A (2006), Adequate yearly progress in small rural schools and rural lowincome schools, The Rural Educator

Adequate yearly progress (AYP) on No Child Left Behind criteria was examined for a randomly selected sample of districts that qualify for the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP). The sample involved 10 % of districts that were eligible for the Small Rural Schools Achievement (SRSA) program and 10 % that were eligible for the Rural and Low-income Schools (RLIS) program. Based on district reports, nearly 80 % of SRSA schools made AYP, 11 % failed, and 11 % did not have adequate data. For schools in the RLIS program, districts reported that 65 % made AYP, 29 % failed, and 6 % did not report adequate data. The SRSA and RLIS samples had different patterns for the categories of students that did not make AYP. Also, SRSA and RLIS districts were differentially distributed across the United States. Implications for interventions are discussed. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was established by the federal government to enhance academic proficiency by mandating that states and local education agencies develop accountability systems to assess student achievement and educational improvement (No Child Left Behind Act of 2001). A primary emphasis of this legislation is to ensure that schools focus on the progress of sub-samples o