Why Bother With A Growth Model When You've Already Gutted AYP?

As part of Secretary Spellings' relentless effort to eviscerate improve NCLB since last year, look for a growth model conference call and announcement Wednesday afternoon.

In the meantime, check out Hot Air, Kevin Carey's report on what the states have been doing to NCLB on their own this past year. These guys don't need growth models. They've sliced AYP into little bits pretty well all on their own. And AP's subgroup loophole is just the tip of the iceberg.

Lots of people think the growth model is a cute fix for the problems with AYP. I think it's just as likely to turn out to be a whole 'nother can of worms. The fact that it's split the trio of NCLB supporters (the Ed Trust, CCCR, and George Miller) tells you what a tough issue it is.

Based on no direct evidence at all -- except the fact that they're rolling this out rather than just letting us find out about it (and Haycock and Hanushek are apparently still on board) -- I'm guessing all 8 states made it through, or maybe seven. But I have no idea which ones.

UPDATE: So much for my predictions. It's two states -- TN and NC.