroom and then look at discipline and attendance," she said. "Look at the child as a whole and figure out what it is that child may need. Even if they're excelling, all children have gains to be made."

The Litchfield Elementary District had the most schools improve their labels, with five, and the Littleton and Tolleson elementary districts each had four go up.

Tolleson was the only district to improve all of its schools' labels. Last year it had one underperforming school, but still voluntarily put all four campuses into school improvement mode.

"We think what we're doing with school improvement is really working," Superintendent Bill Christensen said. "Basically, it's all about collaboration; no one teacher's efforts is more important than the efforts of the entire group."

Balancing act
In some districts, a few schools improved their labels while others dropped or stayed the same from 2008, showing the constant struggle to keep all campuses moving forward.

The Littleton Elementary District's two underperforming schools from last year, Estrella Vista and Quentin, made it out from under the low label and are now performing.

"We knew what we needed to do and that was focus on every kid as an individual, find out what they needed and try to meet those needs academically," Assistant Superintendent Paul Tighe said.

However, Littleton Elementary has slipped into underperforming, and is the only school in the West Valley to hold the label.

"Naturally, we're disappointed in that, but we've got new leadership there and I think a year from now we'll be talking about the success," Tighe said.

If a school is underperforming, the district's governing board must develop an improvement plan, submit a copy to the superintendent of public instruction and supervise the implementation of the plan within 90 days.

Four districts have one excelling school while their others are still trying to reach the summit. The Liberty Elementary District was able to increase two of its schools' labels, but Estrella Mountain still holds the lone top label.

"Why is one school excelling and another not? That's a harder question at times," Assistant Superintendent Paul Stanton said. "I think growth is what you're going to see us look at, and that's what we saw on our campuses."

Federal standards
More schools also made the grade when it came to meeting federal requirements based on the No Child Left Behind act, which was passed by President George W. Bush in 2001.

A report released Wednesday by the ADE shows the number of West Valley schools making Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, increased 11 percent.

Eighty-four percent met the standards this year, while the statewide average increased from 73 percent to 74 percent.

As a whole, most West Valley school districts did not meet AYP again this year. The only two that met the standards are Arlington and Palo Verde, each of which has one school.

No Child Left Behind has 253 categories and if a school performs well on 252 and fails one, the whole school doesn't make AYP, Arizona Schools Chief Tom Horne said.

To meet the standards, schools must increase the number of pupils who pass the AIMS tests and ensure 95 percent of pupils are there on testing day. Federal requirements also measure elementary school attendance and high school graduation rates.

Pupils are divided into nine subgroups and schools and districts must meet the required goals both overall and in the smaller groups, which include English language learners, special education and pupils who live in poverty.

Not in sync
In the West Valley, 10 schools that didn't make AYP last year were able to do so this year. The Agua Fria and Tolleson union high school districts, Liberty Elementary District and Saddle Mountain Unified District pulled all of their schools up to meet the standards.

"It's a combination of things, including curriculum alignment to the state academic standards," said Dennis Dowling, director of student achievement for the Tolleson Union High School District. "We feel very good at where we are with our curriculums in the content areas."

On the other side of the spectrum, five schools failed to meet the standards this year even though they did in 2008.

However, eight of the schools that did not meet AYP also received performing plus labels for AZ LEARNS, which causes districts to see less correlation between the two standards, Tighe said.

"It's interesting to have performing plus schools not make AYP," he said.

At Quentin Elementary in the Littleton District, the reason for not making AYP was narrowed down to one pupil not meeting standards in eighth-grade reading, Tighe said.

"It's so close, but it really doesn't matter; you either are or you aren't," he said. "It only takes one indicator of not meeting the requirements."

Emily McCann can be reached by e-mail at emccann@westvalleyview.com.