Borough schools, programs fail to meet progress standards
Originally published Saturday, August 9, 2008 at 12:14 a.m.
Updated Saturday, August 9, 2008 at 10:28 a.m.
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Stumble It!FAIRBANKS — Fourteen schools and programs in the Fairbanks North Star Borough school district failed to meet the 2007-2008 Adequate Yearly Progress standards, a measure of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Six of the schools not meeting the requirements showed up on the list for the first time, but this year’s results can be misleading. The targets are based on what percent of students are proficient in math, reading and language arts. In 2007-08, the required proficiency rate increased from about 71 percent to 77 percent of students needing to be proficient in language arts and from 58 percent to 66 percent in math. The targets for the 2007-08 year were increased over the previous three years, and over time, the targets will continue to increase until reaching 100 percent of students required to be proficient by 2013-2014.
“We knew the targets were higher, and we expected to not do as well,” Superintendent Nancy Wagner said. “But we’re very pleased. We still have more schools than last year’s.”
Twenty-one schools out of 34 met AYP in 2007-2008, an increase over the 17 out of 34 in 2006-2007.
AYP is based on 31 targets based on testing, percentage of proficient students and graduation and attendance rates within various student subgroups. Schools can fail to meet AYP by missing just one of the targets.
Of the 13 schools that did not meet AYP, four missed only one of the targets and three schools missed two of the targets.
Schools and programs that did not meet AYP were Alternative Learning Systems, Arctic Light Elementary, Barnette Magnet School, Effie Kokrine Charter School, Fairbanks Youth Facility, Guided Independent Study, Hunter Elementary, Ladd Elementary, Lathrop High School, Nordale Elementary, North Pole Middle School, Ryan Middle School, Star of the North Secondary School and West Valley High School.
Wagner said she appreciates how the program looks at each child instead of an average, but has never been a fan of how NCLB is operated or how its targets are set because it is based on a standardized test. There are things students should learn that cannot be measured on a test including problem solving, critical thinking, team work and values, Wagner said.
“There are a lot of other factors,” she said. “We’re trying to teach our graduates to be good citizens.”
Education Commissioner Larry LeDoux had an outlook similar to Wagner.
“While we accept AYP, it is not our only vision for the state,” he said at a press conference Friday.
A news release from the department said that "In school year 2007-2008, nearly six out of 10 Alaska public schools made adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.... That represents a decline from nearly 62 percent of Alaska public schools in 2005-2006 and nearly 66 percent in 2006-2007."
About 75,000 of Alaska’s 130,000 public school children in grades three through 10 are assessed each year by standardized tests in reading, writing and math.
Results of the Public School Performance Incentive Program also were released Friday. The program gives monetary bonuses to all staff members of a school where students perform significantly better or remain at a high level on state assessments of reading, writing and math in the current year compared to the same students’ performances the previous year.
Incentive value scores in the 90s mean students’ progress is stable. Schools with scores higher than 100 mean students’ progress is beyond a one-year growth.
Schools with scores higher than 107 receive the bonuses of $5,000 for certified staff members and $2,500 for non-certified staff. The money that isn’t spent returns to a state general fund.
No Fairbanks schools received the bonuses, although most schools were above 90. High-scoring schools included Pearl Creek Elementary with 105.98, Two Rivers Elementary with 105 and Chinook Montessori Charter School with 103.43.
Wagner said she does not find the program beneficial and said all district teachers do a good job and specific schools shouldn’t be singled out.
Community Discussion
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Mike,
Thanks for pointing that out. I've fixed the paragraph, which now reads like this:
A news release from the department said that "In school year 2007-2008, nearly six out of 10 Alaska public schools made adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.... That represents a decline from nearly 62 percent of Alaska public schools in 2005-2006 and nearly 66 percent in 2006-2007."
I'm not impressed either. Last year when North Pole Middle was having gun threats, I called the superintendent and told him that they needed to run dogs for drugs and also have metal detectors. He just about laughed and told me that the parents wouldn't go for it, because it would be too much of a distraction for their children. I was so amazed with the careless attitude about drug use and weapon use. It really upsets me that he thinks I would feel it as a distraction to my child, and make me feel foolish for the suggestions. These comments from this article just prove to me even more that it is about a paycheck and not the child.
It's like my friend says "No Child Left Behind, more like No Child Gets Ahead!"
