Hollister School District fails to meet the requirements
of No Child Left Behind for fourth year in a row
Hollister School District recently learned it failed to meet the
requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act for the fourth year in
a row, making the district subject to sanctions from California
Department of Education staff.
Hollister School District fails to meet the requirements
of No Child Left Behind for fourth year in a row
Hollister School District recently learned it failed to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act for the fourth year in a row, making the district subject to sanctions from California Department of Education staff. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is federal legislation that measures school performance based on standardized tests. It requires state officials to measure school performance based on 24 criteria.
The district has had problems meeting the requirements of NCLB since it was enacted, district Superintendent Ron Crates said.
“It’ll put a higher sense of urgency in regards to working with children who are behind, English language learners,” said Crates.
California Department of Education staff proposed an improvement plan for districts whose students failed to meet the requirements of NCLB, said Tina Jung, spokeswoman for CDE.
The plan requires that district officials fully implement standards based curriculum and receive technical assistance.
“This is the first year for which we had laid out a plan for improvement,” Jung said. “This still has to be approved by the state Department of Education.”
The state is expected to approve a plan at the next meeting of the state Board of Education on March 12 and 13, Jung said.
In the 2006-2007 school year, English language learners in the Hollister School District failed to meet the federally mandated proficiency rate on the English language arts test, according to documents from Crates.
Nearly 37 percent of the district’s students are English language learners, according to a CDE Web site.
To meet the requirements of NCLB, 24.4 percent of the learners should have scored proficient or above on the English test, according to the Web site.
Last year, 20.2 percent scored proficient or above, according to the site.
Nearly 10 percent of school districts in California did not meet the requirements of NCLB last year, said Jung.
Students in Hollister School District have improved, Crates said.
“About three or four years ago we were deficient in six criteria,” Crates said. “Now we’re only deficient in one.”
In the 2003-2004 school year, English language learners, students with disabilities and socioeconomically disadvantaged students failed to meet state standards on the English and math tests, according to documents from Crates.
The Academic Performance Index (API) is a standardized measure of achievement from California officials.
The API is a better measure of a district’s performance than benchmarks contained in NCLB, Jung said.
“We think it’s a better way to measure improvement over time,” Jung said.
The API is based on improvement while NCLB measures performance based on an absolute scale, Crates said.
“It shouldn’t be based on an absolute scale,” Crates said. “Our school district is different. It’s not like Palo Alto or Beverly Hills. We should be expected to improve.”
Student achievement on tests like the API tends to correspond to the parents’ level of education, Crates said.
“It should be called the affluent pyramid index,” Crates said. “That cannot be an excuse for kids not learning. It’s just more difficult when we have a lot of children in poverty and from different backgrounds.”
Every child in the district is expected to meet academic requirements, Crates said.
“We don’t make any excuses for anyone’s level of background,” Crates said. “We expect every kid to learn and it’s our job to make that happen.”
“Schools will have populations, like with Calaveras and Hardin, that are impoverished and English language learners,” Crates said.
Funding for NCLB from the federal officials is minimum, Crates said.
“Its one of these mandates that people give you that you have to jump through and there’s no money attached to it,” Crates said.
The law is funded through Title I, Crates said. Title I funds are for low-income students that are behind in school.
“I have no idea how much we would get if it was fully funded,” Crates said. “Title I was cut this year. It was cut last year.”
There is not enough funding for primary education in California, Crates said.
“It’s embarrassing how the state is funded,” Crates said. “We rank 46 in terms of funding. It’s embarrassing.”
The projected budget deficit for California is $16 billion. If the governor’s proposed budget is passed, the education budget would be cut by 10 percent. That would mean a loss of $865.1 million for education.
Members of Congress have not reauthorized NCLB, Crates said.
“My inclination is that it’s going to dramatically change,” Crates said. “What I hope doesn’t change is the accountability that’s tied to it. We need to make sure that we’re accountable for student performance. That’s our business, isn’t it?”
The first year that an entire district could fail to meet the requirements of NCLB was 2003, Jung said. Thirty percent of the districts failed, Jung said.
“That’s why we’re continuing to negotiate with the federal government for more flexibility,” Jung said.
NCLB authorizes staff for state departments of education to take over districts or schools that repeatedly fail, Jung said.
“We have not done that,” Jung said.
The sanctions are not punitive, Jung said.
“We’re here to improve the level of academic performance,” Jung said. “We’re not here to punish anyone.”
Tests are an important measure of academic achievement, Crates said.
“What’s happening in public education, we’ve become too test happy. I wish we had more time to work with kids on fine arts. And I wish we had the money to do so.”
The time spent in art classes varies between schools in the district, Crates said.
By California law, kids are required to take physical education, Crates said.
“It’s a mandate that kids are supposed to spend x number of minutes in PE classes, and we do it,” Crates said. “There’s isn’t enough time in the day.”
