• NCLB & School Imrovement


    What is Adequate Yearly Progress or AYP?
    Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the measure for school and district achievement is referred to as Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). This is the minimum level of academic improvement schools and districts are expected to meet. Achievement is tracked for the school as a whole, as well as each of the following subgroups within a school:
    •Asian
    •Hispanic/Latino
    •Multi-Racial
    •Native American/Pacific Islander
    •White
    •Economically Disadvantaged (Free- or Reduced-Price Lunch)
    •Limited English Proficient
    •Students with Disabilities

    For a school to make AYP, each subgroup and the school overall must AYP in both reading and math. In addition, the school must test at least 95 percent of the students in each subgroup. Elementary and middle school measures also look at attendance; high schools are evaluated on graduation rates. All of these factors together determine if a school makes AYP.
    If even one subgroup doesn’t meet one of these goals, then the entire school does not make AYP.
    For more information on Adequate Yearly Progress, Please follow this link- DPI AYP.

    School Improvement Status
    Because a major component of NCLB focuses on improving education for disadvantaged students, Title I schools that do not make AYP for two or more consecutive years are identified as in need of school improvement. These schools receive technical assistance and face sanctions. The ultimate goal of these sanctions is to improve academic achievement of students; however, the strategies to do so are more restricted and directed by authorities at the district and state levels. These sanctions range from offering parents the choice to transfer the children to another school in the district to completely restructuring a Title I school that repeatedly does not meet its AYP goals.