AYP: Questions Parents Often Ask

AYP: Questions Parents Often Ask PARENTS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Is AYP calculated for all schools? AYP applies to all public schools including charter schools, all school districts, and all schools with special populations. What happens if a school doesn t make AYP? Under NCLB, a public school that does not make AYP in the first year faces no consequences. However, the school should develop/review its school improvement plan. Interventions begin at the end of the second consecutive year a Title I school doesn t make AYP in the same subject (reading/language arts or math). The school then enters Title I School Improvement and must offer its students transfer option(s). After three years of not making AYP in the a Title I school must offer special TITLE I SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT UNDER NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND (NCLB) After... then... and implements... 1 year of not making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in mathematics or reading/language arts, 2 consecutive years of not making AYP in the 3 years of not making AYP in the 4 years of not making AYP in the 5 years of not making AYP in the 6 years of not making AYP in the the school addresses challenge areas, the school enters Year 1 of Title I the school enters Year 2 of Title I the school enters Year 3 of Title I the school enters Year 4 of Title I the school enters Year 5 of Title I no sanctions under NCLB. school choice, unless the school is in a pilot district offering supplemental educational services as the first year option, and receives school choice, supplemental educational services and receives services, corrective action and receives services, devises a plan for restructuring and receives services, restructuring and receives NOTES: Title I schools enter Improvement after two consecutive years of not making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in the same subject (reading/language arts or mathematics). Title I schools exit Improvement after two consecutive years of making AYP in the subject that identified them for Improvement. If a school makes AYP in the identifying subject in any one year after entering Improvement, it does not move to the next level of sanctions in the. For every year a school in Improvement does not make AYP in the identifying subject, it moves to the next level of sanctions. It is possible for a school to exit Improvement for one subject, while entering into or remaining in Improvement based on the other subject. A list of districts participating in the SES Pilot Program is on the Web at www.ncpublicschools.org/nclb/ses/pilot. Available on the web at www.ncpublicschools.org/nclb/abcayp/faqs/. PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF NORTH CAROLINA State Board of Education Department of Public Instruction REVISED JULY 2008

tutoring services, known as supplemental educational services (SES), to economically disadvantaged students while continuing to offer transfer option(s) to all students. For districts participating in a federal SES pilot program, the options are reversed. Schools in these districts offer SES after not making AYP in the same subject for two years in a row and offer transfer options in the next year if they continue to not make AYP. Consequences increase in severity as long as the school does not make AYP. The chart on page one outlines, generally, what happens when a Title I School Improvement school continues to not make AYP. More information on consequences for schools in Title I School Improvement, including answers to frequently asked questions regarding school choice and SES, is available on the Web at www.ncpublicschools.org/nclb/. A list of districts participating in the SES Pilot Program is on the Web at www.ncpublicschools.org/nclb/ses/pilot/. So if a school doesn t make AYP, but it s not a Title I school, nothing happens? Not exactly. A non-title I school not making AYP for two years in a row in the same subject must revise its school improvement plan, but doesn t face sanctions. What is a Title I school? Title I provides funding for high poverty schools to help students who are behind academically or at risk of falling behind. Schools must have at least 35 percent or more of their students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch to be eligible for Title I funding. About half of North Carolina s public schools are Title I schools. How do I find out if my child attends a Title I school? You can find out if your school is a Title I school by asking your principal or by going to www.ncpublicschools.org/nclb/titlei/schools/ for listings of Title I schools. My school is a high-poverty school. Why doesn t it get Title I funding? Many eligible North Carolina schools do not receive funding. Districts rank schools by poverty and serve them in rank order until funds run out. Schools with 75 percent or more of the students on free or reduced-price lunch must be served. The number of schools a district serves is based on the level of poverty in schools and the amount of funds available. Districts must provide sufficient funding in each school to ensure that there is a reasonable chance of the program being successful. The law looks at poverty by whole school, so there are poor students in some schools that don't receive Title I services. Nationwide, Title I reaches about 12.5 million students enrolled in both public and private schools. Title I funds may be used for children from preschool age to high school, but most of the students served (65 percent) are in grades 1-6; another 12 percent are in preschool and kindergarten programs. How do I find out if my school made AYP? You can find out if your school made AYP by asking your principal or by accessing the Web at http://ayp.ncpublicschools.org/. School districts release preliminary AYP information about their schools in the summer of each year following spring testing. Final school and district AYP results are approved by the State Board of Education each fall. How do I find out if my school is in Title I School Improvement? Your school district must send you a letter informing you that the school is in Title I School Improvement. The letter must outline the options you have as a result of the school s status. If you ve not received such a letter and you think that your school is in Title I School Improvement, you should contact your school s principal or your district s Title I director. How does a Title I school get out of Improvement status? To exit Improvement, schools must make AYP for two years in a row in the subject (reading or math) that designated them for Improvement. If a Title I school makes AYP in any one year after entering Title I School Improvement, it does not move to the next level of sanctions. But, if it then fails to make AYP the year after that, it moves to the next level of the sanctions. It is possible for a school to exit Title I School Improvement in one subject in the same year that it enters Improvement or continues to be in Improvement due to another subject. The following chart is an example of what a school s journey into and out of Title I School Improvement might look like. 2

