The Idaho School Report Card site provides an in-depth look at the academic achievement of schools, districts and the state. The following is an overview of how the state measures student achievement at the school, district and state level and guidance to help you read the School Report Card.
The No Child Left Behind of 2001 (NCLB) is the reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and was implemented in Idaho during the 2002-2003 school year. Under NCLB, public schools are required to have 100 percent of students in grades 3-8 and 10 proficient -- or on grade level -- in math, reading and language arts by 2014. Students must also meet graduation standards.
Every year, Idaho reports the progress schools are making by calculating Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). To make AYP, a school must show that students in the entire school as well as students in 40 additional subgroups, such as students with disabilities, minority students and low-income students, have met proficiency in each subject area. If a school does not make AYP for two consecutive years, the school is placed in School Improvement status. While in School Improvement status, a school faces certain sanctions, such as offering students the choice of attending another school or taking advantage of supplemental education services. Schools must make AYP for two consecutive years to get out of School Improvement status.
A school/school district on alert is one that missed a federal benchmark in at least one area for the first two years but has not yet reached School Improvement status. There are no sanctions/penalties for schools/districts on alert. The Idaho State Department of Education offers technical assistance to help keep schools/districts on alert from becoming high-priority schools/districts. Schools/districts on alert after making all federal benchmarks for one year move out of alert status and goes back to ‘met goal’ status.
A high-priority school/school district is one that has missed the same federal benchmark for more than two consecutive years and reached School Improvement status. The different levels of high-priority schools/districts are: School Improvement Year 1, School Improvement Year 2, Corrective Action, Restructuring Planning and Restructuring. Schools/Districts in improvement status must meet goals for two consecutive years to move out of School Improvement status. An asterisk (*) indicates that a school ‘is holding’ and has met goals for the first of the two consecutive years to move out of improvement status.