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<br />qualified personnel. Staffs at high-performing schools that make expected and <br />above expected growth under North Carolina's ABCs plan and then do not make <br />AYP become demoralized. There is a concern for the out-migration of teachers <br />to escape the brand of failing AYP, This trend is expected to exacerbate North <br />Carolina's teacher shortage beyond its current crisis level, in which our public <br />schools annually must fill 10,000 to 11,000 teaching positions, while our <br />education programs in our state's universities are turning out only approximately <br />3,500 eligible teachers each year. Of that number, only approximately 2,500 <br />enter the classroom in North Carolina. <br />ISSUE: Parents and communities find it difficult to distinguish the difference <br />between the ABCs (in North Carolina) and AYP (under the federal law), and the <br />two do not have the same measures. A school can be a School of Excellence <br />under North Carolina's ABCs model and not meet AYP, and that can send an <br />unnecessary alarm, which leads to confusion, through a School of Excellence's <br />community. Ultimately, this can cause teachers and other personnel to leave a <br />school or school system that fails to make AYP and worsen our state's teacher <br />shortage, particularly in parts of the state that have high growth and very diverse <br />student populations. <br />RECOMMENDATION: "Achievement Levels" of Adequate Yearly Progress <br />should be established to distinguish between schools that miss one or two <br />targets and those that miss all or multiple targets. In connection with these <br />proposed "Achievement Levels," only the schools missing numerous subgroup <br />targets should face sanctions under No Child Left Behind. <br />To put our concerns with AYP into perspective, we ask you to consider the <br />incredibly quick timeline connected with it. While roughly 150 years has passed <br />since the beginning of the common school movement in our nation, No Child Left <br />Behind asks all educators to achieve the goal of "universal proficiency" in merely <br />12 years. Universal proficiency, as defined by NCLB, is assuring that every <br />student, regardless of race, poverty, disability or language proficiency, is <br />academically successful. "The goal itself, while worthy, is lofty and seems almost <br />unachievable. When that consideration is grouped with the fast pace of the <br />reforms and the depth of the individual mandates affecting AYP alone, our school <br />administrators are struggling to succeed and are asking our Congress and the <br />U.S. Department of Education for assistance. <br />2. Personnel Qualifications <br />The new personnel qualifications set forth in No Child Left Behind pose an <br />additional concern for school administrators in North Carolina. The NCLB <br />definition of a highly qualified teacher makes it very difficult for North Carolina <br />school administrators to recruit teachers in an already shrinking pool of <br />personnel, as referenced above. It may also cause districts to lose a number of <br />experienced teachers because they do not meet the new standard. And <br />conversely, the highly qualified teachers may be drawn away from a district that <br />6