Standardized tests that students will take over the next two
months will decide whether three local schools will have to replace
their staff, restructure their organization and change their
curriculum as soon as this fall.
That’s the sobering reality facing Calaveras, R.O. Hardin and
Spring Grove elementary schools as they begin taking a series of
four tests required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act,
passed in 2001.
Hollister – Standardized tests that students will take over the next two months will decide whether three local schools will have to replace their staff, restructure their organization and change their curriculum as soon as this fall.
That’s the sobering reality facing Calaveras, R.O. Hardin and Spring Grove elementary schools as they begin taking a series of four tests required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, passed in 2001.
All three schools are currently using outside tutors to work with students on reading, writing and math because they have had problems achieving the goals set in what’s known as the Annual Yearly Progress or AYP in the last several years. The AYP is a measure the federal government requires of all schools where students come from low-income families or are academically at risk.
And if the three schools don’t boost their tests scores the by 2006, the consequences can be even more severe: the staff and principal must be replaced by the district or the county office of education and the school reopened as a public charter school or contracted out to an outside entity.
Those are the tough requirements laid out in the federal legislation that seeks to improve under-performing schools through immediate intervention, thereby offering students all the opportunities needed to succeed.
However, many educators and administrators believe the requirements are unreasonable and that the entire system is headed for trouble.
One of them is Dr. Judith Barranti, superintendent of the Hollister School District, where all but one school are considered under-performing. She says the district has done everything within its means to increase its scores, from giving principals and teachers administrative training to offering tutoring and hiring literacy coaches.
“You get to a point where you say we are doing everything humanly possible and we will just continue doing that,” Barranti said. “It’s a very destructive accountability system, the federal one, because it doesn’t acknowledge that there is any ceiling to what the expectations are.”
Under the AYP, schools are expected to continuously increase their Academic Performance Index scores, even if they are already in the high 700s or low 800s out of a possible 1,000. The average score for California elementary schools is 730. The API is a series of tests administered throughout the year that assess reading, writing and math abilities.
Other schools facing potential federal intervention because they have not met their AYPs for at least two years in a row include Sunnyslope, Gabilan and Ladd Lane elementary schools as well as San Benito High School, the latter of which has already gotten a letter warning it could become a program improvement school within one year.
That would mean the high school would have to give students the option to transfer to another school in the district and notify parents of the new classification.
“We are very worried and take this seriously,” said Evelyn Muro, school board trustee for the San Benito High School District. “But the expectation is that we won’t be there (on the list) in several years.”
But since the high school district is comprised of only one school, it is not clear where students seeking a transfer would go. They could go to Anzar High or another high school, said Tim Foley, county superintendent of schools, adding that few students would probably use the option.
“I am not sure what the remedy would be,” said Foley. “But anytime you have such sweeping legislation, you have a lot of unintended consequences.”
Dr. Jean Burns Slater, superintendent of the San Benito High School District was not available for comment, but in the past has attributed the school’s low score to poor attendance during the California High School Exit Exam. Under the AYP, if less than 95 percent of students take the test, the school automatically fails to meet the AYP standards.
The state, which administers the program, stresses that the intervention measures are a response to schools that in the past lagged behind in academics while no one took responsibility for their poor performance.
“The sanctions are put into place to shake things up,” said Anne Just, a Title I director with the California Department of Education. “Nobody says it will be painless … but many of these interventions have shown themselves to be successful.”
Just stressed that schools would not lose money as a result of the sanctions, but would only be required to restructure various components of their schools. If after five years of intervention the school still does not make the AYP, an alternative plan will be drawn up, which could include state takeover.
“This is part of the responsibility,” said Just. “You take the money, you have responsibilities and our responsibility as a state agency is to go into schools and make sure they are spending money as appropriately but at the same time improving student achievement. Our joy in life is not to cut off money from schools that need it but to make sure kids do well.”
Currently, 184 California schools are in program improvement.
Karina Ioffee covers education and agriculture for the Free Lance. Reach her at (831)637-5566 ext. 335 or ki*****@fr***********.com
