DERRY — If the federal Department of Education approves New Hampshire's waiver from No Child Left Behind, the Derry school district looks to be in good shape with the new state accountability statute to ensure students receive an adequate education.

In 2009, the state Legislature passed a bill establishing the New Hampshire Adequacy Report. On Oct. 1, the state's department of education released the first adequacy reports for each school and school district in the state.

“The accountability system makes sure schools are providing an opportunity for adequate education,” said Superintendent Laura Nelson. “The report was designed over several years by the Commissioner's Task Force on Adequacy.”

If the state waiver for No Child Left Behind is granted, the adequacy reports will be used to help determine school districts that are in need of improvement.

“If the waiver is granted, this report will be what we look at for annual yearly progress and student reporting,” Nelson said. “This is what the state developed as our own unique adequacy system.”

Under the new reporting system, each of the district's elementary and middle schools exceeded the score needed to determine that they are providing an adequate education.

“I'm very pleased,” said Nelson.

“This is a real positive for all our schools, our families, our children, and our teachers.”

The scores for elementary and middle schools are determined through six factors: reading growth, mathematics growth, science index, writing index, assessment participation, and excessive absence. The reading and math growth accounts for 60 percent of the total score in the elementary and middle schools, according to Nelson.

A minimum score of 2.3 is required to determine adequacy, and Derry's five elementary and two middle schools all scored between 2.7 and 3.2.

“The reports for each school were very strong,” said Nelson.

The breakdowns for each school are available on the district's website at www.sau10.org.

“This is good news for our staff and our kids who work very hard and worry about whether they are doing well on a test or making adequate yearly progress,” said School Board Chairman Brenda Willis.

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