How do schools meet AYP performance targets?
The state academic performance thresholds for this school year (2006-07) were 45% of students at or above proficient in mathematics and 54% of students at or above proficient in reading. These thresholds are the same as last year’s and will increase in the 2007-08 school year. These percentages will increase gradually until the year 2014 when 100% of students are expected to be at or above proficient in mathematics and reading. NCLB allows schools to meet proficiency targets by “Safe Harbor,” a measure of improvement. The guidelines for Safe Harbor state that if a school can reduce at least 10% of the students who scored below proficient from the previous year, it meets the AYP target for proficiency.
