While many schools and several state education agencies are
grumbling about what they say are unfair and unrealistic
standards in federal education laws, the Tomball school system
has found a way for most of its campuses to meet them. The
standards, called adequate yearly progress (AYP), were created
by the No Child Left Behind Act. All public schools are
evaluated annually in reading and math and meet the requirements
if 87 percent of the students on a given campus pass the state
reading and English test and 83 percent pass the math test.
Creekside Forest, Canyon Pointe, Lakewood, Rosehill, Tomball and
Willow Creek elementaries all met the standards, as did
Northpointe Intermediate, Willow Wood Junior High, Tomball
Junior High and Tomball Memorial High School. The district as a
whole also met the requirements, one of only eight schools in
the 51-school Region 4 area to do so. Only 28 percent of all
Texas schools met or exceeded the requirements. “AYP standards
substantially increased this year,” Tomball Supe