In last week’s journal, I promised a full accounting of recently-released test scores. So without further delay, here’s an in-depth analysis of federal accountability measures and how North Carolina schools stack up. Keep in mind, last week’s release dealt only with federal standards – North Carolina’s full ABCs report addressing state accountability measures won’t be released until October; so lucky for us, there’s more to come.
No Child Left Behind (NCLB), reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, was passed in January, 2002, ushering in a new system of school accountability and taking on what President Bush has referred to as the “soft bigotry of low expectations.” As a result, schools across the country and in North Carolina are now evaluated based on compliance with Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), NCLB’s accountability component. AYP target goals are raised every 3 years, culminating in 2014, when all schools are expected to have 100 percent student proficiency in reading and math. However, just 8 years shy of this goal, North Carolina’s AYP proficiency targets (for 2005-06) are still quite low: for grades 3-8, 76.7 percent of students should be proficient in reading and 81 percent proficient in math. High school targets are even lower – shockingly so in reading – with a goal of only 35.4 percent of students proficient in reading, and 70.8 percent proficient in math.
AYP is gathered several ways, in order to accurately track progress for schools and disaggregate data. Each school is evaluated as a whole, but also in 9 student subgroups: Asian, Hispanic, Black, Multi-racial, Native American, White, Limited English Proficient, Economically Disadvantaged, and Students with Disabilities. For a subgroup to be counted, the school must have at least 40 students who fit that category.
If AYP is not met for 2 consecutive years in the same subject area, the school is labeled as “needing improvement.” Title I schools (serving a greater percentage of low-income students and thus receiving more federal funds), face stricter penalties than their non-Title I counterparts, with sanctions beginning the third year of missing AYP. Sanctioned Title I schools must offer parents 2 other higher-performing public school options, or possibly a free tutoring service. Non-Title I schools failing to meet AYP goals are designated as “needing improvement,” but do not face sanctions.
Here are the 2005-06 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) results for high schools and AYP reading results for 3rd through 8th grade schools (a total of 2338 public schools). The preliminary results for Title I schools consist of:
97 schools not making AYP this year
79 schools not making AYP for the second year
12 schools not making AYP for the third year
6 schools not making AYP for the fourth year
By my calculations, that means about 17 percent of North Carolina’s Title I schools did not meet AYP. That’s pretty unsettling given the relatively low standards set by the state.
In the end, NCLB may be an imperfect law, but it does give families some basic options if children are stuck in failing schools year after year. After all, as former Secretary of Education Rod Paige has said of the law: “Its goal is simple: All students read and do math at grade level.” That’s not too much to ask of our schools, is it?