SCHOOL YEAR By end of 2003-04 By the end of 2004-05 Beginning of 2005-06 By the end of 2005-06 Beginning of 2006-07 By the end of 2006-07 Beginning of 2006-07 By the end of 2006-07 Beginning of 2007-08 By the end of 2007-08 TITLE I SCHOOLʼS AYP STATUS School doesn't make AYP in math, but makes AYP in reading. School doesn t make AYP in math and reading. School enters Title I School Improvement in math, and must offer public school choice.* School is on watch list in reading. School makes AYP in reading and math. School continues in Improvement and must offer public school choice, but sanctions donʼt escalate.* School doesn t make AYP in math, but makes it in reading. School must offer public school choice and supplemental educational services (SES) as sanctions advance. School makes AYP in math and reading. School continues in Improvement and must offer public school choice and SES, but sanctions donʼt escalate. School makes AYP in math, but doesnʼt make AYP in reading. School exits Title I School Improvement in math, but is on watch list in reading. * Schools entering Title I School Improvement in districts that are participating in the federal SES pilot must offer SES after not making AYP in the same subject for two years in a row and offer transfer options in the next year if they continue to not make AYP. My school isn t a Title I school, but I got a letter from my school district last year about Title I. Why? All school districts in North Carolina receive Title I funding and are subject to sanctions. Districts in Title I District Improvement must take certain measures, such as setting aside 10 percent of their Title I allotment for professional development purposes and notifying all parents in the district of the district s status. Why is my district in Title I Improvement? Our schools made AYP. School districts are held to the same reading/language arts and math proficiency goals for student groups as are schools. School-based AYP results cannot be combined to calculate district AYP results. In some cases, a student group is under 40 at the school level, but at 40 or above at the district level. In other cases, a student may not have been at a particular school for 140 days (full academic year) before spring testing, but may have been in the district for 140 days. I ve heard that some children count under NCLB and others don t. Is this true? No. Each student is represented in at least two groups the School as a Whole and her/his racial group. If the student is in an NCLB-defined group of less than 40 students at the school level, that student s scores would be included in AYP calculations for the District as a Whole and very possibly for the student s other NCLB-defined group(s) at the district level. I ve heard about NCLB in the news a lot lately. Is AYP going to be around for awhile or not? AYP calculations and sanctions for schools and districts not making AYP are central in the debate about what a reauthorized version of the federal law might look like. More information on the reauthorization process and North Carolina's platform for changes to NCLB as proposed by the State Board of Education are on the Web at www.ncpublicschools.org/nclb/reauthorization/. Is AYP responsible for all the tests my child has to take? NCLB, when it was first implemented in 2002, required that all schools measure student achievement in reading/language arts and math in grades 3-8 each year and at least once during the high school years. This didn't really mean anything new for North Carolina as the ABCs of Public Education established annual end-of-grade and end-of-course testing beginning in 1996. New NCLB requirements added a science end-of-grade test for grades 5 and 8 beginning in 2008. Most end-of-course testing in high schools is part of the ABCs program. Other testing is a result of policy or practice at the local district and/or school level. Because of the high stake implications of a school s making AYP, especially in Title I schools, many schools and districts have devised tests for students to take throughout the year, to see where improvement is needed. 3

