Annual Yearly Progress Research Articles

Falling Below the Line: Minimum Subgroup Size and Special Education Enrollment

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) brought high-stakes accountability testing into every American public school with the goal of 100 percent proficiency for all students. Making annual yearly progress (AYP) toward this proficiency goal for the total student population as well as at-risk subgroups was required in order for schools to avoid possible sanctions, such as school restructuring. In implementing NCLB, states had flexibility to determine the minimum size of these subgroups as to provide statistical reliability and accountability for as many schools as possible. If a school did not meet the state’s minimum subgroup size, the proficiency of the students in the group were not calculated as part of AYP. The subjectivity of identification along with the lack of reliability in test score results makes manipulating the subgroup of students with disabilities possible and advantageous to schools. Using data from over 1,000 Arkansas schools for the years 2004-05 to 2013-14, school-level fixed effects analyses show that falling below the minimum subgroup cutoff of 40 is associated with a 1.5 percentage point decrease in students with disabilities at the school. For every student a school is above the cutoff, there is an increase of 0.09 percentage points in special education enrollment. Possible implications are discussed.

The Influence of Multiple Administrations of a State Achievement Test on Passing Rates for Student Groups

The stakes of large-scale testing programs have grown considerably in the past decade with the enactment of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race To The Top (RTTT) legislations. A significant component of NCLB has been required reporting of annual yearly progress (AYP) of student subgroups disaggregated by sex, special education status, English language proficiency, and race/ethnicity. In this study we address the implications of a state policy that allows students to have multiple test opportunities to reach proficiency within an academic year, and its effect on passing rates. We found through logistic regression analyses that additional testing opportunities benefited specific majority student subgroups: White, non-free or reduced lunch program, non- limited English proficient, general education, and students close to the proficiency score. As states move to new achievement standards and assessments in 2015, policymakers may want to assess the potential benefits and costs of a multiple testing policy.

English

We provide an expanded environmental scan to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) faced by education communities. Grounded in the literature, we identified 48 indicators and grouped them into 6 broad categories: (1) budget levels, (2) funding patterns, (3) community needs, (4) external economic conditions, (5) political culture, and (6) children outcomes. We then created sub-categories for each of these six groupings based on whether the data came from school reports, non-school, governmental data, or not-for-profit entities. From these data, we developed a template with strategic guidelines for education leaders in varying environmental contexts. The discussion integrates school finance, fiscal condition analysis, leadership and organizational research to develop a framework that is then applied to the Minneapolis Public Schools for school years 2004 through 2008. The retrospective examination supports the utility of the strategic guidelines offered in the framework. Education leaders found a mixed educational climate in Minneapolis Public Schools for the years examined. There was cause for concern in the declining revenues for children services by other governmental agencies and increasing numbers of schools not making annual yearly progress. However, there were also opportunities apparent in the number of schools that offered International Baccalaureate and other rigorous programs and the support of schools as indicated by passage of local referenda.

Looking Beyond School Walls: An Environmental Scan of Minneapolis Public Schools, 2004-2008

We provide an expanded environmental scan to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) faced by education communities. Grounded in the literature, we identified 48 indicators and grouped them into 6 broad categories: (1) budget levels, (2) funding patterns, (3) community needs, (4) external economic conditions, (5) political culture, and (6) children outcomes. We then created sub-categories for each of these six groupings based on whether the data came from school reports, non-school, governmental data, or not-for-profit entities. From these data, we developed a template with strategic guidelines for education leaders in varying environmental contexts. The discussion integrates school finance, fiscal condition analysis, leadership and organizational research to develop a framework that is then applied to the Minneapolis Public Schools for school years 2004 through 2008. The retrospective examination supports the utility of the strategic guidelines offered in the framework. Education leaders found a mixed educational climate in Minneapolis Public Schools for the years examined. There was cause for concern in the declining revenues for children services by other governmental agencies and increasing numbers of schools not making annual yearly progress. However, there were also opportunities apparent in the number of schools that offered International Baccalaureate and other rigorous programs and the support of schools as indicated by passage of local referenda.

What They Left Behind: A Case Study of Teachers' Experiences with School Improvement at Evergreen Elementary School

With the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act, an unprecedented amount of pressure has been placed upon schools to increase student achievement. During the 2009-2010 school year, Evergreen Elementary School was in Year Four of school improvement for failing to make Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) in both reading and math. Drawing on observational and interview data from upper elementary school teachers, this paper will explore how striving to make AYP impacted teachers including increased workloads and stress, and how these factors led to teachers leaving the school, with a focus on a single teacher’s experiences.

School Finance and Learning: Are We Leveraging State Aid to Get All We Can Out of It?

After spending some twenty-five years working on schoolfinancefortheNewYorkStateEducationDepartment,Ihadtheopportunitytoworkoneducationreform for the State of Nevada. As Deputy Superintendent for Business and Support Services, I oversaw state aid to school districts, information technology, audit services, and child nutrition. I also served as Education Department liaison to the 77th session of the Nevada Legislature. Although my sojourn in Nevada, lasting little more than a year, was brief compared with my work in New York, the experience gave me perspective on how two states were implementing school finance and reform. Recent reforms in both states were driven in large part by the federal Race to the Top competition, but the approaches to reform were quite different. Key features of the education environment in Nevada—basic student services and a strong inclination against raising taxes—worked to keep school spending low, the sixth lowestschoolspendinginthenationat$8,419perpupil. New York State, in contrast, is a large-enrollment, highspending, and high-taxing state. Consequently, spending per pupil on education is among the highest in the nation, at $16,239 per pupil. 1 In 2011, the state reached the breaking point, however, and enacted laws to limit growth into the future for education revenues raised from the property tax and distributed as state aid to school districts.

