State board agrees Elm St. School not really 'in need of improvement'

LACONIA — Elm Street Elementary School was removed from the state's list of Schools in Need of Improvement after school officials made a presentation before the State Board of Education Wednesday in support of its contention that all of the students at the school are making adequate yearly progress toward defined goals.

The school had been identified as in need of improvement two years ago and was in danger of having to take radical steps to show that it was improving according to Superintendent of Schools Bob Champlin, who said that the school is actually high performing and has shown steady improvement under the leadership of Principal Eric Johnson.

The only category in which the school failed to make its target in the NECAP standardized tests administered last October was for students with educational disabilities and school officials argued successfully that other test scores such as NWEA, AIMSweb and formative assessments confirmed that the all students were making progress.

Champlin noted that the Acceptable Yearly Progress Review Team agreed with the elements of the school's appeal and that citing the school as ''in need of restructuring'' given its improvement history sends ''a confusing and inaccurate picture to all associated with the significant and continuous improvements achieved.''

Elm Street School is now one of only 24-percent of the schools in the state which are not subject to sanctions for failure to meet adequate yearly progress requirements.

Champlin said the information will be shared with the City Council at its next meeting.