Do all students take the same test? No. Some children with disabilities take the end-of-grade (EOG) and end-ofcourse (EOC) tests as other students do and some take the EOG/EOC tests with accommodations. For students who are not able to take standard assessments even with accommodations, there are alternate assessments. The Individualized Education Program (IEP) team at the school determines the type of assessment that is used to gauge the progress and performance in a year for a student with disabilities. In addition, special rules apply for when English language learners must take state tests and when those test results are included in AYP calculations. Is it reasonable to expect that students with disabilities meet the same academic standards as students in the other groups? NCLB holds states, districts and schools accountable for meeting the NCLB of all student groups being 100 percent proficient in reading and math by 2014. Accordingly, the same target goals apply annually to all student groups: the School as a Whole, White, Black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, Multiracial, Economically Disadvantaged students, Limited English Proficient students, and Students With Disabilities. About 190,000 of North Carolina's 1.3 million students, or 14.5 percent, are students with physical, mental or behavioral handicaps. Only about 1 percent of students have a significant cognitive disability. State-wide, district-wide and school-level performances in reading/language arts and math are available by student group on the Web at http://ayp.ncpublicschools.org/. How were the AYP targets determined? North Carolina used previous measurements of student proficiency percentages to determine the annual proficiency goals needed to reach the NCLB mandate that all students perform at grade-level or above in reading and math by the end of the 2013-14 school year. Our state has had state-wide curriculum standards and state-wide testing programs and reporting on those results since 1989. Is a school recognized for making AYP? The chart below outlines school designations according to their performance levels in the ABCs program. Schools with 90 to 100 percent of their students scoring proficient or above and making AYP achieve the highest level of recognition, Honor Schools of Excellence. School Status Labels PERFORMANCE LEVEL Based on Percent of Studentsʼ Scores at or Above Achievement Level III Schools Making Expected Growth or High Growth ACADEMIC GROWTH Schools Making Less than Expected Growth Met AYP Honor Schools of Excellence 90% to 100% AYP Not Met Schools of Excellence 80% to 89% Schools of Distinction No Recognition 60% to 79% Schools of Progress 50% to 59% Priority Schools Less than 50% Priority Schools Low-Performing* * The term low performing applies to a school that does not meet the expected growth standard and less than 50% of its students are performing at or above Achievement Level III. 4

Student Performance Levels Proficient (at grade level or above) Not Proficient (not a grade level) Level IV Level III Level II Level I Students performing at Level IV typically and consistently perform in a superior manner, clearly beyond that required to be proficient in the course subject matter and skills of the course, and are well prepared for a more advanced level in the content area. Students performing at Level III typically demonstrate consistent mastery of course subject matter and skills and are well prepared for a more advanced level in the content area. Students performing at Level II typically demonstrate inconsistent mastery of knowledge and skills of the course and are minimally prepared to be successful at a more advanced level in the content area. Students performing at Level I have not typically demonstrated sufficient mastery of knowledge and skills of the course necessary to be successful at a more advanced level in the content area. Who decided the NCLB student subgroups? Why not look at others, such as males and females? The student groups defined by NCLB were determined at the federal level by the U.S. Department of Education as: the School as a Whole, White, Black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, Multiracial, Economically Disadvantaged students, Limited English Proficient students and Students With Disabilities. School performance, as reported according the N.C. School Report Cards, available on the Web at http://www.ncreport cards.org/src/, are: All Students, Male, Female, White, Black, Hispanic, American Indian, Asian/Pacific Islander, Multiracial, Economically Disadvantaged Students, Not Economically Disadvantaged students, Limited English Proficient students, Migrant students, and Students With Disabilities. For more information, access the Web at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/nclb/ or call the Communications Division at 919-807-3450 In compliance with federal law, NC Public Schools administers all state-operated educational programs, employment activities and admissions without discrimination because of race, religion, national or ethnic origin, color, age, military service, disability, or gender, except where exemption is appropriate and allowed by law. Inquiries or complaints regarding discrimination issues should be directed to: Dr. Rebecca Garland :: Interim Associate State Superintendent Office of Innovation and Transformation :: 6301 Mail Service Center :: Raleigh, NC 27699-6301 PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF NORTH CAROLINA State Board of Education Department of Public Instruction