The West Fargo School District was among 168 Districts in the State to meet adequate yearly progress status in North Dakota Program Improvement Data released Monday by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction for the 2004-2005 school year.

The No Child Left Behind regulations require the Department of Public Instruction to generate these annual Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) reports based on the State assessment data.

West Fargo Superintendent of Schools Chuck Cheney said he is pleased by the scores and is optimistic they will continue to improve. ";The District has made significant improvements as measured by the tests taken. Obviously, we're happy we've made those significant gains and we are looking forward to this falls' testing to be able to duplicate or improve it further.";

Districts are placed on the improvement list after failing to meet state guidelines two years in a row in various achievement testing levels. West Fargo was put on list last year when proficiency was found to be lacking in the grade-level math testing areas for students with disabilities or students with limited English skills. Students are tested at grade 4, 8 and 11 levels.

Districts placed on the improvement list status are required to develop a program to bring the test scores up and also reserve at least ten percent of its Title 1, Part A funds for high-quality professional development that is specifically designed to improve classroom teaching for instructional staff. Toward that end, teachers in West Fargo have been trained to use a more hands on approach to learning and this year the District is adding one full-time curriculum coach to formulate teaching practices and guide small groups of teachers. Teachers will also receive specialized instruction on how to teach math to students with disabilities and limited English skills.

If progress continues, the West Fargo District could possibly exit program improvement status when the reports are generated from the 2005-2006 assessment data.