Close to 50 percent of American public schools did not make adequate yearly progress (AYP) under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Law in 2011, the highest failure rate since the legislation took effect in 2002, according to a national report released Thusday.
The Center on American Policy report revealed wide variability across states in the percentage of schools not making AYP, ranging from 11 percent in Winconsin to a high of 89 percent in Florida. These variations may be due in large part to differences in states’ tests, demographics, proficiency targets, and other factors, the report states.
“Whether it’s 50 percent, 80 percent or 100 percent of schools being incorrectly labeled as failing, one thing is clear: No Child Left Behind is broken,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement Wednesday, abc.com reports. “That’s why we’re moving forward with giving states flexibility from the law in exchange for reforms that protect children and drive student success.”
An overhaul of the NCLB law is long overdue but is stuck in Congress, with disagreement along party lines on how it should be fixed.
“The fact that half of American schools are considered ‘failing’ under NCLB shows how crudely the law measures the quality of a school,” said Jack Jennings, CEP’s president and CEO. “NCLB needs to be changed, and since Congress is hamstrung, the Obama administration is right to move ahead with waivers of NCLB provisions.”
States with a high percentage of schools failing to make AYP should not automatically be considered to have weak educational systems–they may have harder tests or higher proficiency targets, explained Alexandra Usher, CEP research assistant and author of the report.
