Raising school scores
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Tuesday, November 13, 2007 | 
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No Comments [ Add Comment ]By Amy K. Stewart
Standard-Examiner staff
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By Amy K. Stewart
Standard-Examiner staff
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By Amy K. Stewart
Standard-Examiner staff
This time, it's the educators who have the homework assignment.
Some school districts that didn't pass Adequate Yearly Progress for the federal mandate No Child Left Behind have to write a report on how they intend to improve.
The district improvement plans are due to the Utah State Office of Education by Thursday.
Officials from both Ogden and Weber school districts, which failed to pass AYP as a district for two years, have to turn in reports.
Morgan County School District passed AYP for the past two years and doesn't have to turn in a report.
Davis School District is in a dispute with USOE over whether it passed as a district. Davis district officials crunched their numbers and came up with a passing status, whereas the state office marked the district as failing.
Box Elder School District failed to pass AYP for the second consecutive year, but doesn't have to write a report because it didn't fail in the same subject area or grade grouping as the previous year.
When USOE administrators approve a district's improvement plan, they essentially release the district's federal funding to the district.
Therefore, a district's incentive to turn in its improvement plan is "significant," said Rich Moore, Ogden district federal programs director.
Moore said he spent about40 hours putting together Ogden district's 200-page plan.
Karl Wilson, USOE director of Title 1 programs, said districts have always done their plans. If they didn't, the state could withhold federal funding. "That would be a last resort."
NCLB judges schools as "pass" or "fail" for AYP. There are 40 categories, including how various ethnic subgroups fare in language arts and math. Failing only one category means the entire school doesn't pass.
AYP data is based on tests from the end of last school year.
NCLB labels whole school districts as "pass" or "fail." A district is judged on the scores of all students in the district, not on how many of the district's schools pass or fail.
For district scoring, student data is grouped into grades three through eight and 10 through 12. These two grade segments are then judged in math and language arts.
If a district fails in the same subject in both grade segments for two consecutive years, then the district has to write a school-improvement plan.
Generally, a district has a plan but would need to revise it and address the specific areas -- such as elementary math -- targeted in the AYP data.
The district also is required to spend 10 percent of its Title 1income on professional development to address the reasons it didn't achieve AYP.
Weber district Superintendent Michael Jacobsen has issues with this part of NCLB because Title 1 funding is being diverted from Title 1 schools.
A Title 1 school designation is based on the number of students receiving free lunch.
Weber district's five Title 1 schools "desperately need those funds," Jacobsen said, so losing just 10 percent hurts.
NCLB is up for reauthorization this year by Congress, which could make slight revisions or drastic changes.
Davis district Superintendent Bryan Bowles said he doesn't want NCLB tossed altogether, as it has its good parts.
For example, NCLB emphasizes targeting subgroups, such as minorities, to ensure they are keeping up academically with mainstream students, he said.
"We can't say the law is all bad or all good."
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