These people were real Einsteins. Didn’t they realize once they started cheating they’d be locked into it forever or their students’ scores would show even worse “improvement” the next year?
Not all grades are tested for Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) under the No Child Left Behind Act. States have some leeway in selecting the tested grades.
As a result, it may matter in your state what the fifth graders score each year, but it may not matter at all what the sixth graders score.
It those cases, it mattered what today's sixth graders scored in the fifth grade and will matter again what they score in a later grade, but not what they score this year in the sixth grade.
So a school only has to make certain that certain grades score higher than those particular grades did the year before - 'better than the year before' = "Annual Yearly Progress."
The penalties and corrections under No Child Left Behind kick in if your school fails to meet AYP two or more years in a row.