Adequate Yearly Progress

Regulations

Each state’s department of education sets the AYP targets for each state’s public schools. Private schools were not required to participate in the AYP system. NCLB requires each state’s targets to follow a timeline ensuring that by the end of the [Page 45]2013–2014 school year, 100% of students, including 100% of students in identified subgroups, were meeting or exceeding the state-defined level of proficiency on academic achievement assessments. With the December 2015 authorization of the Every Student Succeeds Act, the AYP system was replaced by state-determined long-term goals.

According to the federally mandated schedule, states were required to align their tests with their chosen state academic standards and begin testing students. Students in Grades 3–8 were tested annually in reading and math, and those in Grades 10–12 were tested at least. Additionally, a sample of fourth and eighth graders in each state are expected to take the National Assessment of Educational Progress reading and mathematics tests every other year. The National Assessment of Educational Progress data were used to make cross-state comparisons and compile a national report card showing aggregate levels of student proficiency.

Annual AYP targets were set separately for reading and for math achievement. Overall state targets were set for the total population of students, and separate targets were set for the subgroups of economically disadvantaged students, students of identified major racial and ethnic groups, students with disabilities, and students with limited English proficiency. The process of improving student subgroups’ attainment of academic proficiency at a rate faster than the overall improvement rate is sometimes referred to as “closing the gap.”

In order for a school to be considered to be making AYP, three conditions had to be met. First, at least 95% of overall students as well as 95% of the students in each subgroup with 45 or more students must have been tested. Additionally, the overall population of students as well as each subgroup of students was required to meet or exceed the state-determined objectives or increase the percentage of students meeting or exceeding the target by at least 10%. Federal guidance indicated that students can be counted more than once when determining proficiency rates. Finally, the school also had to meet the minimum annual state target for attendance rate for elementary and middle schools and graduation rate for high schools.

Using these targets, state departments of education were responsible for determining the schools and districts considered to be making AYP. When schools failed to make AYP for multiple years in a row, they were subject to the following system of penalties outlined in NCLB. Title I schools that failed to make AYP for 2 consecutive years were enrolled for the program improvement process and were designated as schools in need of improvement. Parents of children in those schools were given the choice to transfer their children to other schools that were not identified for improvement and not identified as persistently dangerous. Priority in school choice was mandated to be given to low-achieving children from low-income families. If all schools in a district were classified as in need of improvement, districts were encouraged to cooperate with neighboring districts in order to provide school choice.

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