Not one East Valley school district made adequate yearly progress this year based on federal and state academic standards.
But few are surprised by the information, released today by the Arizona Department of Education.
In fact, only a handful of districts in all of Maricopa County achieved the complicated requirements - Fountain Hills, Mobile, Morristown, to name a few.
In Arizona, only 58 percent of schools met adequate yearly progress for the 2010-11 school year.
"The federal requirements for meeting AYP are impractical for many schools and districts in Arizona and across the nation," the state Department of Education reported in a news release.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires that public schools - district and charter - make adequate yearly progress based on test scores, graduation rates, the number of students tested and attendance. The law mandates that the data is examined for all students as well as different subgroups - five ethnic groups, English language learners, special education and students in poverty. Should any one group fail in just one grade and subject, a school - and ultimately a district - fails.
And this year, it was tougher to meet the standard.
By 2014, federal law requires that all students - 100 percent of every student in every subgroup - make adequate yearly progress on their grade level. Arizona, like every state in the country, set yearly requirements that inch up a bit until that level is met.
For example, to meet the required standard this year, 65 percent of all third-graders tested in math in the spring had to pass Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards. Last year, that number was 53 percent. Next year, the number is 77 percent. And in reading, 65.5 percent of eighth-graders had to pass the test to meet adequate yearly progress. That number was 54 percent last year and will be 77 percent next year.
Schools labeled as Title I - meaning they have a high number of low-income families - could face consequences should they fail to make adequate yearly progress. The federal law requires states to dictate steps schools take if they end up in "corrective action," a label slapped on when test scores fail to improve for any one group of students several years in a row. When that happens, a school may face "restructuring," such as a change in leadership, staffing or a takeover by a charter school or the state.
Like other school districts, Mesa Unified School District saw more schools not making sufficient progress than the previous year.
"It was primarily that the English language learners are not passing the reading test or it's special education students not passing at a high enough rate," said Joe O'Reilly, Mesa's executive director for student achievement support. "That's one of the challenges. But we have to address all of it. We're looking at ways of improvement for all of our students."
Ken Baca, new superintendent of Tempe Union High School District, said it's important for parents to realize that the federal adequate yearly progress mark is only a "snapshot" of what happens in the classrooms.
"That's one snapshot of how students did at any one given time. It is important information, but it's as though you have 230 questions on an exam and you get one wrong, you fail the exam," he said.
Parents and the community should also look at other indicators: how many students graduated, how many achieved national rankings, how many are going on to college.
MissArizona posted at 1:23 am on Wed, Jul 27, 2011.
NCLB was designed to eventually label all schools as failing so that they could be taken over and privatized. It's just a sneaky way to introduce vouchers and get the public to pay for private religious education. I don't want my tax dollars going to a madrassa of any religion. It's also a way to get charters everywhere - and open the door for Education Management Organizations (EMOs) to make a boatload of money. Why else would Michael Millken be involved? There are hedge funds devoted to education. Public education dollars will end up in Wall Street pockets instead of the classroom.
Arne Duncan himself said 82% of schools will be failing because of the incremental increase and the demand for 100% proficiency in 2014. That's like saying all oncologists will have 0 patients die and if any patients do die, they'll put the doctor on probation.
But by all means, let's test kids some more - start with 4 year olds and test test test. Follow the money - the testing companies, Pearson in particular, are going to make bank on this. The new Common Core standards will require testing throughout the school year - tests that haven't been tested for validity will now be used to determine a child's future and a teacher's job. The countries that are the best in education don't test like this - they also aren't in thrall to corporations.
I see little hope for the American education system when the President holds education summits and invites business people and billionaires but no educators. The US Department of Education is staffed by pro-charter test-a-holics associated with the Bill Gates Foundation who are not educators.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 8:00 am on Wed, Jul 27, 2011.
WHY AREN'T OUR LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT'S ENSURING THAT ALL THEIR TIME AND EFFORTS ARE GOING TOWARD...."EDUCATION".
BECAUSE OUR ..."LIBERAL-PROGRESSIVE"....SCHOOL DISTRICTS ARE TOO BUSY TEACHING ......ILLEGAL ALIEN STUDENTS FROM MEXICO AND POINTS SOUTH TO SPEAK ...."ENGLISH"...........AND GIVING THEM AND THEIR PARENTS, AUNTS, UNCLES, GRANDPARENTS.............."FREE AND REDUCED RATE MEALS".
WELL FOLKS,...................NOTHING IS FREE...........THAT FOOD WAS PAID FOR BY ARIZONA AND EVER OTHER HARD-WORKING TAX-PAYER IN AMERICA.
