Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for June 18, 2007 NCLB

Oh, no! Not another NCLB article!!!

Actually, I found this one to be half-way interesting...

From the Quincy Herald-Whig...

Controversy continues to dog NCLB

By Holly Wagner
Herald-Whig Staff Writer

The public face of education has changed in the five years since the No Child Left Behind federal legislation was enacted.

The act mandates nationwide testing of students to determine if public schools are performing adequately. Schools and districts are labeled once a year as either "passing" or "failing" based on tests given each spring. NCLB calls for raising the "passing" bar each year until, theoretically, 100 percent of all students in grades K-12 meet or exceed learning standards set by each state by the year 2014.

Legislators will consider this summer whether to reauthorize the measure, which President Bush has touted as one of the most important achievements of his administration. In doing so, they will look at whether NCLB has accomplished its intent — raising the level of education nationwide by changing what goes on behind classroom doors.

Proponents will point to the fact that students are doing better on state reading and math tests since NCLB was enacted. Moderate to large gains were found in 37 of the 41 states where trend data was available (some states have changed tests in recent years). Students made the most progress on elementary-school math tests, according to the report by the Center on Education Policy, a national nonprofit policy group.

"(NCLB) has certainly heightened awareness (of teaching and learning) because of this high-stakes test," said Gary Woods, assistant superintendent of schools for the Pikeland District. "It is intense right now. Teachers do feel the pressure."

Schools face tough consequences — such as having to fire teachers or administrators — if their students fail to fail to make adequate yearly progress on the tests.

The "failing" label has been attached to the Pikeland District and Quincy High School during the past four years, primarily because one group of students — those in special education — have missed making adequate yearly progress (AYP). The student body as a whole, as well as any subgroup of at least 45 — low income, minorities, special education, English language learners — are held to the same standards.

"Even the Act's harshest critics admit it has focused attention on groups of students who had been overlooked," Quincy Superintendent Tom Leahy said.

However, nearly two-thirds of American adults want Congress to re-write or outright abolish the act. Opposition is especially high among people most familiar with the law, according to a survey of 1,010 adults conducted by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University.

"If the law doesn't change, in three or four years, we'll have more and more schools in the same (failing) boat," Pikeland Superintendent Paula Hawley said.

So why do so many people want the law changed or repealed when it appears it has accomplished what it set out to do?

Successes and Frustrations

Among the problems cited with NCLB is that each state develops its own test and that they aren't tied in with any nationwide standard. In the five years of NCLB, Illinois at least has modified its standard for what is considered passing.

Illinois students in grades 3-8 are required to take the Illinois Standards Achievement Test each spring. Reading and math scores from the test, along with the Prairie State Achievement Exam taken by 11th graders, are used to determine whether schools are making adequate yearly progress.

Teachers protest that the scores are used to compare this year's eighth-graders, for example, to last year's, rather than testing how a group of students progress.

Problems with the test provider delayed results in Illinois this past year, giving teachers no time to make improvements before the next testing season. As states ramp up the number of grades and subjects tested, NCLB requirements are stressing the limited number of test suppliers across the nation.

Despite these problems, test scores in the Pikeland District have gone from 62.4 percent meeting and exceeding standards in 2002 to 74.6 percent in 2006. In math, 50.8 percent of students met or exceeded standards in 2002, and 79 percent did in 2006.

The AYP target for all subgroups was 40 percent in 2003 and 2004, and it rose to 47.5 percent in 2005 and 2006. The standard will rise in increments of 7.5 percent each year beginning in 2007-08.

Improvements were made in the students with disabilities subgroup at Pikeland, even though that group is why the district has been tagged with the "failing" label. Five years ago, 23.1 percent met or exceeded standards. That figure rose to 27.3 percent in 2006 after peaking at 37.7 in 2005. In math, 7.4 percent of that subgroup met or exceeded standards in 2002, compared with 31.5 percent in 2006.

"(NCLB) has made us really dig in and apply best practices, how best to learn and how best to teach," Hawley said. "It's a team effort now, not with one teacher in a classroom doing whatever they want behind closed doors. We're all on the same page."

Pikeland has hired reading and math consultants, changed its curriculums and added after-school programs in response to scores that dipped in math one year and in reading the next.

"One thing I find the teachers doing is focusing on what all students are learning, not just special ed," said Debbie Wright, Pikeland's special ed coordinator. "They're focusing on the slow learner as well as gifted kids."

Pikeland also has achieved scores in the highest category for financial health. The largely rural district teaches 1,366 students with an operating expenditure per pupil of $7,005, compared with the 2006 state average of $9,099.

Woods says the biggest frustration "is the negative press that comes out because of NCLB ... I don't feel like our district is failing by any means."

AYP numbers in Quincy also have improved, making huge jumps in some cases. Only 5.1 percent of students with disabilities met AYP standards in reading and math in 2003. Those numbers rose to 46.6 percent in reading and 60.7 percent in math in 2006.

Districtwide, scores in reading went from 64 percent in 2002 to 73.1 percent in 2006. In math, the scores went from 68.2 in 2002 to 79.6 percent in 2006.

At Quincy High School, professional learning communities formed in each subject area allow teachers to refine what students are expected to learn each year and determine what steps to take if students miss the mark. The emphasis is on learning rather than teaching, said Tim Kreinberg, former assistant principal.

Since NCLB was enacted, the Quincy School District has either started or joined several programs designed to help its subgroups meet national standards.

A districtwide literacy initiative offers intensive reading and teaching assistance, and inclusion classrooms mix regular ed and special ed students under co-teachers. HELPS (Helping Every Learner Prosper) teams are formed of professionals and parents to assist any student identified with an educational or social problem that might affect learning. The Teen REACH program, administered by the Adams County Health Department, and the Black Star program address achievement gaps for minorities and low-income students.

