Department of Education Releases School Accountability Data

The Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) released the results produced by both the federal and state accountability systems.

The federal accountability system, known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), evaluates school performance by Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). 2014 is the year that all schools, including all students, grade levels, and subject areas tested, are expected to be 100% proficient in order to meet AYP.

According to a news release, not meeting AYP for one year moves a school into a warning year; not meeting AYP for two consecutive years moves them into “in need of school improvement.” It also takes two years to come out of needing improvement, thus, the first year schools are moved into holding.

Of the 354 Wyoming schools measured by AYP 188, or 53%, are not in school improvement. 17 schools moved out of school improvement from last year, and 29 have moved into holding.

The state accountability system, the Wyoming Accountability in Education Act (WAEA), uses School Performance Reports (SPRs) to evaluate schools on a four point scale. Of the 353 schools measured by WAEA, more than 60 schools, or over 17%, are exceeding expectations; only 45, or less than 13%, are not meeting expectations. Twenty-four Wyoming schools are too small to accurately measure their assessment participation rate, one of the factors in calculating SPRs.