The class only gets as far as the trouble makers let them. The teachers are over worked and the classrooms are not well supplied, my sons class had to share books, where does all the "insane cost per child" go? My kids are stuck with kids whose parents don't care about them, they come to school unprepared and uncared for. I have witnessed kids being taken out of classes to go shopping or to go to a new movie that just came out! I have seen assignments cancelled due to lack of participation! I know of at least 3 students who should have been held back, I am talking about in 6th grade, still reading and math maybe at a 2nd or 3rd grade level, is all this mess because of the AYP?
If I could home school I would, If I felt confident about schools in the lower 48, I'd move.
We need to spend more cost per child ON THE CHILD. We need to hold back kids that are not able to move ahead, we need to pay the teachers more, we need to hire more support staff for the CLASSROOMS, we need to expel / suspend students who do not come to school every day, let the drunk/crack addict/ ignorant parents take care of there own kids instead of sending them to school for the teachers to care for, at my sons' expense.
I suppose that last line is a bit angry, but honestly as I sit here typing and thinking that in less than 2 weeks my kids will be in this situation again it just raises my blood pressure and I can't hold back.
Ok I used the wrong 'there', it should have been 'their' as in let the selfish loser parents take care of THEIR own kids.... I told you my blood pressure was high, no need for derogatory remarks about me or my family!
Wow, so all I ever hear is "Show us improvement". The district improved this year, going from 17 schools passing to 21 schools passing, and still, everyone complains. Take a look at some of the "failing" schools. Alternative Learning School, Effie Kokrine, Fairbanks Youth Facility, GIS, and Star of the North are all alternative schools that will be almost impossible to bring up to standard. Mostly because they use different ways of teaching. Those ways of teaching are intentional, because students attending those schools do so to avoid learning the "traditional" way. However, we are still basing their ability to pass/fail on standardized testing. That is one of the biggest flaws of NCLB.
Cliperetta, I'm sorry that you feel that you were dismissed so readily by the superintendent (who is a female, by the way, not a man). I will say that drug dogs and metal detectors create 2 major problems.
1. Many parents would absolutely come unglued at the proposition of drug dogs and metal detectors and, I am sure, would sue the school district. Metal detectors could probably pass a legal test, but I'm not so sure about drug dogs.
2. Metal detectors and drug dogs are not free. They cost money. The taxpayers in this borough have repeatedly shown that they do not want to spend more money on anything.
Just a couple of thoughts to keep things in perspective.
"“There are a lot of other factors,” she said. “We’re trying to teach our graduates to be good citizens.”"
This statement I have a problem with. Schools don't exist to make a child a good citizen, they exist to educate. Parents are there to make their children good citizens.
Spend more time teaching math, english, social studies and less time trying to impress your values on my child.
Pavel,
I agree that schools are not there to teach values and that is the parents' job. Unfortunately, that is not how it really is. As many frustrated teachers/parents know, there are always 1 or 2 students in every class who have not been taught those things at home. They force the teacher to expend an inordinate amount of time on them. You can't teach the rest of the class when 1 or 2 students are being disruptive or require repeat instruction on behavior. The legal system has severely tied the hands of teachers/administrators as to what can be done to/about those students. It sucks. And if you think teachers are not just as frustrated about this, you are mistaken.
It has been a long time since I attended school, but I can still remember detention, in school suspension (ISS) and out school suspension (OSS). ISS was brutal, all day long, all by yourself with just your homework and school books. OSS would have been worse, my folks would have tanned my hide. Get too many of them and you repeated the grade. Get a lot of them and you were simply expelled.
Do they not have these punishments anymore? Trouble makers in class get removed from class until they can behave or are expelled, the whole class wasn't made to suffer the actions of the disruptive child.
Pavel,
I would have to ask around about middle and high school. I work at an elementary school, and suspensions are rare (maybe 1 a year).
I, too, remember in school suspensions, etc. I hate to go all old school and sound like my parents, but, these kids today......
The things that they do in the classroom absolutely amaze me. I think most people would be shocked if they saw the kind of behavior that takes place even down in Kindergarten and First Grade. Kids do things that I would have never even THOUGHT about doing when I was a kid (and I'm not that old...only 35) Again, there is little that the teachers can do. Unfortunately, if the parents don't care or want to do something, the behavior rarely changes. There is only so much I can do in the 5 hours a day that I have a child in my classroom. The other 19, they are somewhere else.
So if you have a disruptive child, you can't send them to the office or otherwise remove them from the classroom temporarily?
