According to the National Education Association, of the 41 states that have reported their NCLB test results from spring 2004, 32 showed improvement in the number of schools meeting their adequate yearly progress (AYP) goals. Cause for celebration? Perhaps. But before anyone makes grand claims, take a careful look at what those numbers mask. Specifically, while 32 states have reduced the number of schools that "need improvement," according to the Center on Education Policy, at least 35 states have amended the rules that determine which schools pass and which schools fail. As the Wall Street Journal reports, in North Carolina, for example, only 660 schools failed to meet AYP in 2004 - just half the number that didn't meet the state's AYP goal in 2003. But, since last year's AYP results were released, the Department of Education has allowed the Tar Heel State "to make 11 changes to the rules that the state uses to determine what its schools must do to meet the yearly target. One of those changes alone resulted in 10 percent more schools passing this year than last." The Education Department also allowed Delaware, among other states, to label a school district as failing "only if children at all three school levels - elementary, middle, and high school - miss their learning goals." (Previously, a district was deemed "in need of improvement" if children in one grade in any level failed to meet AYP - a rule that last year resulted in 17 of 19 Delaware districts being labeled "in need of improvement.") Nancy Wilson, head of the Delaware school improvement office, insists that "It's not about ducking accountability. It's about managing morale. These labels are morale busters." What, one wonders, is their current morale based on? Failure?
"Rule changes help schools stay ahead," by June Kronholz, Wall Street Journal, November 17, 2004 (subscription required)