Seven Percent

When the media report the number of schools failing to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), they generally report things like, "xxx number of schools failed this year under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law." This does a real disservice on lots of fronts. One, it belies the fact that states set their own standards. Two, it scares people, because the numbers are often in the hundreds. What they don't report is the actual percent of schools facing consequences, and, perhaps more importantly, what those consequences are.

A new Center on Education Policy report found that seven percent of all Title I schools in the country are now in "restructuring," meaning they were unable to make AYP for five consecutive years. Think about that number for a moment. Seven percent. We hear all the time how awful NCLB is and how it identifies too many schools as failing, but seven percent of persistent underperformers really isn't very high at all.

The same report recorded two other important findings. First, about twenty percent of schools going through restructuring are able to make AYP the following year. This is a good sign of progress. Second, nine in ten schools in restructuring choose options like extra professional development focused on school improvement, on-site technical assistance with more intense support and monitoring, and on-site leadership coaches or facilitators. These aren't exactly the drastic measures we hear about from the media.