Home > News & Events > 2008 News	Print View

As recently as 2006, we might have expected a lot of hand-wringing and concern among administrators in the Austin Public Schools when the No Child Left Behind "Adequate Yearly Progress" evaluations came out. Back when NCLB was relatively new, only a small percentage of schools statewide appeared on the "underperforming" list, which meant there was a stigma associated with such a label.

Not anymore.

With 937 of 1,951 schools in Minnesota having been informed that they aren't making "Adequate Yearly Progress," we couldn't blame school officials in Austin if they simply rolled their eyes and said, "Oh well," when they learned that every school in the district except Neveln Elementary came up short.

And on the surface, things are likely to get worse. At this time next year -- unless NCLB is overhauled -- it's a near-certainty that more than half of Minnesota's schools will appear on what amounts to a federal watch list. Every year, the proficiency standards that students and schools must meet get higher. So even if test scores go up, it's unlikely they'll go up fast enough to satisfy federal law.

That is especially true in any school district that has a small but statistically significant population of special education students, low-income students, minority students or ESL students. If just one subset of students doesn't show improvement that keeps up with federal mandates (which are calculated to produce 100 percent proficiency by 2014), then a school is labeled as underperforming.

This system is unrealistic and perhaps unfair, but we don't expect Austin's school officials to sit on their hands regarding schools'"deficiencies" among special ed students and those who receive free/reduced price lunches. The idea behind No Child Left Behind remains valid, and teachers must be creative and industrious as they try to help all students achieve their full potential, regardless of whether they ultimately meet some federal standard.

But for now, we'd like to note some of areas in which the Austin Public Schools did make "Adequate Yearly Progress" in the recent school year.

At Austin High School:

• White and Hispanic students met standards for reading, as did students who receive free/reduced lunches.

• Special ed students met standards for reading and math.

• White students met standards for math.

• The graduation rate met federal requirements.

At Ellis Middle School:

• Asian, black, white and Hispanic students met standards for reading.

• Asian, Hispanic and white students met standards for math

• Students with limited proficiency in English met standards for both reading and math.

We could go on. There is plenty of good news hidden under that "underperforming label." As interim superintendent Bruce Anderson said, "We're encouraged by the growth we've seen in the students from last year."

As long as that growth continues, we're not terribly concerned about how well Austin's schools fulfill an unfunded mandate that is on the verge of outliving its usefulness.

http://news.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=28&a=355727