Schools hustle to raise scores

It’s all about accountability

Star Tribune

      In a classroom as quiet as a library, 18 third-graders at Galtier Elementary School in St. Paul bent over their reading tests. Teacher Estella Daniels strolled between the rows of desks, stepping over books that were scattered like leaves on a forest floor. She stooped to answer a whispered question, crouched to straighten a child's posture. The only sounds were pencils scratching on paper and the rustling of pages turning in books.

      It was only October, a full six months before the state tests that would gauge Galtier's success. There was no time to lose. Daniels had to find out how many kids needed to improve their reading in order to help the school get off of "the list" this spring.

      It has been three years since Congress passed the No Child Left Behind law, and its impact is being felt in schools across Minnesota.

      It's the most sweeping accountability law ever to hit U.S. schools. Students are being tested in reading and math as never before.

      Their test scores are being used to judge their schools' quality, to identify problems and to spur teachers to improve.

      The goal: to have all students performing at their grade levels in reading and math by 2014.

      As that draws closer, the pressure is rising -- both on schools and on the law itself. Schools are testing and retesting. Many students who might have slipped by before are getting attention. Parents can use new powers to transfer their children to better schools, or to seek extra help for them.

      At the same time, there are growing concerns about the law. What once had bipartisan support now faces growing bipartisan criticism.

      Politicians -- Republican and Democrat alike -- are questioning the fairness of No Child Left Behind. Educators argue that it's not feasible to boost every child to grade level. And a Star Tribune analysis shows that the law itself overlooks tens of thousands of struggling Minnesota students.

      With another round of tests coming next month, Minnesota leaders are grappling with a fundamental question: Is the law working?

      "I don't think we should give up," said Alice Seagren, Minnesota's education commissioner. "We've seen scores turn around. When you start to measure and set targets for your school, you see people come together and set strategies to improve. That didn't happen before."

      But Sen. Steve Kelley, DFL-Hopkins, said the law is seriously flawed, focusing too much on judging schools and not enough on helping kids.

      "Despite some of the good things that it's doing, the problems that it creates are so significant that if we don't fix it, it's going to fail," Kelley said.

The basics

      No Child Left Behind won strong bipartisan support in 2001 with its promise to hold schools accountable for raising student achievement.

      For too long, its advocates noted, schools had camouflaged their problems with high average test scores and decent overall graduation rates. But a growing realization that too many children were slipping through the cracks pushed education reform from discussion to action.

      And No Child Left Behind demands plenty of action.

      It demands that teachers be fully qualified for the subjects they teach, and so states scrambled to find ways for their teachers to catch up on their training. It demands that all 50 states file detailed No Child Left Behind plans that can be viewed on a public website. And it demands safe schools, giving students in unsafe conditions the option to attend a safe school within their district.

      But the linchpin of the law is testing, and using those tests to evaluate schools.

      Students in grades 3 through 8 -- and in one year of high school -- are to be tested annually in reading and math. States had to develop standards-based tests and set goals for schools to meet each year. Schools that fall short are placed on a list of "underperformers." Schools that fall short year after year, and receive federal Title I money used to help poor children catch up in school, face sanctions ranging from using the Title I money to send students to other schools, to possible state intervention.

      Never before have schools had to test so many children and face such scrutiny for their scores. But the law goes even further. Schools can't just skate by on their overall test scores. They must also report the scores for specific groups of students, including minority children, low-income students, special-education students and children learning English. If any group fails to meet goals, the school goes on the underperformers list.

      In Minnesota and elsewhere, schools have scrambled to avoid the list or to get off of it.

      "One of the things it's done is really focus us on what we teach," said Ramona Gehlert, principal of Ponemah Elementary in the Red Lake School District, a school that has been on the list for four years running now.

      At Bruce Vento Elementary in St. Paul, Principal Darrel Rivard's office walls are covered with 3-foot-tall bar charts showing his students' test-score progress. Vento, a Title I school, has been on the underperforming list for three years in a row and now must provide its students with tutoring and the option to go someplace else.

      Three times a day, every day, teachers, aides, librarians, counselors and even the principal huddle to help students individually and in small groups. At one desk, the work is as basic as helping a boy sound out "ch" and "th." At another, a girl may review basic subtraction.

      The results are encouraging. Vento teachers, armed with continuous training to better reach struggling kids, helped the school meet its No Child Left Behind goals last spring. Another good year and Vento will be off the list.

      "If we do it right, all kids are going to make gains," Rivard said.

      Last spring, more than 300,000 Minnesota students took reading and math tests. Of the state's nearly 2,000 schools, 481 went on the list. In 2006, when Minnesota also counts the scores of children in fourth, sixth and eighth grades, it's likely more schools will be judged as needing improvement.

A shout for change

      To many, the demands of No Child Left Behind had to be dramatic. How else would schools be spurred to change?

      "Always, there were low expectations, a belief that schools were never really accountable," said Jessie Montaño, director of No Child Left Behind programs for the state Department of Education. The law has changed that, she said.

      Yet some have complained that the heaviest consequences of No Child Left Behind apply only to Title I schools, which have more children in poverty who often come to school hungry, tired or otherwise not ready to learn. Allowing students to leave those schools -- and forcing the schools to pay for it -- is unfair, urban educators say.

      States also have balked at the cost of all that testing. The federal government provided some up-front money for testing, about $50 million to Minnesota. But after the first year, No Child Left Behind funding hasn't kept pace with its mandates, state and local officials say.

      Then there are the concerns about expecting every child to reach grade level. While educators agree that it's a worthy goal, many say it is unfair and unattainable. And others argue that labeling an entire school as failing because of the struggles of a few students also is unfair.

      Now the call to change the law is growing louder.

      A recent study by the National Conference on State Legislatures, led by Minnesota's Kelley, cited widespread unhappiness with the law and called for more latitude in interpreting and opting out of certain provisions. Over the past two years, more than a dozen state legislatures have adopted resolutions criticizing the No Child Left Behind law and demanding changes.

      Kelley has sponsored a bill that would allow Minnesota to opt out of No Child Left Behind if the U.S. Department of Education refuses to allow new ways of assessing schools and students. Such a move, however, could jeopardize the $225 million that Minnesota schools receive in federal aid every year.

      At least eight other states -- Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Nebraska, North Dakota, Virginia, Vermont and Utah -- have introduced bills challenging parts of the law.

      Even Seagren, the education commissioner, said she agrees that changes are needed, especially in the requirements for students in special education or for children whose native language is not English.

Moving ahead

      Federal education officials have responded. They've granted more flexibility that has made it easier for schools to escape the list.

      Smaller schools have been allowed to average test scores over several years; states have won adjustments keeping schools off the list if they have too few students in a particular group. Schools now don't have to count the test scores of immigrants who have been in this country for less than a year. And states are allowed to give a limited number of "alternative" assessments to disabled students.

      But federal education officials say they are not retreating from their goal of all children becoming proficient by 2014. And testing will remain the primary tool used to get there. In fact, President Bush plans to expand the testing requirement from one year of high school to three, a move Gov. Tim Pawlenty supports.

      Kelley said he supports the goals of No Child Left Behind, but he believes states should have more of a say in how to get there.

      Seagren said that while No Child Left Behind might be tweaked and adjusted, one thing is clear: "We're not going backwards" on using test data to do a better job.

      "I expect you'll see some changes in it over time," she said. "If we can just establish a fairer way of letting people know that teachers are doing a good job with kids, that we are improving, that we are moving toward our goals, they'll see this as a good thing for our children."