Special Education progress

Raising the scores of special education students has proved one of the biggest challenges under NCLB.

Students requiring special services run the gamut from the severely mentally and physically disabled to those with a vision or speech impediment. All have an individualized education plan (IEP) with goals determined by a team that includes parents and professionals. One percent of the most severely disabled are assessed on an alternative portfolio of work, while the rest are held to the same standard as all other students.

"It seems silly that they have individual IEPs to monitor and gauge their progress ... Why aren't we using those measures to determine if we're making AYP?" Woods said. "We are looking at one high-stakes test they are taking. It's not an appropriate test for that subgroup."

Pikeland Elementary School serves grades 3-8. Because of its concentration of grades, it is one of the few in the area with more than 45 special education students. Meanwhile, the Quincy School District has become a magnet for families with special needs students because of its size and services. NCLB has spurred changes in how these students are taught in both districts.

Often these students do better when a special education teacher is teamed with a regular ed teacher in an "inclusion" class. They receive instruction by teachers with expertise in subject areas and have the example of the achievement of their regular ed peers.

"It's clear that students with IEPs need access to the general curriculum," said Kristen Kendrick, Quincy's director of special education. "That's one reason why special ed and general ed teachers are working more together. They both realize it's a shared responsibility."

Teachers also are trying different means of intervention — changes in the reading curriculum, additional instruction time and more closely targeted classwork — before a special ed label is applied.

Low test scores of special ed students put both Baldwin Intermediate School and Quincy Junior High School on the rolls of failing schools at one time, but no longer. Scores for Quincy High School's special ed population more than tripled in math in the last year.

Special ed scores at Pikeland have see-sawed, with reading up one year and math the next. "But you're not looking at the same group" from one year to the next, Pikeland Principal Daniel Brue said.

Wright wants to see an increase in the percentage of students eligible for the alternative assessment, and believes it is more appropriate for children with a mental impairment. She also hopes the state allows a test that looks at a student's progress rather than a comparison with all other students.

"The teachers care about their kids and know how hard it is to see them trying something beyond their capability," she said. "How do you keep them positive about coming to school and trying to do their best?"

Curriculum: Teaching to the test?

When schools receive spring test results each fall, they are used to plan improvements for the year. Both the Quincy and Pittsfield districts have hired consultants to help ramp up their reading and math curriculums, and Quincy has introduced a new science program.

Mary Kay Webel teaches reading at Pikeland to the students who are struggling the most. She provides an additional 60 to 90 minutes a week of reading instruction, building test-taking skills and working on extended-response questions. She practices fluency and comprehension, and eliciting the responses to reading selections that students will see on the ISAT.

"But I always did that," she said.

Now, however, she finds that the lowest-scoring students are coming to her from second grade with stronger reading skills.

Pikeland has changed its reading curriculum and reading support and continues to make changes driven by test scores.

Children are reading younger and more often. Rather than reading as a class, more students are reading books of their own choosing and at their own level. A three-tiered approach to reading will determine instructional time next year, and teachers will be using a computerized assessment tool "that will give us a clearer picture of what (students') weaknesses are," Webel said.

A tool used by Quincy teachers is an assessment wall that gives a visual representation of where each student stands along a continuum of achievement. The students are given a battery of reading assessments and each one, represented by a file card, is placed along the continuum based on their skills. The teachers use the walls to see what the students need to work on in order for their card to progress.

Pikeland has adopted a "spiraling" curriculum in math that reviews and reinforces material the students have had.

"We're literally working for that test in March," Brue said. "The teachers take it to heart. They work extremely hard."

Which begs the question: With so much riding on a once-a-year exam, how much of the school year is spent teaching to the test?

"Reading is important, no doubt about that," Woods said. "Over the last four years, our emphasis has been on reading and math. But we're bringing in reading in social studies and sciences so we don't lose ground in other areas... There are only so many minutes during the day."

The test are only a snapshot of what students learn during the year, said Jody Cooper, Quincy's director of testing.

"If they're succeeding, they should do well on the test," she said.

"In a perfect world, if your standards are what you want kids to know and be able to do when they leave a grade, and your test tests these standards, and these standards are what you teach all year long, then teaching to the test would be appropriate for kids," Hawley said. "I don't know that we have a perfect world."

Looking ahead to change

State Superintendent Chris Koch met this spring with Pikeland and Quincy administrators to talk specifically about the challenges of raising special ed scores. Koch said he expects the basic tenets of NCLB will remain unchanged as legislators look at reauthorizing the bill.

"We're seeing some improvement across the country for subgroups and students who before were not paid as much attention to necessarily," he said. "At the same time, we'll see some changes, which will be welcome."

Some states are experimenting with a growth model of assessment for special ed students, and Illinois has lobbied to be part of that effort.

"I would say definitely ... that's going to occur," Koch said. "It's more fair ... because all students don't learn at the same rate."

Koch called the law's goal of having 100 percent of students meeting or exceeding standards by 2014 "ambitious ... but I don't know how realistic (it) has ever been. That's going to require a lot more flexibility in the law than there currently is."

He would like to see an infusion of cash for Illinois schools through the state budget, but that does not appear likely. He said there will be an increasing emphasis on math and on teacher qualifications, and he also expects to see changes in the assessment tools.

"The writers of NCLB are discovering that one size doesn't fit all in terms of how we assess students," Koch said.

Critics and proponents continue to debate if the legislation is adequately funded, and whether the standards for proficiency have been set too low or need to be made more flexible.

Unquestionably, NCLB has given rise to more questions about education.

"In trying to answer them, we get better all the time," said Cooper. "Five years ago, we weren't asking those questions."