Moments or a Movement? Teacher Resistance to Neoliberal Education Reform

Public school teachers in the USA are working in an era of intense interference from neoliberal reform policies. Corporate-driven forces are working to dismantle unions, narrow curricula, replace neighborhood schools with charter schools, tie student test scores to teacher evaluations and replace university-prepared career teachers with ‘elites’ from Teach for America who have five weeks of teacher training and a two-year commitment to teach in ‘high need’ schools. Nevertheless, teachers across the USA are engaging in social action to combat neoliberal reforms. This article examines instances of teacher action and asks: are these moments of teacher resistance or the beginning of a movement of teacher resistance to neoliberal school reform? ‘Mr Horn, could you please come see me in my office?’ Momentarily transported back in time to my own middle school years, I bravely answered, ‘Sure, Mrs Thomas.[1] I’ll be down in a minute.’ This was the first time Mrs Thomas, my principal, had called me to her office, but as I nervously weaved my way through the noisy halls of Pioneer Middle School and down the stairs, I was pretty sure why I had been summoned and only wondered why it had taken so long. About a week before, I had been formally observed by one of my assistant principals, Mrs Vaughn. All teachers at Pioneer were observed regularly by administration, and for language arts and math teachers, observations were in place to closely monitor our compliance with the prescribed America’s Choice curricula (America’s Choice, n.d.). Two years earlier, Pioneer had failed to make annual yearly progress (AYP) for five consecutive years, and in accordance with No Child Left Behind (NCLB) policy, and because it was a Title I school, Pioneer had been restructured. Through the restructuring process, a completely new administrative team had been brought in, 65% of the teaching staff was

Comprehensive School Counseling Programs and Student Achievement Outcomes: A Comparative Analysis of RAMP Versus Non-RAMP Schools

This study compares school-wide Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) results in Indiana schools earning the Recognized ASCA Model Program (RAMP) designation (n = 75) with a sample of control schools stratified by level and locale (n=226). K-12 schools earning the RAMP designation in 2007, 2008, and 2009 comprise the experimental group. Findings indicate that school-wide proficiency rates in English/Language Arts and Math are significantly higher in RAMP-designated elementary schools compared to elementary controls. Four-year longitudinal results indicate a significant positive difference between RAMP-designated elementary schools and their controls in Math. Findings provide support for the impact of comprehensive, data-driven, accountable school counseling programs at the elementary level and suggest further research is needed at the middle and secondary levels. This article presents and discusses additional results and implications for practice.

Comprehensive School Counseling Programs and Student Achievement Outcomes: A Comparative Analysis of RAMP versus Non-RAMP Schools

This study compares school-wide Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) results in Indiana schools earning the Recognized ASCA Model Program (RAMP) designation (n = 75) with a sample of control schools stratified by level and locale (n = 226). K-12 schools earning the RAMP designation in 2007, 2008, and 2009 comprise the experimental group. Findings indicate that school-wide proficiency rates in English/Language Arts and Math are significantly higher in RAMP-designated elementary schools compared to elementary controls. Four-year longitudinal results indicate a significant positive difference between RAMP-designated elementary schools and their controls in Math. Findings provide support for the impact of comprehensive, data-driven, accountable school counseling programs at the elementary level and suggest further research is needed at the middle and secondary levels. This article presents and discusses additional results and implications for practice.

Response to Intervention as a Suggested Generalized Approach to Improving Minority AYP Scores

The Response to Intervention (RTI) model has been of growing interest to educators for several decades, culminating in the 2004 enactment of federal regulations. The mutual and cooperative dependence between research and practice is evident regarding practical RTI implementation. The RTI process shows promise to meet the individual education needs of diverse populations. An Alaska school district that includes rural/remote schools and varied populations including minority majority classrooms describes its positive experience with the RTI process. The RTI process may be a key to improving minority student Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) scores. Further statistical research is clearly warranted.

Importing Peace Education from Belfast: A Prosocial Approach to School Improvement in the US

This paper presents the results and experiences of one school within a unique university/K-12 school district partnership that approached school reform through a framework of peace education. Faced with the challenge of improving academic achievement in a district with a history of five years failing to meet Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act, university faculty collaborated with elementary school teachers to implement principles of peace education that have been successfully applied at Oldwood Integrated Primary School in Belfast, Northern Ireland. As two university faculty involved in the project, we present challenges, theoretical perspectives, and the model that guided our initiative, the process, and results of social change in teaching practice.

Student achievement and efficiency in Missouri schools and the No Child Left Behind Act

The 2001 No Child Left Behind Act requires that schools make “annual yearly progress” in raising student achievement, or face possible sanctions. The No Child Left Behind Act places added emphasis on test scores, such as scores from the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP), to evaluate the performance of schools. In this paper, we investigate school performance in Missouri by measuring the efficiency with which schools provide their education services using a two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach. We simulate the effects of two sanctions (school transfer, and supplemental tutoring services) under the No Child Left Behind Act on the performance of failing schools. We find that the two sanctions differ in their impact on the failing school districts’ managerial efficiency. If student performance improves as a result of the sanctions, the transfer of students sanction is more likely to improve managerial efficiency than is the tutoring services sanction.