Schools not reaching goals

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Friday, Oct. 10, 2003 | 11:22 a.m.

Nearly 30 percent of Clark County campuses have not shown the "adequate yearly progress" demanded by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, but that doesn't mean the schools are failing, Clark County School District officials said.

Of the 277 Clark County schools tested last year, 82 did not make the adequate progress required under the federal law either schoolwide or by student subgroups, Superintendent Carlos Garcia announced Thursday. A second consecutive year of failing to meet the federal standard will result in a school being labeled as "needing improvement" and sanctions could follow.

The district identified eight Title I schools as needing improvement and expects as many as six more to be added to the second-year warning list when test results for year-round schools are released later this month. Title I schools receive extra federal dollars for having more low-income students and face stiffer sanctions for failing to make AYP.

"The Clark County School District welcomes the challenges of No Child Left Behind and we will do everything we can to improve student achievement," Garcia said Thursday. "While we're worried to have so many schools on the watch list, we're looking at this as an opportunity to improve."

Each school on the list must compile an improvement plan for targeting the problem areas identified by the last round of test results, Garcia said.

The "watch list" released by the district includes Becker Middle School, named a Blue Ribbon campus by the U.S. Department of Education in 2001, and Green Valley High School, which topped the state for Millennium Scholars last year.

"That's the paradox we're dealing with here," said Agustin Orci, deputy superintendent of instruction for the district. "We have schools on the list that are outstanding by any reasonable standards, but suddenly they're being dinged for not satisfying a single, small statistical component of the law. That's completely unfair."

District officials bristle at the thought of the public believing that the 82 schools on the watch list are all substandard.

"It would be false to characterize these schools in that manner," said Clark County School Board President Sheila Moulton.

Under the federal law schools must show overall gains, meet a 95 percent participation requirement and have at least 36 percent of students show proficiency in reading, language arts and mathematics. Proficiency had to be demonstrated both school-wide and by subgroups -- special education, ethnicity, Free and Reduced Lunch and non-native English speakers.

Elementary schools must satisfy 135 different achievement categories while middle and high schools face 90. Failure in one single area means the entire school is identified as not making AYP.

While empathizing with those who feel their schools have unfairly labeled, Moulton said she was encouraging people not to dwell on what appear to be inequities in the law.

"We can be frustrated and knock our heads against the wall or we can get so darned busy that we finally close the achievement gap," Moulton said. "I'm pushing for the latter."

Elementary schools were graded using third and fifth grade scores on the statewide criterion reference test. Middle schools were judged based on seventh grade performance on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. High schools were evaluated based on graduation rates and proficiency exam scores for 10th graders in 2002 and 11th graders in 2003.

Schools that fail to make AYP for two consecutive years are labeled as "needing improvement" and face sanctions.

While the federal law requires all schools in the nation to have 100 percent of their students proficient by 2014, individual states were allowed to set their own definitions and benchmarks. Nevada's standards are more stringent than many other states, Garcia noted.

For example, in Nevada a subgroup must have 25 students to be considered toward AYP. Other states have set subgroup minimums anywhere from 45 to a high of 200, making it easier to exclude low scores, Garcia said.

"The good news is we're proud the standards are high," Garcia said. "The bad news is we're going to be comparing apples and oranges around the country."

Nevada's testing standards are also more stringent for special education students, said Karlene McCormick-Lee, assistant superintendent of research and accountability for the district. While several other states allow schools to test special education students according to ability, Nevada requires testing at the grade level to which a child is assigned and leaves little room for special accommodations for students with severe disabilities, McCormick-Lee said.

Six campuses made the watch list solely because of low scores by students with Individual Education Plans as required under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act -- Booker and Bowling elementary schools, Bob Miller Middle School and Basic, Coronado and Green Valley high schools.

Jeff Horne, principal of Green Valley High School, said he was dismayed that low math scores for 36 special education pupils outweighed the achievements of the other 2,937 students enrolled.

"Less than 2 percent of the students determined whether the entire school went on the watch list," Horne said. "We want every kid to succeed, and I know we can always improve and do better. But this is not an accurate reflection of our school."

At Becker Middle School, Principal Karen West learned her campus was on the list because of inadequate math scores for Limited English Proficiency students and low marks in math and language arts by students qualifying for free and reduced meals. While identifying the LEP students who need extra help is easy enough, the second group poses a bigger problem.

"No one knows who the kids are that get free and reduced meals, that's supposed to be a confidential list to protect their privacy," West said. "We're going to have to ask the district for some direction on how we're supposed to target achievement by a group when we have no idea who's in it."