Usually when a school bond comes up the public shows strong support. Not always but most of the time teachers pay issues have strong public support. Yet the schools as a whole seem to produce a substandard product. The "why" of that always comes down to a blame game and truth and responsibility get trampled. Personally I do not trust statements by teachers union representatives or the school administrators. The school board is generally ineffective and in any case their efforts take years to bears fruit.
Here's a bit of truth:
-many administrators are on a career path that has a patina of politics to it.
-some students do not stay in any one school for more than two years.
-junior high school is in many ways the most formative years for students yet many are in and out before anyone realizes their potential or needs.
-parents who have the responsibility of raising their children have repeatedly been told the professionals know better how to educate their children. The result has been that many parents have entirely left education to the school system.
-the group of people who spend the most time in any one school are the teachers but though they know how well or poorly the kids are learning they are hampered by their union as well as parents and administrators.
Since I'm not king I can't solve this but I do think the administration is mostly useless, along with the school board. Cut down on the expenses related to them and hire more teachers. Give the teachers what ever power they want in the classroom but remove tenure and allow some parent input into terminating teachers.
Scary I know but say you have one or two vocal parents complaining about a teacher; then you get input from all the other students' parents. Now if the overwhelming response was to remove that teacher, as teachers would you really oppose removal? Why? I think the normal response would be to support the teacher and that might just force the parents to remove their child to another school, hopefully finding the particular teacher that can help the student. Hopefully.
In some of my sons' classes, they will have different levels of 'warnings': red, orange, yellow (?). Some teachers are oblivious or to easy going.
If you walk by my sons' school behavioral specialists room, you can see the same kids EVERY day, and they don't just sit there, they talk back to her. The kids that are usually in trouble are the ones that are ignored at home and they don't care if you call their parents, the parents are either passed out or their phone has been disconnected!!
My sons' have been pushed into water faucets, teased verbally, stolen from, watched as their friends were hit with spit balls all behind the backs of the teachers... nothing is done, well it is said it will be taken care of but.... this one time I was told a trouble maker was not going to be allowed on a favorite class trip and as the bus pulled up to let the kids off, there he was, the first bully of many to get off! Of course they let him go, let the museum deal with him!! Some of the teachers are so stressed out that when my son went to complain that a known 'you know what' was poking him AGAIN in line, the teacher sent my son to the end of the line and told my little guy to stay away from him!!
So my kids have learned through retaliation that it's best to keep quiet. When someone does complain about a students misbehavior, the teachers usually react with "oh let me guess, is it (insert bullies name here)?"
I am not sure if there hands are tied or what, but the students who behave and are at grade level are over looked. Maybe I will tell my kids to cause disturbances in the class, that IS the only way to get the teachers attention.
No child left behind (NCLB) requires that all students (with the exception of those doing alternative assessment - the severe kiddos, very complicated) meet the same standard. As was stated in an earlier post, the child with an IQ of 70 (considered cognitively impaired/mentally retarded and on an IEP because of those needs) pass the same test as a child with an IQ of 170. So the percentage that "pass" is very skewed because the 70 IQ will NEVER pass the test because they are reading at a 1st grade level in 3rd grade for instance. In general, the public has no idea how complicated "passing the test" really is and all that goes into figuring an "effective" school. NCLB requires that students on IEPs are integrated into the classroom as much as possible - it is the LAW, out of the district's hands. That is probably why your son has kids in his 6th grade classroom reading at a 2nd grade level - they would HAVE to be on an IEP. My teacher friend had a 100 point spread in IQs in her 3rd grade classroom - how do you effectively teach all of those children? AND deal with the behavior...you have to tread lightly with kids and discipline now because of lawsuits. AND there are laws about suspending/expelling children on IEPs. Kids with severe behavior issues may be on an IEP for that reason. NCLB is not all bad but it makes some things very complicated.
Sorry, this doesnt read correctly "AND there are laws about suspending/expelling children on IEPs. Kids with severe behavior issues may be on an IEP for that reason."
I mean that the "reason" some kids may be on an IEP for behavior issues - emotionally disturbed. It is much more difficult to expel/suspend a child on an IEP. I didnt mean it to sound like a child would be put on an IEP so they couldnt be expelled because that isnt true. Sorry!
I know some folks are gonna "vapor-lock" when I add my two cents....but here it is.
Alot of you are absolutely right in voicing your frustrations on the subject.
