Aug. 14, 2005
JOEL DAVIDSON\Frontiersman reporter
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Across the nation, controversy and high emotion signal the annual release of the scores. For the last three years, the high-stakes federal report card has attempted to measure academic progress for individual schools.
Alaska's progress
Statewide, 41 percent of schools (203 of 495) did not meet federal standards for AYP, with 18 of 38 public schools in Mat-Su missing the mark.
State and local education officials, however, cautioned residents to look at the "big picture" before labeling schools that missed AYP as failing institutions.
"There is a bigger picture and that includes the daily classroom assessments that we are doing with each and every child," said Kim Floyd, information specialist for the Mat-Su Borough School District.
"This single measure cannot be used as a indicator of school or student performance. A sole measure is not adequate in doing that," Floyd said.
State Education Commissioner Roger Sampson offered a similar school defense in a press release Friday.
"There are many excellent schools in Alaska, some of which did not meet every AYP target," he stated.
"In fact many schools made substantial improvements in student achievement over the past two years but did not meet AYP."
What's at stake?
Test compliance is closely tied to Title 1, a voluntary federal program that provides billions of dollars to participating states to help educate low-income children.
Part of the agreement under Title 1 is that states work toward yearly academic progress.
In the past, states were free to define academic progress as they saw fit, which resulted in widespread abuse and lax standards by many.
In 2001, the federal government stepped in and clearly defined what would pass as adequate yearly progress.
Under the new system, each school must pass 31 different categories. If even one category is missed, AYP cannot be obtained.
Keeping track
The goal of AYP is to clearly measure student achievement to ensure that all students from third through 10th grades are proficient in reading, writing and math by 2014.
In order to keep certain student groups from being academically left behind, federal law states that schools must show progress for all the different types of students, not just overall school results.
Sub-groups include students with limited English proficiency, students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged students and different racial groups.
This year, according to Alaska law, 71 percent of students in each category had to be proficient in reading, writing and math in order for the school as a whole to pass AYP.
In addition, federal law required that at least 95 percent of students in every category take the exam before the school, as a whole, could meet AYP.
Eleven Mat-Su schools did not meet AYP even though the schools, overall, did well on the test, with 95 percent test participation.
Colony High School, for instance, missed AYP by one category because too few economically disadvantaged students took the test.
Biggest hurdles
Connie Lutz, executive director of curriculum and assessment for the Mat-Su School District, said the biggest obstacle for schools in passing AYP is the law itself.
"It's not passable because how can we be sure that all our students will be there on test day to take that test?" she said Friday. "How does a handful of students not coming to school indicate that the school is not doing well?"
School that miss AYP face heavy consequences, especially Title 1 schools that receive additional federal funding for economically disadvantaged students.
Last year, several Title 1 schools in the Mat-Su missed AYP for the second year in a row and the school district was forced to offer transportation for students who wanted to transfer to schools that passed AYP.
This year, in addition to offering alternate school choices, the district also must offer tutors and additional education services for eligible students who attend Title 1 schools that missed AYP for the third consecutive year.
After four years in a row missing AYP, Title 1 schools have to take corrective actions that could include, among other things, firing teachers, changing curriculum or extending the school year.
Non-Title 1 schools, however, make up more than half of Mat-Su schools and are far less affected by AYP consequences.
If non-Title 1 schools miss AYP for two years in a row or more, they need only notify parents and develop an improvement plan for the following year.
Test has benefits
Despite the obvious controversies, Lutz said the test does give teachers and parents the chance to see how individual students are progressing.
Teachers can view test scores for all their current and incoming students and parents are able to view their child's results.
So long as parents and teachers approach the test results as a one-day snapshot of how students are doing, Lutz said they can be helpful in setting goals for improvement.
"I wouldn't change the test," she said. "I would change the 31 indicators."
Lutz said she thought the test would be a better indicator of school performance if it didn't put so much weight on test-day attendance.
She also suggested modifying the testing approach for students with disabilities and limited English proficiency. Those groups, she said, should not be measured by the same academic standards as other students.
Over the next three weeks, the district will notify parents whose children attended schools last year that missed AYP.
For more information about No Child Left Behind and AYP testing, people may log onto the Alaska Department of Education Web site, www.eed.state.ak.us.
Contact Joel Davidson at 352-2266, or joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.
Comments
11 comment(s)wrote on Jun 9, 2010 3:28 PM:
Rosemary wrote on Jan 14, 2009 9:58 AM:
Student Rosemary M
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alaska wrote on Nov 25, 2008 10:10 AM:
jane wrote on Sep 11, 2008 10:18 AM:
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Keep your moose queen Alaska!! She never quite tells the whole story which is too much like the current Bush administration. Gross! Gross! Gross! Both of you. "
April Taylor family wrote on Aug 15, 2008 2:38 PM:
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