Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas About 19 of Texas schools did not make AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) in 2006. This share fell to 9 in 2007 grew somewhat to 15 in 2008 then dropped to 5 in 2009 where it stayed in 2010.
When Congress debates reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) much of the debate will undoubtedly focus on the accountability requirements added by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB).
Among the most controversial of these NCLB requirements are the provisions for determining whether schools and districts have made adequate yearly progress (AYP) in raising student achievement in reading and mathematics.
States have had to set yearly targets or annual measurable objectives (AMOs) for the percentages of students that must score proficient on state reading and math tests and for performance on at least one other academic indicator. For high school this additional indicator had to include the graduation rate; for elementary and middle schools states often chose the attendance rate.
Under NCLB these AMOs must rise periodically on a trajectory that leads to the ultimate goal of 100 of students reaching proficiency by the end of school year 2013-14.
The actual number of Texas schools not making AYP declined by 1151 between 2006 and 2010 and by 741 between 2008 and 2010.
Thus during both time periods the trend in Texas moved strongly in the opposite direction from the national trend. The substantial reductions in the number of schools failing to make AYP in Texas plus the decreases in North Carolina and South Carolina discussed later help to explain why the national increase in schools failing to make AYP has not been greater.
The Texas accountability plan provides for annual increases of equal increments in AMOs. The key factor in the declining number of Texas schools not making AYP appears to be the implementation of the states growth model called the Texas Projection Measure in 2008-09 and beyond.
According to the
Texas Education Agency (2009) 528 schools made AYP in 2009 that would not have done so without the use of this growth model.
These schools accounted for 70 of the decrease in the number of schools failing to make AYP in Texas between 2008 and 2009.
The national proportion of schools failing to make adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind Act last school year rose to 38 percent up 5 percentage points from the year before as the 2014 deadline for getting all students proficient" in reading and math approaches says a report issued today by the Center on Education Policy.
At the same time individual states progress toward that goal varies widely based on the centers analysis of state test data.
Those latest data from the Washington-based education policy organization comes as U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan pushes Congress to
reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of which the
NCLB law is the latest version.
Criticism of the laws AYP yardstickincluding from Mr. Duncanhas mounted as schools chase whats become an elusive goal of 100 percent proficiency. Not only are education advocates worried about schools failure to meet that goal but many also feel that the measure of schools performance is becoming an invalid tool.
Mr. Duncan who is concerned about the label attached to what he calls failing" schools has warned that a huge proportion of schools will fall short this year if Congress does not act.
Eighty-two percent of Americas schools could be labeled failing in 2010-11 and over time the required remedies for all of them are the samewhich means we will really fail to serve the students in greatest need" he said on March 9.
But getting to that 82 percent figure for the current school year would require more than doubling 2010s showing of 38 percent in one years timewhich seems very unlikely" said Jack Jennings the centers president and chief executive officer.
The law sets annual performance targets for students and for smaller subgroups such as English-language learners and special education students. In moving toward the 2014 proficiency deadlines schools and districts must make AYP gains each year or face an escalating set of sanctions.
But federal and state policies are in fact making it easier for schools to achieve AYP said Mr. Jennings who favors a more uniform accountability standard for all states.
Instead some states are lowering cutoff scores which determine whether a student is deemed proficient." Others are allowing students to retake tests and more than a dozen states are using student-growth models for AYP purposes.
Wide Swings
The national AYP average is influenced by big swings in large states.
Between 2006 and 2010 the percentage of schools nationwide not making the
grade jumped to 38 percent from 29 percent driven by increases in four states: California Florida Illinois and Missouri.
In each of those states as annual performance targets increased more schools failed to make AYP.
In California for instance 61 percent of schools failed to make it last year up from 34 percent in 2006an increase of nearly 3000 schools.
