A bold prediction of success was the silver lining to the Thursday night's "annual punishment" for the members of Farmington Municipal School District's Board of Education. Robert Emerson, the assistant superintendent of technology, gave the board a presentation on how Farmington schools did when testing for Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP. The results were made public in New Mexico last week.

Emerson referred to it as punishment because no school in the district made AYP.But he also talked about progress made throughout the district and said by giving students incentives for AYP tests, Farmington high schools will improve the percentage of proficient students by 15 to 20 percent next year.

AYP for schools is achieved by a week-long test for a federally determined percentage of "proficient" children. The percentage increases every year and if a school fails to make that percentage in one of around 37 subgroups, the whole school fails.

Emerson said test scores in Farmington high schools will drastically increase because the AYP test for eleventh graders will be the graduation exam as well. All students must test proficient to graduate.

Current AYP tests do not affect a student's academic standing. Emerson said the district studied AYP results from the 10 best students in each high school and learned that some of its brightest students failed to make proficiency.  "What we think is that those students are going to take that test more seriously because now it counts for graduation," he said. "If they've already passed the test they know they need to graduate, then when they get another test like this they say, What is this'?"

High school graduation rates and test scores among minority students improved last year. But the improvements were not up to federal standards. "The targets are crazy," said Sandy Schumacher, the president of the board. "That has probably been the biggest frustration, watching the moving targets. However, I think focusing on the progress we are making is what we need to do." If a school fails to meet AYP for more than five years in a row, the school district can fire the principals and teachers.