In compliance with federal rules under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law, the state sets annual benchmarks (called annual measurable objectives or AMOs) for the percentage of students in each California school and district who should be proficient in English and math. Schools are expected to achieve these benchmarks in order to make adequate yearly progress (AYP).

In 2007–08, the state's performance targets began to rise sharply-from 24.4% of students testing proficient in English in 2006–07 to 35.2% in 2007–08, continually rising to 56.8% in 2009-10. A similar jump occurred in math, with the target being 58.0% in 2009–10. The chart below shows the percent of schools meeting their AMOs dipped beginning in 2007–08, reflecting those rising targets.

Data: California Department of Education (CDE), 1/11
Adapted from EdSource’s 2011 Resource Cards on California Education.

EdSource 5/11