SO THAT OUR ...."SB1070-HATING" SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITY AND COMMUNITY COLLEGE TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS.....CAN HELP ..STUDENTS AND ADULTS...........WHO ARE NOT EVEN .....AMERICANS.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 8:06 am on Wed, Jul 27, 2011.
QUIT TRYING TO TEACH .....SCHOOL CHILDREN FROM MEXICO, EL SALVADOR, HONDURAS, GUATAMALA AND POINTS SOUTH TO READ.......ENGLISH.
AND DO THE JOB THAT THE ARIZONA PUBLIC EXPECTS YOU TO DO......TEACH AMERICAN STUDENTS.......THE SUBJECTS THAT ARE REQUIRED TO DO WELL IN COLLEGE AND THE UNIVERSITY.
THE LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS SHOULD GET OUT OF THE ......"SAVE MEXICANS, SAVE HONDURANS, SAVE GUATAMALANS, SAVE EL SALVADORANS".........AND START ........"SAVING AMERICAN STUDENTS".
concernedcitizen posted at 10:39 am on Wed, Jul 27, 2011.
Leon-if you have a problem with how local school districts have to take care of these "types" of students, talk to the federal government. Don't blame the local school districts, because it is federal laws that dictate that we, as teachers, have to do.
I believe MissArizona hit it on the head with her reply. Unfortunately, Republican lawmakers for years have tried to help their business buddies through these types of laws. It became clear to me when I read MissArizona's response.
Only teachers can understand the extreme weight/demands on them. In a company, if someone isn't "cutting the mustard," you get rid of them and hire someone more capable. In education, as a teacher/leader, you are expected to help ALL of those under you be successful, AND you are working with children who are only sporadically mature at times, simply because of their age and experience. Pile on top of that these mandated tests, and more tests, and more and more laws that put more pressure on teachers to perform, which only causes teachers to downshift into survival gear, with only just enough time to "teach to the test," rather than to really help students to learn the content internally.
Studies have shown that people in general do MUCH better in performance situations when they are relaxed and can think clearly without pressure (or as little as possible). All of these legal demands on teachers, on top of the stress of teaching ELL/ESL students (many of which are children of illegal immigrants), on top of everything else makes teachers VERY stressed and overworked, and that passes on directly to the students.
Why is it now that schools have to send home flyers around AIMS testing time encouraging parents to do the right things to help their children do their best? Maybe because there is too much pressure around this one test?
And what about special ed students-who is to say what is adequate yearly progress for them? I have two special needs children, one in particular who is very developmentally delayed (3 1/2 now, and he is at a 20-month old stage)-who is to say 1 year's school progress is really what HIS 1-year of progress is? And he has 7 therapists between school and home. He is getting as much help as is reasonably possible (plus two great parents... :)
Someone posted on another article, why do todays youth/young adults do not even know simple things like the difference between The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? It is precisely for this reason-too much time "testing" to show "proof" that we are actually teaching. I as a teacher am concerned (note my name...hee hee) for the way education is going, not because my job is increasingly more demanding and difficult, but because of how it is affecting our children, America's future.
We need politicians who have families and who represent the thoughts of the people and the general welfare of our nation, not who continue to represent their own business interests/buddies and their own retirement and health care (I hear U.S. Congressman have AWESOME benefits, too bad we can't keep them from receiving those benefits and their pay until they take care of our nation's debt problem, I bet they would have a fix in an hour if we did that!).
Unfortunately, those of us who make an honest living and work hard to support our families and raise children to be God-fearing don't have the time for self-interest stuff like being a congressman. We are too busy trying to help our children be the best they can be.
NothingButTheTruth posted at 11:27 am on Wed, Jul 27, 2011.
Maybe we should separate the English as a second language students from the American children to see if that helps. If not then we can look at other problems.
alancook posted at 3:22 pm on Wed, Jul 27, 2011.
National math test scores continue to be disappointing. This poor trend persists in spite of new texts, standardized tests with attached implied threats, or laptops in the class. At some point, maybe we should admit that math, as it is taught currently and in the recent past, seems irrelevant to a large percentage of grade school kids.
Why blame a sixth grade student or teacher trapped by meaningless lessons? Teachers are frustrated. Students check out.
The missing element is reality. Instead of insisting that students learn another sixteen formulae, we need to involve them in tangible life projects. And the task must be interesting.
Project-oriented math engages kids. It is fun. They have a reason to learn the math they may have ignored in the standard lecture format of a class room.
Alan Cook
info@thenumberyard.com
www.thenumberyard.com