Schools to appeal ‘watch list’ designation

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2003 | 11:09 a.m.

The Clark County School District has been tentatively identified as failing to show overall "adequate yearly progress" as demanded by the federal No Child Left Behind Act and is appealing the designation to the state Education Department.

Clark County Schools Superintendent Carlos Garcia said Monday he was hopeful the district would be able to appeal its spot on the state's watch list.

"I don't think we will deserve to be on it, if that winds up being the case," Garcia said. "We're complying in every way with the law and doing everything they ask of us."

A second consecutive year of low student test scores would result in the district being labeled as "needing improvement," and would result in sanctions such as reductions in state funding. For each successive year the district remains "needing improvement" the sanctions increase in severity, from more oversight by the state to the replacement of school board members or the superintendent.

While the lists of individual schools identified on both the "watch list" and the "needing improvement" list have been anticipated since last spring, there has been far less discussion of the possibility of entire districts being identified.

School Board member Susan Brager-Wellman was taken aback when told that the potential sanctions could include removing the School Board.

"I thought that was why we had elections," Brager-Wellman said. "I'm surprised the (Nevada Education Department) could have the authority to override the will of the voters like that."

Paul LaMarca, director of assessment and accountability for the state Education Department, told the Legislative Committee on Education Monday that the "watch list" of school districts should be completed by the first week in December.

"We want to be very cautious," LaMarca told the lawmakers, meeting for the first time in the 2003-04 interim. "We don't want to identify people wrongly."

Following the meeting, LaMarca declined to say which of the state's other districts have been tentatively identified as being on the watch list. An announcement will be made following the appeals process, LaMarca said.

The federal education reform calls for schools to show annual gains in test scores with 100 percent of students showing proficiency in reading and mathematics by 2014.

"The stakes are increasing as time goes on," LaMarca said. "We need to be aware that schools are shooting at a moving target."

Exactly how many of the state's 16 other school districts are on the tentative watch list was not known Monday although Karlene McCormick-Lee, director of assessment and accountability for the Clark County School District, said, "We're not the only one."

To determine adequate yearly progress, the state collected test scores from students who were in the district for the full academic year.

For the individual school scores, only students enrolled at that campus for the entire year were counted. If a student attended three elementary schools during the 2002-03 academic year, his test scores would not count toward any one school's results, LaMarca said. But that student's scores would be included in the district's overall results, La Marca said.

"Essentially, we're treating the entire Clark County School District like one big school," LaMarca said.

Just like the individual schools, the district must meet achievement benchmarks and a 95 percent participation rate both overall and by subgroups of students. The subgroups are broken down by ethnicity, special education status, non-native English speakers and students from low-income homes.

Failure to show adequate yearly progress in any single area will result in the district landing on the watch list.

The Nevada Department of Education has already identified 194 individual schools that have not shown adequate progress for one year and 27 campuses as "needing improvement" because of at least two consecutive years of low test scores.

In Clark County more than half of the 277 schools tested in the 2002-03 academic year failed to show adequate progress for at least one year. Clark County has 18 schools on the "needing improvement" list for at least two consecutive years of failing to make sufficient progress. The district has four campuses in the third straight year of low test scores, resulting in visits from the state's school improvement team.

"Considering we have 47 percent of our schools on the watch list I think there will be some areas we won't be able to appeal on behalf of the district," McCormick-Lee said.

The rigors of the No Child Left Behind Act will play a part in just about everything the education committee considers over the next 14 months, committee chairman Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said.