No Child Left Behind and AYP

We are back to school – August 10 was the first day for teachers. Our calendar year is getting longer and longer. We are ready for a new year and new expectations. No Child Left Behind is at the forefront of the minds of the administration. How do we show Average Yearly Progress again this year? This goal is a dead weight on all public education. The idea behind the idea is great. Then the bean counters got their hands on it. Every district should strive to be better this year than it was last year. That is why most of us are here, but expecting 100% of children to test as proficient in seven years in not logical. Alta Vista, even though all other groups passed, was rated as not meeting AYP because special education students did not meet AYP. That is how it works, if the smallest subgroup in your school fails to meet AYP then the whole school is rated as not meeting AYP. Setting impossible goals, as No Child Left Behind has done, will discourage even the best educators. Using one test to measure progress will have results that were not intended by the legislature. Anyone want to join the pool as to how long it will be until they dump this Act? When test scores become a Golden Idol that we are totally focused on, something is seriously wrong.