AYP: All Youth Prosper

I talk to a lot of students about test scores and the importance of trying their best, always and without question.

I also talk about AYP. But when I talk about AYP, I talk about shifting the paradigm. In my world, AYP does not stand for Adequate Yearly Progress. It stands for All Youth Prosper.

Because, really, what kind of message are we sending our children if we keep talking about being adequate?

We need to be talking to our children about being unique, being extraordinary, being completely themselves. 

We need to foster messages of hope with the youth we serve. 

Because students listen to the language we use when we talk with them, but they also listen to the language we use when we talk about them.

So let’s talk with and about them in such a way that they can believe in themselves and in their own abilities. So that they can prosper.