Initial data from the Georgia Department of Education, released Thursday, show that the Griffin-Spalding County School System did not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). The school system did, however, improve its performance compared to last year, with 14 of its 18 schools initially making AYP, as opposed to 11 schools in 2010.

The four schools not making AYP this year are A.Z. Kelsey Academy, Griffin High School, Cowan Road Middle School and Carver Road Middle School.

Whether a school system, or individual school, makes AYP is determined by a number of factors, such as academic performance, test participation and graduation rates. Academic performance from minorities, special-education students and economically disadvantaged students are also considered.

“We are very happy with the results of this year’s AYP report,” Griffin-Spalding County School System Superintendent Curtis Jones said. “It shows clearly that the initiatives and actions that we have taken over the last two years are successful.”

The percentage of schools in Georgia that made AYP in 2011 dropped compared to last year, due in part to academic requirements that continue to rise each year as part of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. This can result in school systems seeing the gap between their performance and NCLB’s standards widen — despite continuously improving each year.

“We have many great schools in the state providing a high-quality education to all students, but the rate at which the academic bar and the graduation rate requirement increased this year prevented more schools from making AYP,” said State School Superintendent John Barge in a release. “We knew we were up against the proverbial wall because this bar increases each year, and it appears that we have begun to hit it.”

The Georgia Department of Education will release a second set of AYP data in September. Since that set will include summer school graduations and retesting, the number of schools making AYP is likely to increase.

Jones said he is confident that Cowan Road Middle and Carver Road Middle will make AYP after the second set of data is released.