Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP): Might Growth Models Be Allowed Under the No Child Left Behind Act? Page: 2 of 17
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Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP):
Might Growth Models Be Allowed
Under the No Child Left Behind Act?
Summary
A key concept embodied in the accountability provisions of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of
2001 (NCLBA, P.L. 107-110), is that of adequate yearly progress (AYP). In order
to be eligible for grants under ESEA Title I, Part A - Education for Disadvantaged
Pupils - states must implement standards of AYP that are applicable to all public
schools and local educational agencies (LEAs) in the state, and are based primarily
on the scores of pupils on state assessments. Schools or LEAs that fail to meet AYP
standards for two or more consecutive years face a variety of consequences.
The primary model of AYP under the NCLBA currently is a group status model.
Such models set threshold levels of performance, expressed in terms of the
percentage of pupils scoring at a proficient or higher level on state assessments of
reading and mathematics, that must be met by all pupils as a group, as well as pupils
in designated demographic subgroups, in order for any school or LEA to make AYP.
Current law also includes a secondary model of AYP, a "safe harbor" provision,
under which a school or LEA may make AYP if, among pupil groups who did not
meet the primary AYP standard, the percentage of pupils who are not at the proficient
or higher level declines by at least 10%, and those pupil groups make progress on at
least one other academic indicator in the state's AYP standards.
Substantial interest has been expressed in the possible use of individual/cohort
growth models to meet the AYP requirements of the NCLBA. Such AYP models are
not consistent with certain statutory provisions of the NCLBA, as they have been
interpreted by the U.S. Department of Education (ED). However, in November 2005,
the Secretary of Education announced a growth model pilot program under which up
to 10 states would be allowed to use growth models to make AYP determinations for
the 2005-06 school year. Many proponents of growth models for school/LEA AYP
see them as being more fair and accurate than the models currently employed to meet
NCLBA requirements, primarily because they take into consideration the currently
widely varying levels of achievement of different pupil groups. Growth models
generally recognize the fact that different schools and pupils have different starting
points in their achievement levels, and recognize progress being made at all levels.
Growth models of AYP have the disadvantage of implicitly setting lower
thresholds or expectations for some pupil groups and/or schools. Although any
growth model deemed consistent with the NCLBA would likely need to incorporate
the act's ultimate goal of all pupils at a proficient or higher level of achievement by
2013-2014, the majority of such models used currently or in the past do not include
such goals, and might allow disadvantaged schools and pupils to remain at relatively
low levels of achievement for significant periods of time. Growth models of AYP
may be quite complicated, and may address the accountability purposes of the
NCLBA less directly and clearly than the currently authorized AYP models.
This report will be updated when legislative or policy developments occur.Congressional Research Service + The Library of Congress
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Riddle, Wayne C. Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP): Might Growth Models Be Allowed Under the No Child Left Behind Act?, report, December 1, 2005; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc810740/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.