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Rising standards on state standardized tests are taking a toll on west central Minnesota school districts.

More school districts and school sites are facing sanctions for not making adequate yearly progress on state goals on standardized reading and math tests.

Sanctions require districts to set aside money from the Title I programs for staff training and other uses. That money would otherwise be used to help students who are struggling in reading and math. Sanctions increase the longer a school fails to make adequate yearly progress.

Eight school districts, three more than a year ago, will be implementing improvement plans in the next year.

Eleven of 20 area school districts did not make adequate progress. Of 66 school sites in the region, 29 schools in 15 districts did not make adequate yearly progress.

Three school districts and 16 school sites are on the list because one category of students did not meet targets.

Four area elementary schools will be required to offer school choice to their students — the option to attend a different school.

One school — Lincoln Elementary in Willmar — will be required to offer school-funded tutoring outside the school day.

Willmar is the most affected in the ratings. There was a significant increase in the test goals this year, and Willmar’s standing in the testing took a corresponding hit.

The district as a whole did not meet goals in reading or math in five subcategories: Hispanic, black, limited English proficiency, special education and students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Only the Senior High made adequate progress, according to the state.

Individual school buildings fell short in some of those areas but not all of them.

Danith Clausen, director of curriculum and instruction for Willmar, said school officials knew they would face problems because the state goals jumped so dramatically. The changes affected the whole state, she said.

Clausen was taken aback by the number of areas where Willmar did not meet goals. “I knew there would be rough spots, but I did not think it would be that many,” she said. “We know we have challenges; we look at our numbers and we’re certainly not satisfied.”

If there’s a bright spot, she said, it’s that the district fell short by just a few students in some categories, indicating that many students did meet the state requirements.

Students learning English and special education students present some particular challenges, she said.

“We can have students who function very well with the (English) social vocabulary,” Clausen said. “It’s harder to pick up the academic vocabulary.”

Special education is a category that affects many districts. “You can understand it,” Clausen said. “If they could make grade level, they wouldn’t qualify for special ed.”

Ultimately, Clausen said, the adequate yearly progress results are only one piece of information the district uses for evaluation. The state tests don’t measure student growth, but the district has other tests that do.

The district has trained a group of teachers to refine the data to look at individual scores. “We work kid by kid” to decide what special attention is needed for each student, Clausen said. “We don’t live at the (adequate yearly progress) result level; we live at the kid level.”

http://www.wctrib.com/articles/index.cfm?id=40177