The Echo

AYP - Adequate Yearly Progress

The time honored tradition of No Child Left Behind. A rating system that allow researchers, policy-makers, and parents to gauge the success or failure of schools.  Except now, that system, as terrible or wonderful as it may have been, has been thoroughly corrupted creating a sea of meaningless scores and more haze and confusion than the smoggy movement of common core standards.

In today's News Journal, DE Sec. of Education Lillian Lowery is quoted as saying, "While I laud schools that made strong academic progress, I caution about trying to compare this year's ranking to last year's," Secretary of Education Lillian Lowery said in a statement. "Because of the changes to the ranking system ... it is not fair to try to equate them." 

That's because you can't.  Because DOE has essentially rendered the system useless.

And, Dr. Lowery, I, too, laud them because I know I have amazing people in my classrooms who are working every day to help kids achieve.

Here's how it went down:
1) Delaware adopted DCAS, a growth model test to replace the very flawed DSTP. 
2) With that adoption, the State Board of Education approved raising cut scores - that means that individual students had to get more answers right to attain the same achievement categories as they did under DSTP.  All in the name of rigor!
3) The State, with the approval of the feds,  also made a lesser known put equally important change to its very secretive AYP formula.  From NJ:  "the U.S. Department of Education agreed that Delaware should move its 2011 minimum test score targets in reading from 84 percent proficient to 50 percent and in math from 75 percent proficient to 49 percent." 

Translation - Even though individual students had to get more answers right to attain the same success as last year or to show progress, fewer students collectively actually had to show that achievement for schools to attain higher AYP ratings. 

So a school that was failing last year could be rated superior this year even if only 1/2 of the student population can read, write, or perform math proficiently.

4) DOE implemented DCAS in 2010-11 at all schools.
5) The result became public yesterday.

Of the schools rated this year, 137 earned a "superior" rating, 32 were "commendable" and 37 were on "academic watch." It is possible to fail to meet federal test score goals and still receive a "superior" rating: 42 schools failed to meet federal goals but still earned a state ranking as "superior."  - News Journal

AYP - The Incomparable Results

There are two things in education in Delaware that are indelible.  1) When the sec. of education says "human capital" she is utilizing business jargon to depersonalize what we all common know and revere as "teachers." 2) When she says something shouldn't be compared, you need to immediately compare it.  And a picture tells a thousand tales.

While the following graph is based on the information printed in today's version of the news journal's story on AYP, when I initially ran the data in the story, I noticed something was missing --  Approx. 50 schools.  I checked with the reporter and the NJ updated the story today with accurate data, so I've updated the graph.  What story do you hear when you read it?