Florida sums up its options under NCLB and 2007 testing

Florida, like a number of other states, is looking at a substantial number of schools (535) failing to make AYP targets for 5 years running next year. If it happens again, they go under automatic restructuring. However, like many other states, there are a number of schools in this list that are successful in most areas and are only missing AYP in one area. There are no exceptions however. Schools missing AYP at all are subject to restructuring.

This dynamic is one of the reasons that Florida (and most of the other applicants) applied for the U.S. Department of Education's growth model experiments. Under a growth model that predicts eventual proficiency, students who are currently under AYP, but can be predicted to achieve proficiency in the future, can be counted as proficient.

It is no wonder that states with the capacity will want to take this path. It does not obviate the need to achieve 100% proficiency, but it puts the extreme sanctions into the more distant future.

Chris