The federal No Child Left Behind law that requires students to be tested for “Adequate Yearly Progress” can be extremely confusing. Here are a few facts and common misperceptions to help understand Adequate Yearly Progress, or “AYP.”
Adequate Yearly Progress sets the bar for the percentage of students that must pass state tests in reading and math. New target percentages are set each year for the testing average of all students in the district and each school building, and in nine demographic sub-categories such as Asian/Pacific Islander, Limited English, and Low-income. The standards to meet AYP increase annually until 100 percent of the nation’s students must pass both tests in all demographic categories in 2014, two school years from now. Try to think of any other field of human endeavor that expects 100 percent success (i.e., crime rates, health care, business success, athletics, etc.).
Misperception 1: Not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress means that a school or a district is failing.
Larger schools are penalized harshly for demographic diversity. A medium-sized district like Oak Harbor has 270 different combinations of school and demographic categories that must reach the target passing rate: that’s 270 possible ways to fail to meet AYP. Smaller school districts have far less of a challenge.
Additionally, each state creates their own test –- there is nothing “standard” about them on a national level. Washington took that job seriously and set the bar high. It’s difficult to accurately compare testing state to state, but looking at SAT scores for college admission is one indication that Washington expects more of its students. Washington has the highest SAT scores in the nation, and that’s been true for eight years in a row.
AYP puts states like Washington that rightfully require challenging tests on a path toward failure. Only one of Washington’s 147 medium to large school districts (over 1,000 students) met AYP last year (Mercer Island). That means 99.3 percent of Washington’s medium to large schools did not meet AYP. That represents 98.4 percent of all state students as being in failing districts. The standard is unrealistic to the point of being meaningless, and it is widely understood that Congress will remove or significantly change the requirement at some point in the near future.
Misperception 2: Not passing the test means that students are failing.
“Proficiency” is a higher level of understanding than the traditional definition that it takes a grade of “F” to fail. Proficiency is closer to a solid “C.” A student testing at the C-minus or D-plus level would be extremely unlikely to pass the state test.
At the elementary level, Oak Harbor made AYP in reading in 2010, but not in 2011. That happened despite the fact that our overall elementary reading scores improved. Additionally, the largest elementary school in the district – Hillcrest — made AYP in all categories.
Last year, Oak Harbor High School students scored 2.4 percent and 5.2 percent higher than the state average on the two required math tests, yet the high school did not make AYP in math due to an inadequate score in one of the demographic sub-categories. Is it reasonable to draw the conclusion that Oak Harbor students are failing in math, despite having above-average overall test grades in a state that sets higher standards than most?
At no time in our history have schools been expected to meet such impossibly high standards and comply with such complex rules. To make matters worse, AYP tells us nothing about student performance in science, writing, history, geography, music, art or foreign languages, much less leadership, innovation, citizenship and work-ethic.
Big-picture goals are far more important than unrealistic mandates such as AYP. Our goal is to prepare every graduate to continue their education after high school in a manner that will realistically lead to a career. Oak Harbor offers one of the state’s most successful career-technology programs, fully integrated with rigorous academics including 12 Advanced Placement courses, to offer real opportunity for all students. Our focus is on educating every student for success.
Peter Hunt is a member
of the Oak Harbor School District Board of Directors.
