What
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Adequate Yearly Progress provides a signal for schools, districts, and the state whether we are progressing as planned toward our goal of having all students proficient in reading and math by 2013-2014.
No Child Left Behind requires each state to define adequately yearly progress for school districts and schools, within the parameters set by Title I. In defining adequate yearly progress (AYP), each state sets the minimum levels of improvement that school districts must achieve within time frames specified in the law. In general, each state set a “starting point” that is based on the performance of its lowest-achieving demographic group or of the lowest-achieving schools in the state, whichever was higher. The state then sets the bar, or level of student achievement, that a school must attain after two years in order to continue to show adequate yearly progress (AYP). Additional thresholds must be raised at least once every three years, until, at the end of twelve years, all students in the state are achieving at the proficient level on state assessments in reading/language arts and math.
In order to show adequate yearly progress, schools must test at least 95% of their students at each required grade level, including 95% of the various subgroups of students, including those with disabilities and those with limited English proficiency.
In Iowa, student proficiency is determined through student achievement data in reading and math* from the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) and the Iowa Tests of Educational Development (ITED) assessments and the alternate assessment (an assessment for no more than 1% of a district’s population).
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Iowa’s starting point for reading and mathematics at the required grade levels of 4, 8, and 11** was established using 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 achievement data.
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A formula to reach 100% proficiency by 2014 was also established by Iowa.
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Using biennium data (an average of two years’ annual data), each school and district must meet an annual measurable objective (AMO). If this objective is not met for each subject area and each subgroup of students that must be disaggregated, then a confidence band is applied to determine statistical significance to the percentage of students proficient.
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If the percentage still falls outside of the confidence band, a safe harbor provision is applied.
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After application of the confidence bands and safe harbor, if a school does not meet AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) for two consecutive years, it will then be identified as a School in Need of Assistance (SINA).
In addition to these assessments, all districts with English Language Learners (ELL) administer tests of English proficiency to measure oral language, reading and writing skills in English. These tests are given to limited English proficient students.
* By school year 2007-2008, a science assessment will need to be administered at least once during grades 3-5, grades 6-9, and grades 10-12.
** By the 2005-2006 school year, each state must measure every student’s progress in reading and math in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and at least once during grades 10-12. Iowa has chosen eleventh grade at the high-school level.
Sources of Information
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So What
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Your students take one of three assessments in both reading and math, depending on their grade level, to help determine the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).
- Students in fourth and eighth grade complete the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS).
- Students in eleventh grade complete the Iowa Tests of Developmental Education (ITED).
- Some students, if identified in their IEP, take an alternate assessment, provided by the Iowa Department of Education.
“All students” really does mean “all students” now – including all ethnic groups, all students with an IEP (Individual Education Program), all migrant students, all students of low socioeconomic status. And all students must show “progress,” which means progress toward proficiency by 2013-2014. If your school does not meet AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) for two consecutive years, it will then be identified as a School in Need of Assistance (SINA). The school must then determine the specific steps they will take to raise student achievement.
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 Parents/Families should ask their school...
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- What are our standards? What expectations are there for my student in the areas of reading and math?
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When will my student complete the ITBS/ITED/alternate assessment? How can I help him/her prepare to do his/her best on that assessment?
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How well did my student do on the ITBS/ITED/alternate assessment? What growth did he/she show since last year’s assessment? How did he/she compare to other students at our school? In our district? How did he/she compare to other students in Iowa or the nation? How can I help my student capitalize on his/her strengths to improve any deficient areas?
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What plans does our district/building have to improve our students’ knowledge and skills in order to increase their scores on the ITBS/ITED/alternate assessment?
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How does our school make decisions about teaching and learning? Does the faculty meet regularly to review performance data? Do they identify weaknesses to be targeted? What are the principal and the teachers doing to assess and address problem areas? How is the school using these data to guide decisions about professional development? About tutoring? About selection of materials? |
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Teachers/Caregivers should ask... |
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What are our standards? What expectations are there for my students in the areas of reading and math?
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When will the students in my class complete the ITBS/ITED/alternate assessment? How can I help them prepare to do their best on that assessment?
