Fact Book 2004 - Handbook of Education Information -
Located at the California Department of Education website, click here.
Background
On January 8, 2002, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 was passed by Congress. This federal law contains the most sweeping changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) since ESEA was enacted in 1965. NCLB also has made the federal role in education more prominent than ever.
It changed the federal government's role in kindergarten-through-grade-twelve education by requiring schools to demonstrate their success in terms of the academic achievement of every student. With Title I as the cornerstone, and students of greatest need the focus, NCLB contains four basic education reform principles: stronger accountability for results, increased flexibility and local control, expanded options for parents, and an emphasis on teaching methods that have proven to be effective.
NCLB includes the following requirements:
- With academic content standards in place, states must test every student's progress toward those standards by using assessments that are aligned with the standards. The law expands the current requirement that all schools administer tests in each of three grade spans: grades three through five, grades six through nine, and grades ten through twelve. Beginning in the 2005-06 school year, tests must be administered every year in grades three through eight and once in grades ten through twelve in mathematics and reading. Beginning in the 2007-08 school year, science achievement must also be tested.
- Each state, district, and school is expected to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) toward meeting state standards (see the section Adequate Yearly Progress below for more information). Test results are sorted to measure the progress of all students, including students who are economically disadvantaged, are from racial or ethnic minority groups, have disabilities, or have limited English proficiency.
- School and district performance is publicly reported in district and state report cards. Individual school results are also included on the district report cards.
- If a Title I school or district fails to make AYP for two or more consecutive years, it is identified for Program Improvement (see the section Program Improvement for further information).
Adequate Yearly Progress
In January 2003, the California State Board of Education adopted a new definition of AYP for California in response to the new federal law. All schools (including charter, alternative, and small schools), districts, and numerically significant subgroups are required to make AYP each year. California's new definition of AYP has four components. In order for any school or district to make AYP for 2003, the school or district must have:
- A sufficient proportion of its students performing at or above the proficient level on the statewide assessments (English-language arts and mathematics) overall and for each significant subgroup
- At least a 95 percent student participation rate in the statewide assessments overall and for each significant subgroup
- A 2003 growth Academic Performance Index (API) score of 560 or more or at least one point of growth
- A graduation rate that increases one-tenth of one percent each year for high schools only and for districts with high school students until the school reaches 100 percent
For more information on AYP and API, see the Accountability section of this Fact Book.
Program Improvement
A Title I school that does not make AYP for two consecutive years is identified for Program Improvement (PI). Each newly identified PI school must offer parents a school choice (i.e., parents of students in PI schools have the option of sending their students to schools in the district that are not in PI) and meet other specific NCLB requirements.
NCLB also specifies that if a district does not make AYP for two consecutive years, it must be identified as a PI district. The 2002-03 school year served as the base year for districts to make AYP. This means that a district failing to make AYP in 2003-04 will be identified as a PI district.
For More NCLB Information
For additional information about California's NCLB activities, see the web site by clicking here. The U.S. Department of Education also has two Web sites on NCLB: http://www.ed.gov/nclb (Outside Source) and http://www.nclb.gov (Outside Source).
Questions about NCLB requirements for AYP should be addressed to CDE's Evaluation Unit, at 916-319-0875 or by e-mail at epic@cde.ca.gov. Questions about AYP reports or the API should be addressed to CDE's EPIC Unit, at 916-319-0863 or by e-mail at epic@cde.ca.gov.
Program Improvement questions should be addressed to the Title I Policy and Partnerships Office, at 916-319-0854 or by e-mail at pi@cde.ca.gov.
For District Information
Los Angeles Unified School District - www.btb.lausd.net/ses.
Inglewood Unified School District - www.inglewood.k12.ca.us/
Compton Unified School District - www.compton.k12.ca.us
Santa Ana Unified School District - www.sausd.k12.ca.us
Centinela Valley Unified High School District - www.centinela.k12.ca.us
|
