How to gauge a school's progress
As Congress prepares to reauthorize No Child Left Behind, more educators want new definitions of achievement.
from the April 26, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
The concept resonates with the public: According to a Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll last year, 81 percent of Americans say they favor looking at the improvement students make during the year, rather than the percentage passing a test at the end of the year.
The mechanism that would be revised is known as AYP – the requirement that schools make "adequate yearly progress" toward the ultimate goal of all students scoring proficient on state tests in reading and math by 2014.
AYP is "a blunt instrument," said Tommy Thompson, co-chairman of the bipartisan commission, whose report includes 75 recommendations for improving NCLB.
If a school does not meet AYP for all subgroups of students (such as ethnic groups, low-income students, and English-language learners) for two years in a row, it must provide tutoring options and allow students to transfer out. Eventually, schools can be taken over by the state or forced to restructure.
Many school administrators have expressed frustration that their school is perceived as failing if even one subgroup falls short by a few points. That's why the bipartisan commission also suggested that schools should only be judged as not meeting AYP if the same subgroups fell behind the goal for two years in a row.
Test scores vs. tracking students
The current law relies heavily on a testing system designed for a different purpose – to sort and track students based on whether they were performing at a level that was average for their grade.
"When we came along with sanctions and accountability, we simply took the tests we had. Nobody started over from scratch," Mr. Barton says. But accountability for closing gaps is a different goal and requires a different kind of testing, he and many others insist.
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