I concur....One problem here is that the issue of "standards" vs. "growth" is needlessly polarized. (But then, that's traditional in education policy!) You need to know what all kids are expected to learn, and what proficiency looks like; but you also need to understand whether a particular school (or teacher) is actually helping students to grow toward that goal. In the case of a school like Maya Angelou PCS in Washington, which deals with seriously at-risk kids who have dropped out and/or been involved in the juvenile justice system, a single measure like AYP can be misleading. You have got to see where the kids start and how much progress they make as they move through the school. The average test scores will always be low -- almost by definition, because the kids enter with such prior difficulties. But look at measures of progress (including the graduation and college-attendance rate), and it's another story.
Posted as a reply to:
AYP as a temporary substitute for value-added by Jim Peyser 
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