Professional Development: Assisting Urban Schools in Making Annual Yearly Progress.

Under the No Child Left Behind Act (2002), all schools are required to demonstrate that all students make annual yearly progress (AYP). This can be difficult, particularly for students in urban schools and even more so for students with disabilities. The authors report on one large urban school district’s attempts to provide support to 140 schools that did not meet AYP in the 2003-2004 school year. Two years worth of support through professional development are described, as well as the achievement results for all schools with a particular focus on two case study schools.