The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) recently approved Ohio's growth model pilot (conditionally, at least) for use in the 2006-07 school year--clearing the way for the state's new value-added assessment program (see here ) to take effect in 2007-08. Under the program, student progress on state-mandated assessments can be tracked over time and the results factored into school and district school ratings. The DOE press release can be found here.