With preliminary results showing that the Newton County School system and 11 of its schools failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress, many wonder, what does that mean for the school system going forward? Since the 2010-11 school year was the second consecutive year that the system failed AYP, typically that would mean a system would need to develop a system improvement plan that includes potentially costly professional development criteria. However, last year, when Superintendent Gary Mathews was hired, a new professional development plan was implemented.