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How well did my students do on the ITBS/ITED/alternate assessment? What growth did they show since last year’s assessment? How did they compare to other students at our school? In our district? How did they compare to other students in Iowa or the nation? How can I help my students capitalize on their strengths to improve any deficient areas?
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What plans does our district/building have to improve our students’ knowledge and skills in order to increase their scores on the ITBS/ITED/alternate assessment?
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How does our school make decisions about the teaching and learning of our students? Do we as a faculty meet regularly to review performance data? Do we identify weaknesses to be targeted? What are we doing as a building staff to assess and address problem areas? How are we using those data to guide decisions about professional development? About tutoring? About selection of materials? |
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Administrators should ask... |
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What are our standards for students’ learning? What expectations are there for our students in the areas of reading and math? How do I assure that parents understand those standards?
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When will the students in our school complete the ITBS/ITED/alternate assessment? How can I help the teachers prepare the students to do their best on that assessment? How do I help parents prepare the students to do their best on that assessment? How do I help our students prepare to do their best on that assessment?
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How well did our students do on the ITBS/ITED/alternate assessment? What growth did they show since last year’s assessment? How did they compare to other students in our district? How did they compare to other students in Iowa or the nation? How can I help our teachers capitalize on their students’ strengths to improve any deficient areas? How do I communicate the results of the tests to parents and our community so they understand the data and their impact?
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How can I facilitate the process of our building developing and implementing a plan to improve our students’ knowledge and skills in order to increase their scores on the ITBS/ITED/alternate assessment? How have I included parents in that process?
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Do I facilitate a collaborative effort of our teachers and parents to make decisions about the teaching and learning of our students? Do I lead our faculty in regularly reviewing performance data? Do we identify weaknesses to be targeted? What are we doing as a building staff to assess and address problem areas? How are we using those data to guide decisions about professional development? About tutoring? About selection of materials? How do we assure parent/family engagement in this? |
Now What
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Parents/Families should... |
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Work closely with your school to assure that your student’s learning needs are met.
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If your school is identified as a school in need of assistance (SINA), volunteer to be part of the team that develops and implements the specific action steps to improve your students’ achievement. Those steps must address the engagement of parents in students’ learning.
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Get to know other staff members in your school that may work with your student – individuals like the guidance counselor, mentors, tutors, resource staff members.
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Make sure your student is aware of the things that can positively impact his/her test taking skills.
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Help your student be ready for the test. |
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Teachers/Caregivers should... |
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Work closely with your principal and entire building staff to assure that your students’ learning needs are met.
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Assure parents/family that they will receive a report on their student’s progress on the assessments.
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Assure parents/family that the results of their child’s tests are private and that only the parents and the school receive the results of an individual child’s tests. Individual student scores will not be made public. Individual student scores are not shared in the student achievement data on the Annual Progress Report (APR) issued by the district or the state.
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If your school is identified as a school in need of assistance (SINA), volunteer to be part of the team that develops and implements the specific action steps to improve your students’ achievement. Take steps to engage parents in this process as well.
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Get to know other staff members in your school that may work with you and your students – individuals like the guidance counselor, mentors, tutors, resource staff members.
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Have your students practice their test-taking skills on tests similar to the ITBS and ITED tests.
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Help your students be great test takers. |
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Administrators should... |
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Work closely with the entire building staff to assure that your students’ learning needs are met.
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Assure parents/family that they will receive a report on their student’s progress on the assessments.
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Assure parents/family that the results of their child’s tests are private and that only the parents and the school receive the results of an individual child’s tests. Individual student scores will not be made public. Individual student scores are not shared in the student achievement data on the Annual Progress Report (APR) issued by the district or the state.
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If your school is identified as a school in need of assistance (SINA), facilitate the team that develops and implements the specific action steps to improve your students’ achievement. Take steps to engage parents in this process as well. Contact your AEA for support in this process as well.
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Facilitate the building of relationships among staff members, including classroom teachers, guidance counselors, mentors, tutors, resource staff, and parents in order to meet the needs of your students.
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Offer tips on test taking to students, educators, parents, scheduler, and lunch personnel. |
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Essential Learnings
- Parent and community involvement that is linked to student learning has a great effect on achievement than more general forms of involvement...
Grades
 Birth to 5
 Elementary
Middle School
High School
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