I really don't have much to complain about. I teach in an affluent, privileged school district. So affluent, in fact, that a good chunk (if not the majority) of teachers cannot even afford to purchase a home in the district. I live relatively close, and my drive is 45 miles round trip.

But the community is a great one–it consistently supports bonds and levies, has that "small town" feel while still being close to the big city, and because the median education in the district is high, we inherit children whose home lives include a valuing of at least academic performance (good grades) if not a good education. I have to work less hard to get my kids to learn than I did when I taught at a semi-urban district in Puget Sound or than when I did when I was at a rural high school in Oregon where it was easier just to give all the kids free meals rather than sort out the 2% who didn't qualify for free lunch. We certainly have our challenges in my current district, and we do see an achievement gap based on socioeconomic status, but all in all, kids are doing well by the grand measures that everyone seems to care about.

As a result of our community and their valuing of education, all of our HSPE scores are well above the state average, and are the highest of any traditional comprehensive public high school in our region. Last year, our pass rates on the reading and writing HSPEs were knocking on the door of 100%. 

Last year, we missed AYP for the second year in a row because the same cohort of students in one demographic cell of the tracking did not do better than their similarly coded peers from 2007-08. It amounted to fewer than six students not passing the HSPE where maybe five didn't pass in 2007-08*. Thus, we are now in step one of "improvement," according to OSPI. In order to remedy this, we need two consecutive years of meeting AYP in that cell of the tracking, which presses the "reset" button.

When I look at last year's scores, our great pass-rate in writing, for example, meant that in the whole building fewer than 15 students did not pass the writing exam. We saw a dip in the reading scores last year as well, by four or five students, but it was a dip nonetheless. 

Our situation is certainly different from that of the school Tom described in his recent post. Nonetheless, our situation is evidence that the ridiculous data crunching in the name of "accountability" is not going to accomplish what the shouting outsiders want it to. We have missed AYP because six students out of 1750 in our building had a tough time on a the test, by comparison to their counterparts from two school years ago who, incidentally, took a different test.

I anticipate that we will not meet AYP again this year, not out of lack of confidence in my colleagues or in students, but because there always comes a point where there is no where to go but down…all of which will mean we will be in year two of improvement…besides the fact that we are comparing apples to oranges when to measure "progress" we use different cohorts of students who enter with different needs, skills, and deficiencies. I have spent a good deal of time trying to look for loopholes. I wonder what will happen when we are eventually designated a "failing school"?

_{*I'm basing these numbers on the number of students tested in each cell and the OSPI report card posting of the pass rates.}