But, society is paying dearly for this kinder/gentler/"no one accepts responsibility for their actions" mentality we've enacted on and accept from our youth.
Sorry, but the legal system has not only tied the hands of administrators and teachers, but parents too.
A letter in the mail, or PHONE CALL HOME from school for bad behavior "back in the day," on one occasion brought my mother TO the school, into the classroom, snatching me out away from my desk, (teacher watching), Mom dragging me into the coat room in front of classmates, (teacher still watching, now SMILING!!!) and discipline would be served, period.
Such a "fond," and very true memory, and one that old friends who were there that day STILL remind me of.
And it got its point across.
No one complaining of "traumatizing the child" blah, blah, blah!!!!! Just straight AND TO the point.
Perfect? Not hardly. Effective? Oh man!
And it wasn't just my parent.
Today, my mother, God rest her soul, would be thrown in jail on numerous felony charges. Or better yet, the CHILD would just curse the parent, physically attack them or have Social Services called. All bad ideas growing up in my home "way back when."
My point is, you can't look at these kids the wrong way without consequences these days. I respect what a teacher goes through, because you couldn't pay me enough to teach todays youth in a school setting.
Listening to some of them in the grocery store, at the Fair, whatever is enough for me.
Those who talked of days gone past when ISS, OSS, morning detentions and the like were around, forgot one more thing. The REAL "Board of Education." Some of you all know what I'm talking about.
Bending over and taking one to three hard paddles on the ass! Sent a message.
Unfortunately, these days, jail and a lawsuit would await the teacher, school and the district...so the way I see it, you're stuck.
Were there bad kids growing up around me? Yes there were. Are there very good kids in the present day? You bet.
But there was a time when a visit the principal's office for acts of wrongdoing, MEANT SOMETHING!!!! The words, "I think I need to contact your parents," REALLY MEANT SOMETHING!!!!
Now for the most part, a kid will literally almost laugh you out of town.
Here's hoping the other Interior schools pull things together on the AYP "tip." And teachers....August 20th is on the horizon.
Ante up...and kick in!
All we have to do to fix the area school system is to throw more money at it!That's what we've done for thirty years, & look at all the progress we've made. Come on taxpayers, just anti-up!
FDNM: Disappointing headline! A more accurate headline would be: "School District makes progress, although not enough to meet heightened expectations of NCLB". The headline you chose puts the district in a bad light without taking the time to report all of the facts; for example, why borough schools did not make AYP. Better yet, how about helping the reader understand how the Federal Government defines Adequate Yearly Progress and the method in which progress is measured. At the least, you should take the time to report how the FEDS define failure.
These schools belong to us, North Star Borough residents, I encourage everyone to better understand AYP, NCLB, IEP and all the other acronyms in public education that impact the education your child receives.
FDNM: How about launching a section, online, that focuses on NCLB and what our borough schools are doing in attempt to meet the goal of 100% proficient in reading, writing, math, and science by 2014. Something similar to the "Hayes case" would be great. They stole $500,000 from our Government and socially economically disadvantaged families and got a special section on your website; certainly the $180M the school district will spend this year educating our kids, in accordance with NCLB, qualifies for a special section to help keep borough residents informed.
No Child Left Behind fails to account for what matters most in a child's education: the parents. My kids are expected to do well, my wife and I involve ourselves in their education, enforce homework, and won't settle for bad grades or misbehavior. The result? Thus far, our kids have scored well above average. (Personally I think part of the reason for this is that the average is too low.)
As for in-school suspension, etc., yes, it still exists. A few years back, my son went through a patch of bad behavior and got an in-school suspension for several days. Now, here's the key: my wife and I didn't complain that he was singled out. Instead we backed up the school and insisted that he take his punishment, and added our own penalties at home. He shaped up quickly and has had no further problems at school. Once again, parental involvement. If he starts getting in trouble again, he knows he'll face consequences both at school and at home.
I'm not claiming my kids are perfect (they can be a real handful), and I'm well aware that some kids have genuine underlying problems that require more than stern parenting. However, most kids who get in trouble and earn lousy grades do so because their parents allow them to.
No Child Left Behind is a lousy bill that should never have been passed. It holds schools responsible for parental failure. It violates the basic conservative notion of personal responsibility. Republicans used to say that government couldn't solve all of society's problems. That was their argument against Democratic Party programs for decades. When did they forget this? When they let the social conservatives take over their party, that's when.
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