What is Disaggregation of Test Scores?

Each school district and school must report their AYP on student bodies as a whole, but also by four different subgroups:

• Economically disadvantaged;
• Special education;
• Limited English Proficient students (also known as ELL---English Language Learners); and
• Students from major racial/ethnic groups.

Each subgroup MUST meet the AYP expectations set by the state, and each subgroup must have at least 95% of its students tested. ANY subgroup that does not meet AYP, or does not meet the assessment participation rate of 95% is determined NOT to meet AYP. Each state can determine how large a subgroup must be to be reported for AYP purposes. The law states that disaggregated data “shall not be required in a case in which the number of students in a category is insufficient to yield statistically reliable information or results would reveal personally identifiable information about an individual student.” Currently, states vary from counting subgroups as small as 5 to as large as 50 before they count the group for AYP purposes.