About One-Third of U.S. Schools and Districts Do Not Make Adequate Yearly Progress Under NCLB

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The Center on Education Policy (CEP) has released a report on the
number of schools and districts who have failed to make adequate yearly
progress (AYP) under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). How Many Schools
and Districts Have Not Made Adequate Yearly Progress? Four Year Trends
looks at the trends in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., from the 2005-
2006 school year to the 2008-2009 school year (the most recent year for
which data are available). According to the report:

o One-third (33 percent) of the nation’s schools did not make AYP in
2009. This was an increase from 29 percent in 2006, but a decrease from
the high point of 35 percent in 2008.

o The percentage of districts that did not make AYP in 2009 also
increased from 29 percent in 2006 to 36 percent in 2009.

o The percentages of schools and districts that did not make AYP
often fluctuated from year to year within the same state and varied
greatly across states. While the report does not determine the reason
for these variations, it does suggest that changes in state’s tests or cut
scores, rising achievement objectives, other state and federal policy
changes, and differences in student demographics, in addition to changes
in student performance, may be responsible for the variation.

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