AYP requirements explained

  In anticipation of the Arizona Department of Education's release of Adequate Yearly Progress labels later this week, the Yuma Union High School District is explaining the requirements needed to meet AYP.

  As one of the components of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, AYP evaluates a school's reading and math scores on the statewide Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) exam. The federal government passed NCLB six years ago intending to get all students reading and performing math at appropriate grade level by 2014.

  To assess whether a school has met AYP standards, the Department of Education asks three questions:

  • Did the school meet the percent tested? At least 95 percent of 10th-grade students must take AIMS reading and math tests as well as 95 percent of 10th-grade students in each of eight subgroups: Asians, blacks, Hispanics, Indians, whites, English Language Learners, special education and low socio-economic status.

  • Did the school meet test objectives? In 2008 the number of students who must meet test objectives is 48.6 percent for reading and 40 percent for math. Also those percentages of students in each subgroup must meet the objectives.

  • Did the school meet the four-year graduation target rate of 71 percent? At least 71 percent of all students in the senior class and 71 percent of the students in each of the sub-groups must meet the four-year graduation rate. A sub-group must have more than 40 sophomore students to count toward AYP.

  When the answer to all three questions is yes, then a high school is deemed to have made AYP. 

  All students must meet or exceed AIMS standards in order to graduate high school. Testing will be held again on Oct. 28, 29 and 30 for juniors and seniors who have not yet met the requirements.

  Sophomores will have their first AIMS testing opportunity in reading on Feb. 24, in writing on Feb. 25 and in math on April 7, the release said.

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William Roller can be reached at
wroller@yumasun.com or 539-6858.