Preliminary results released recently show that only five of Anson County's 11 public schools made AYP, or adequate yearly progress, for 2010.

Those five schools were Anson County Early College High, Ansonville Elementary, Wadesboro Primary, Lilesville Elementary and Anson New Tech.

Anson County Schools Superintendent Dr. Greg Firn said he was "a little disappointed" in the results but is particularly proud of Lilesville Elementary, which made AYP for the first time, and also Ansonville Elementary, which boasts a 100-percent passing rate on state testing. Wadesboro Primary has also brought itself out of corrective action, after making AYP for the second straight year.

"Each school has different targets," he pointed out, "so it's hard to compare."

In order to make AYP, schools must meet all of the defined targets. If even one target is not met, the school does not make AYP.

"We had three schools— Morven Elementary, Wadesboro Elementary and Peachland-Polkton Elementary— that only missed it by a few targets but did show academic growth over the past year."

AYP measures students' progress on end-of-course or end-of-grade testing in target groups defined by the No Child Left Behind act, which include the school as a whole, as well as groups such as white, black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, multiracial, economically disadvantaged students, limited English-proficient students and students with disabilities. Each target group must have at least 40 students across the tested grades— grades 3-8 for elementary schools and grade 10 for high schools— in order to be included in the AYP calculations.

The students' scores in reading and math only are used to calculate AYP.

AYP "doesn't show the whole picture," Firn said. He believes the ABCs, which should be released in the next few weeks, will show a more comprehensive picture of how Anson County students are performing academically.

"I would be less than truthful if I said I wasn't disappointed in the AYP results," he admitted, "but looking at the ABCs, from what I've seen, they are much better scores, much more detailed."

Firn added he hopes to share the ABCs results with the Board of Education at its August meeting later this month.

The AYP results were set to be approved by the State Board of Education Aug. 5. The preliminary results for Anson County are as follows:

• Anson County Schools— 5 schools (or 45.5 percent) out of 11 made Adequate Yearly Progress

• Anson Co. Early College High School— made Adequate Yearly Progress; met 5 (or 100 percent) out of 5 target goals

• Anson Academy School— did not make Adequate Yearly Progress; met 2 (or 66.7 percent) out of 3 target goals

• Anson High School— did not make Adequate Yearly Progress; met 3 (or 17.6 percent) out of 17 target goals

• Ansonville Elementary School— made Adequate Yearly Progress; met 17 (or 100 percent) out of 17 target goals

• Anson Middle School— did not make Adequate Yearly Progress; met 13 (or 76.5 percent) out of 17 target goals

• Wadesboro Primary School— made Adequate Yearly Progress; met 9 (or 100 percent) out of 9 target goals

• Lilesville Elementary School— made Adequate Yearly Progress; met 17 (or 100 percent) out of 17 target goals

• Morven Elementary School— did not make Adequate Yearly Progress; met 5 (or 55.6 percent) out of 9 target goals

• Peachland-Polkton Elementary School— did not make Adequate Yearly Progress; met 14 (or 82.4 percent) out of 17 target goals

• Wadesboro Elementary School— did not make Adequate Yearly Progress; met 10 (or 76.9 percent) out of 13 target goals

• Anson New Technology School— made Adequate Yearly Progress; met 2 (or 100 percent) out of 2 target goals