CEP Study: Nearly Half of Schools Miss AYP Mark

I remember a few years back when the Clark County School District -- the nation's fifth-largest, with more than 300,000 students in and around Las Vegas -- tried to soothe the sting of No Child Left Behind with an exercise in building campus pride.

At the time, the district was sending out flags to its schools where students did well enough on standardized tests to meet the threshold for "adequate yearly progress" under No Child Left Behind. Schools were expected to proudly fly their AYP colors ... never mind that adequacy usually isn’t something to brag about.

But that's not quite how things worked out. Educators in southern Nevada -- as in much of the rest of the country -- were skeptical about using AYP as a measure of a school's overall success. Additionally, there were dozens of schools that fell just short of the necessary target, often because of poor performance by one small subgroup. In more than a few instances, that subgroup was special education students, raising inclusion advocates' concerns that an already vulnerable population would be unfairly blamed for "bringing down" a school.

Rather than a banner of excellence, the flags wound up signifying what many NCLB critics called the patent unfairness of the federal education reform.

So, the Clark County School Board had an idea. What if the district handed out different flags to schools to signify accomplishments other than making AYP? How about a flag for outstanding daily attendance? Or a flag for schools that make significant progress, even if the hard targets of NCLB aren't reached?

The multiple flags initiative was eventually abandoned in the wake of public criticism (and yes, some outright mocking) of what many saw as a misguided attempt to make sure no one's feelings were hurt.

I am thinking about this episode today because the Center on Education Policy has put out its key findings on the nation's AYP results for the 2010-11 academic year. (Click here for the link.)

The nonprofit and independent organization annually compiles a nationwide snapshot of AYP results for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. This year's figures show that nearly half – 48 percent -- of the country’s schools are estimated to have not made AYP on the most recent assessments. That’s a significant jump from the 39 percent of U.S. campuses that fell short in 2010.

I use the word "estimated" carefully, and I would encourage you to be equally measured in how you use the CEP findings. As CEP notes in its report, the "content and rigor" of the tests used to measure student achievement vary widely among states, and therefore "AYP results should not be directly compared between states, and a state with a higher percentage of schools failing to make AYP should not be assumed to have a weaker educational system."

The CEP report's figures should be considered preliminary in part because the numbers can change after they have been collected. There are ways for a school to appeal its AYP results, and state education departments have the authority to issue waivers.

The CEP report is still useful, even with the caveats that come with it. The findings clearly show that schools, districts and states continue to struggle to meet existing benchmarks for student achievement. Among the report's key findings was that in 24 states and the District of Columbia, "at least half of the public schools did not make AYP in 2011.

It's also strong evidence of how much variation there is among states when it comes to defining adequacy and achievement. The percentages of schools not making AYP ranged from just 11 percent in Wisconsin to a whopping 89 percent in Florida.

This has been perhaps the single most consistent criticism of NCLB – that it shames schools, rather than lays out a means of helping them improve.

Congress -- and the various education and community stakeholders -- is continuing its wrangling over the ESEA reauthorization, and whatever will take the place of NCLB. The next incarnation is expected to focus on rewarding growth, rather than retaining the inflexible bar for measuring achievement that is still widely in place.

My question: Will it come with flags?

Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email me at erichmond@ewa.og. I'm also on Twitter @EWAEmily.