What
NCLB says:
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Requires
that at least 95 percent of students measured by total school
population and by subgroups participate in the
state’s annual assessment of student achievement. The
subgroups include ethnicity, poverty, disability, or English
language proficiency. If a school, district or states do not
meet the 95 percent participation rate, the entity was identified
as not making AYP. Some states excluded children with disabilities
or children who were not English proficient from taking state
assessment. The 95 percent participation requirement was designed
to assure that no child is excluded. |
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Each state
may determine how large the subgroup must be to be considered
separately for participation rate calculations.
The Federal Regulations 43 Code of Federal Regulation Section
200.7 say that each state must determine the minimum number
of students in a subgroup “based on sound statistical
methodology” and that the minimum number must be “sufficient
to yield statistically reliable information for each purpose
for which disaggregated data are used.” |
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Make-up
assessments count toward the school’s participation
rate if a student is unable to take the scheduled assessment. |
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The
Changes:
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States will be able to average participation rates over a
three-year period. A State may use data from the previous one
or tow years to average the participation rate data for a school
and/or subgroup, as needed. If this two- or three-year average
meets or exceeds 95 percent, the school will meet the AYP requirement. |
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Students
who are unable to take the test during the testing and make-up
periods because of a unique, significant medical
emergency will not count against the school’s participation
rate. Although students remain enrolled in the school during
this period, schools do not have to include students when calculating
their AYP. |
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States were already permitted to make exception for schools
that appeal their designation as needing improvement, but the
new policy allows schools to exempt students with medical problems
WITHOUT state approval. |
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How
It Was Before the Rules Change:
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If a few
absent students were absent and did not take the state assessment,
their absence could have prevented the school
from meeting the 95 percent participation rate. Thus, the school
did not make AYP. Schools that were performing well could be
unduly identified as “in need of improvement” because
of a one or two year dip in their participation rates. |
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Note
that states will NOT be able to apply these options retroactively
to the current year’s accountability determination,
school year 2003-2004. |
