USDE Sells Off AYP, Ed Trust Says 'No Problem'

This morning's NYT reports that 20 states want in on the latest NCLB fire sale -- the "growth model" pilot program -- as the USDE continues seling off bits and pieces of AYP.

Don't think this has a lot to do with fairness, or anything else. It's pretty much all about reducing the number of schools that fail to meet AYP -- a practice that many states have gotten awfully good at over the past four years.

And -- this may be news -- the Education Trust seems fine with that.

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The states vying for inclusion are Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah. Six others Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Dakota want in for next year.

As of last year, roughly 20 percent of the 50,000 Title I schools around the nation failed to meet AYP (though that rate varies widely from state to state). Even without the growth pilot, that wouldn't be that much higher this spring, due to all the carveouts and loopholes the states have devised. Is 20 percent really too many?

No problem, signals the EdTrust's Ross Weiner in the article:
"It really brings into relief, this question, this issue that has been simmering" around the law, Mr. Wiener said. "How much growth is ambitious enough that you're being fair to kids versus what's fair to schools and school systems?"

Waaah?