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Delaware's
General Assembly passes law to match state and federal
accountability requirements because of federal requirements
of ESEA, the "No Child Left Behind Act"
Adequate
Yearly Progress
Click
here for the results
of Delaware's AYP rankings
The measurement is called "Adequate Yearly Progress"
or AYP for short. It is the procedure used by the
so-called No Child Left Behind Act to hold schools
accountable for student performance.
It is based on two mandated statewide tests - mathematics
and reading/language arts.
AYP is measured both for all students as well as several
subgroups: major racial/ethnic groups, students in
poverty, limited-English proficient students and students
with disabilities.
Schools
and districts must meet certain targets in every one
of the 37 subgroups in order to have achieved Adequate
Yearly Progress. And, the so-called No Child Left
Behind Act requires that by the school year 2013-14,
100% of all students must score at the proficient
or above level. It's much more complex, but that's
the gist.
There are severe consequences along the way for schools
that fail to make AYP for two years in a row, and
much more severe punishments if that number increases
to four years.
There are no rewards for improvement. There are no
rewards for making AYP period.
Although NCLB's goal is admirable, it wastes billions
of dollars on federal state and local resources thanks
to its paperwork, bureaucracy and testing requirements.
Worse, successful classroom learning is being held
back, not improved, by overly rigid mandates that
don't meet the needs of many students. Thus, the effect
is leaving more children behind instead of fewer.
A snapshot of two tests does not give educators, students,
parents and the public an accurate picture of how
schools are doing. Parents and educators understand
that multiple measures (not two) such as graduation
rates, attendance, classroom performance, should be
used to evaluate how students are doing. And assessments
should be multiple as well so that they can inform
teaching and learning, not punish our schools.
| 2001
Ratings before ESEA/NCLB |
2003
Ratings: compliance with ESEA/NCLB -
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)
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2004
Ratings: compliant with ESEA/NCLB: AYP Plus |
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two-year cycle
DSTP: Rading/writing, mathematics
Absolute scores compared to targets
Improvement scores compared to targets
Distributional scores compared to targets
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one-year cycle
DSTP: Reading/writing, mathematics
Absolute scores compared to targets
Calculations based on higher of scores from
current year or average of most recent two years
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AYP
One-year cycle
DSTP: Rading/writing, mathematics
Absolute scores compared to targets
Calculations based on higher of scores from
current year or average of most recent two years
Consider "confidence interval" in
calculations
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| Overall average scores |
At least 95% participation |
At least 95% participation |
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School Rating (initial)
Site visits
Consider additional information
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Analysis by 9 sub-groups (40 students or greater)
Additional indicator: HS graduation rate
Elem. and m.s. DSTP
Science and social studies absolute scores compared
to targets
AYP: Yes or NO
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Analysis by 9 sub-groups (40 students or greater)
Additional indicator: HS graduation rate
Elem. and m.s: Improvement in DSTP reading and
math schoolwide average scale scores of students
scoring below the standard
Consider "confidence interval" in
calculations
AYP: Above, Meets or Below Target
Report % of cells meeting AYP
AYP Plus
State Progress Measure
DSTP rading, mathematics, science and social
studies improvement scores (schoolwide averages)
and targets
Consider "confidence interval" in
calculations
State progress rating: Above, Meets or Below
Target
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School Rating (final):
Superior, Commendable, Under Improvement |
School Rating: Superior, Commendable, Academic
Review, Academic Progress, Academic Watch |
AYP plus AYP PLUS = School
rating
Superior, Commendable, Academic Review,
Academic Progress, Academic Watch
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For
an online guide to K-12 schools nationwide, check
out Great
Schools.Net.
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