The ABCs of AYP - What Parents Don't Know

AYP stands for Adequate Yearly Progress and is used to measure school success as part of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) enacted in 2001 during President George W. Bush's first term in office. AYP uses data from existing standardized state assessments and then examines a variety of "subgroups" to see if schools are passing or failing. For example, in Virginia we have the Standards of Learning (SOLs). Schools receive a pass rate based on the percentage of students passing each SOL test. 400 is a passing score, 500 is a pass advanced score, and 600 is a perfect score.

These tests are not easy. Anyone who doubts me can go to the Department of Education website for their respective state and download previously released tests. Print out some of the 8th grade assessments and give it a try.

AYP is concerned with subgroups. Children are divided into categories, including: White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, English as a Second Language (ESL), Economically Disadvantaged (students who receive free or reduced lunch due to family income level), and, finally, Students with Disabilities (SWD). All subgroups are expected to achieve 100% pass rates in Math and Reading by 2013-14...

The federal government uses Annual Measurable Objectives (AMO) in an attempt to keep schools on pace as they work towards perfection in 2014. The AMO goes up each year. For 2009-10, all subgroups are expected to pass 85% of students in Reading and 83% of students in Math. If any one subgroup in a given school fails to meet the mark, that school is deemed as failing, or "not making AYP." It doesn't matter what the overall pass rates for the school are on the state tests (again, in Virginia's case, the SOL tests). One subgroup fails, the whole school fails.

I'm sure you're wondering what any reasonable person would be wondering: How can the federal government expect that Students With Disabilities (SWD) will achieve at the same level as their peers on a multiple-choice test? Well, Virginia had an answer for that, a little thing called Proxy Percent. With the Proxy Percent, the SWD subgroup could add 14%(Reading) and 16% (Math) to the overall pass rate. So, if SWD at School A passed at a rate of 72% in Reading, 14 more points could be added for a total pass rate of 86%. In gambler parlance, schools get SWD + 14 in Reading and SWD + 16 in Math. Until now.

Just recently, the federal government pulled the Proxy Percent back off the table and schools in Virginia will no longer be allowed to add it to their pass rates in Reading and Math for SWD. What does this mean? Many more schools will fail to make AYP this year and will labeled failures. Mark it down, it's going to happen. To use another football analogy, we've just experienced a major rule change late in the third quarter.

Some of the provisions of No Child Left Behind Act were justified in their intentions. We want to close the achievement gap, sure. The gap does need to be narrowed between Economically Disadvantaged children and their non-disadvantaged peers. It's logical that doing this will assist in breaking the stubborn cycle of poverty in our country. Also, we want to close the gap between Students With Disabilities and their non-disabled peers. It follows, that, when these students increase their academic performance, they have a better chance to be successful later in life.

But wait, there's more. Some schools will always make AYP, every year. Why? Because if you don't have at least 50 students testing in a particular subgroup, then the sample size is considered too small and those students' scores don't count. Say that School A has 49 SWD testing in a given year, and those 49 students are passing at a 50% rate. That school makes AYP. School B, on the other hand, has 200 SWD students passing at an 80% rate. School B fails to make AYP.

We've reached the top of Mount Everest when it comes to labeling kids: Next year, 2010-11, all public school parents will be asked to re-identify the race of their children. There has been a revision to Federal Race Codes. Parents will have to answer two questions: "Are you Hispanic or Latino? Yes or No;" and "What is your race (choose one or more) - American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, or White." For parents who don't return forms, their child's race will stay as it is right now.

How will this revision in race codes affect AYP? No one knows. I have two school-aged children. I intend to answer yes to the first question and check all the boxes for the second question. It's time for the federal government to put this absurd game aside and stop ensuring failure for our public schools.