Adequate Yearly Progress

Updated July 18, 2011

Adequate yearly progress (AYP) is the measure by which schools, districts, and states are held accountable for student performance under Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), the current version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. AYP, however, is not a new concept; it was introduced into federal law in the ESEA's 1994 reauthorization.

Under NCLB, AYP is used to determine if schools are successfully educating their students. The law requires states to use a single accountability system for public schools to determine whether all students, as well as individual subgroups ...