USDE Allows "Progress" Pilot -- But Few States Ready

The AP's Ben Feller reports that the USDE is ready to let 10 states measure student progress instead of the current AYP method next year: (Student progress trials OK'd).

Already, some are raising the alarm:

“We had so-called growth models before NCLB," said the Ed Trust's Kati Haycock, "and they did little to drive reform or improvements for students. The question we can answer with a good pilot is whether a new generation of growth-based accountability systems will do more to drive the necessary changes in teaching and learning than the current model.”

However, only 4 states are ready to track student test scores ove time, according to a new report from NCEA (State Data Systems).

UPDATE:
Kentucky Seen as Not Reporting Test Scores of Student Subgroups EdWeek
Ed. Dept. Grants N.Y.C., Boston Waivers on NCLB Tutoring EdWeek
More Pr. George's Students Transfer Under U.S. Law WashPost

UPDATE 2:
14 States Win Grants for Longitudinal Data Systems USDE
States Test Limits of Federal AYP Flexibility PDF CEP
"States are continuing to find new ways to calculate adequate yearly progress (AYP) under the No Child Left Behind Act in order to raise the number of schools and districts that meet the law’s student achievement targets...the report calls on the U.S. Department of Education to more systematically and promptly publicize its decisions," states the press release accompanying the report.