The following document will go into greater detail on adequate yearly progress, its connection to the No Child Left Behind Act, how Oregon defines it, and how Salem-Keizer is affected by it.

Adequate yearly progress is a major component of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA), which is the latest education reform law. The NCLBA has created more accountability on the part of school districts than ever before and has a focus on parental choice and involvement. The law includes several key components - highly qualified staff, parental choice and involvement, safe schools, and adequate yearly progress.

A quick definition…

Adequate yearly progress means the amount of improvement each student makes each year toward an academic goal.

What is making adequate yearly progress?

The federal government left it up to each state to define what is considered making adequate yearly progress. However, there is an ultimate requirement for all states - by 2014, 100 percent of students must meet academic standards. Each state has set criteria to measure how its schools are making adequate yearly progress toward the 100th percentile requirement.

What is Oregon's criteria for adequate yearly progress?

Oregon bases adequate yearly progress on several items, and if any one item in any school is below standard or not met, then the entire state does not make adequate yearly progress. Here are the items:

Participation rate

Each school giving Oregon State assessment tests must have 95 percent of its student population take the test on the test date. If they do not, then the school does not make adequate yearly progress - even if all the students who did take the test meet or exceed state standards.

Be on target

Each year until 2014, the state has set targets for State assessment tests in English/Language Arts and Math that need to be met or exceeded in order for a school to make adequate yearly progress. The requirement is to have 100 percent of all students meet or exceed standards on state assessment tests by 2014.

Each category of students must be on target

Progress used to be measured by the overall results on tests for each school. That is no longer the case. Now each category of students must meet assessment test targets in order for the entire school to make adequate yearly progress. Categories include low-income students, students with disabilities, and Limited English Proficient. They are also categorized by race/ethnicity, such as American Indian, Black, Hispanic, White, etc.

For example, if students in one of those categories of a particular school don't meet the targets on state assessment tests, then the entire school does not make adequate yearly progress even if their overall school score on assessment tests is above the target.

Attendance rate is the last item

In addition to all of the above criteria, schools must also maintain adequate attendance rates. The state has separated this item into two categories - elementary/middle school and high school. For elementary and middle schools, the attendance rate is the percentage of students attending and is calculated as the ratio of the total number of students present each day at school to the total number of days that could have been attended.

For high schools, it's based on the number of graduates, which are defined by the State as students who received a regular high school diploma. The State does not count students who got a GED or a modified diploma as graduates.

Making academic growth, but not meeting assessment targets - Safe Harbor

A school can make adequate yearly progress even if a category of students did not meet targets on state assessment tests. This may only happen if those students showed a 10 percent increase in academic growth from the previous year. For example, a category of students at an elementary school tested 25 percent on the math test. By definition, they did not meet the target, but last year their test results were at 15 percent so they have made an academic growth of 10 percent in one year. This is considered safe harbor and the school does make adequate yearly progress.

In summary…

There are three main areas (participation, test results, attendance) a school needs to meet for each student category in order to make adequate yearly progress. If any one of the items is not met then the school does not make adequate yearly progress.

What happens when a school does not make adequate yearly progress?

Currently, consequences exist for Title I funded schools only. Title I funded schools receive money from the federal government to assist low-income students. All schools must report adequate yearly progress, but only Title I funded schools face sanctions if they don't make progress. Here's a summary of sanctions:

• Year One - not making adequate yearly progress
  If a Title I funded school does not make adequate yearly progress for one year, there are no sanctions for that year. The school will continue to work on improvement.

• Year Two - not making adequate yearly progress
  If the school does not make adequate yearly progress for two years in a row in the same subject (Math or English/Language Arts), then the following things will happen: Parents have the choice to transfer their students to another school that is making adequate yearly progress. The District must provide transportation. The school must also revise its Comprehensive School Improvement Plan to show how it will improve in order to make adequate yearly progress.

• Year Three - not making adequate yearly progress
  If the school does not make adequate yearly progress for three years in a row in the same subject (Math or English/Language Arts), it must continue to offer parents school choice, as well as provide supplemental services to its students, such as tutoring. The school must revise its Comprehensive School Improvement Plan to show how it will improve in order to make adequate yearly progress.

• Year Four - not making adequate yearly progress
  If a school does not make adequate yearly progress for four years in a row in the same subject, it is labeled for corrective action by the federal government. The school must do all of the above - offer school choice to parents and supplemental services to students - and the school district must do one of the following at the school: 
  • Replace the school staff who are relevant to not making adequate yearly progress
  • Implement a new curriculum and provide professional development
  • Significantly decrease management authority
  • Appoint outside expert to advise on school improvement plan
  • Extend school year or school day
  • Restructure internal organization of school

• Year Five - not making adequate yearly progress
  If a school does not make adequate yearly progress for five years in a row in the same subject, the federal government identifies it for restructuring. The school must continue to offer parents school choice and supplemental services to students. It must also beginning planning for restructuring.

• Year Six - not making adequate yearly progress
  If a school does not make adequate yearly progress for six years in a row in the same subject, it must implement restructuring based on the plan it developed in year five. The school district must do one of the following to at school: 
  • Reopen it as a charter school
  • Replace all or most of relevant staff
  • Contract with outside entity to operate school
  • Undergo a state takeover
  • Undertake any other major restructuring of school's governance that makes fundamental reform

The above information on AYP consequences is from A Toolkit For Communicating About Adequate Yearly Progress produced by the Oregon School Boards Association.

Consequently, a school that is in the sanction process of adequate yearly progress, must make AYP for two years in a row before sanctions are lifted.

AYP resources

»  No Child Left Behind Information at Oregon Department of Education Web Site