BY JENN MCDOWELL

Hooksett students have scored well enough to get their elementary schools off the state’s list of schools in need of improvement.

However, graduates of middle schools in Hooksett, Candia and Auburn may step in to high schools in which the state is a heavy presence come next year.

The Hooksett School District, with generally high scoring all around this year, just came out of a “district in need of improvement” status, a dark cloud hanging over it since 2005.

High schools

The state designated the  Manchester School District as “a district in need of corrective action” according to the Adequate Yearly Progress reports, released on Monday, Aug. 27.

Students in Hooksett, Candia and Auburn attend Manchester high schools, all three of which  – Central, Memorial and West -- were dubbed “schools in need of improvement” for the third year in a row. Schools with such a designation are supposed to receive help from the state to make improvements.

While the three city high schools are noted in one of the state Department of Education documents as failing the progress tests three years in a row, the high schools did not take 10th grade tests in time for this year’s results and did pass graduation requirements.

Pembroke Academy, which Pembroke, Allenstown and Epsom high schoolers attend, met the requirements for proficiency in math and reading.

Elementary schools

The results for Hooksett, Candia and Auburn school districts showed improvement, with all three districts attaining overall positive results.

Allenstown and Epsom schools were found lacking in the report, while Pembroke schools got passing grades.

Overall, Hooksett schools performed well in the testing, the only downfall being that Hooksett Memorial School did not meet the requirement in math.

Auburn Village School also did very well, passing in all requirements, even in subcategories, and remaining consistent with last year’s results.

Epsom Central School did not meet the requirements in reading or math. Last year, the school passed in both categories.

In the “educationally disabled” category, Epsom Central failed to meet requirements in both reading and math.

Subgroups cost schools as a whole

The educationally disabled category was a problem for many school districts across the board, including Pembroke, Candia and Allenstown.

Dr. Betsey Cox-Buteau, principal of Armand R. Dupont School in Allenstown, said the fact that her school did not make AYP in either math or reading is  disheartening.

“There’s no good way to put it,” Cox-Buteau said.

She said the school is working on a variety of reforms to improve next year’s results, but those efforts will not be reflected in this year’s NECAP scores since the testing starts next month.

She added that parental involvement is key to fostering literacy in children.

How a school’s status is determined

The reports are issued each year and are based on students’  standardized test scores. In compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act, schools and districts must meet state requirements for proficiency in math and reading.

If a district does not meet the proficiency goals in both categories for two years in a row, that district receives a “district in need of improvement” rating. The district must then formulate an improvement plan.

The district as a whole must meet the requirements for the next two consecutive years to drop that label.

If the district does not correct the problem on its own, it gets a rating of “district in need of corrective action,” in which case the state steps in to solve the problem through whatever action it deems necessary.

The same time frame goes for schools: those that are deemed a “school in need of improvement”  in a subject must make adequate yearly progress in that category two years in a row to exit that status.