The No Child Left Behind Act seeks to raise academic standards and provide information to parents and communities on how their schools are performing. Schools that do not meet the minimum level of performance set by the state for two consecutive years are considered to be ‘in improvement status.’ Every spring all South Dakota students in the 3rd through 8th and 11th grades are given the Dakota STEP, a standardized test. Their performance on this test will be one of the measures used to determine if a school is making adequate yearly progress (the amount of progress schools and students need to make on a yearly basis). Schools must work towards improving performance in order to meet the national goal of “proficiency in reading and math by the 2013-2014 school year.” Schools must make improvement in the number of students achieving proficiency, including looking at the scores of certain groups to ensure each group is performing well. Subgroup scores reviewed include the scores of students who are economically disadvantaged, racial or ethnic minority groups, have disabilities, limited English fluency, gender, or are migrant. |
