School improvement steady

By Anna B. Mitchell  

AUGUST 23, 2010 8:17 a.m. (0)

Christine Phillips describes herself as generally even-keeled person.

But the principal of Welcome Elementary School in Greenville screamed when she opened her e-mail early last week. Her students had met all federal testing standards in 2009, meaning they had achieved “Adequate Yearly Progress.”

“I ran, and I can’t remember who I hugged first,” Phillips said. “There was a mother out front who said, ‘That’s a good scream. I know something great just happened here at Welcome.’”

Welcome is one of many schools that has gone through restructuring since the federal No Child Left Behind law was signed by George W. Bush eight and a half years ago.  The law’s eventual aim is to have every child, regardless of race, income or disability, achieve scores of proficient on standardized tests by 2014.

Working toward that goal, South Carolina ratchets up the required percentage of children among various subgroups scoring proficient. In 2006, fewer than half of Welcome’s students scored proficient in English and just over a third in math. It’s now over three-quarters in both areas.

Title I schools – those receiving extra federal money because of high poverty – face sanctions such as letting their students choose another school and having to restructure their staff if they fail to show improvement over a number of years.

Countywide, 36 out of 49 elementary schools joined Welcome in the success column. So too did three out of the county’s 19 middle schools. None of the high schools did.

The stakes were higher for the high schools, where about 70 percent of students and their subgroups had to score proficient in English and math to meet the federal standard. The standard among elementary- and middle-school kids was about 58 percent.

Superintendent Jim Rex said he didn’t think many of the state’s schools would make AYP next year as the percentages go up again and predicted none would achieve the goal of 100 percent proficiency in 2014.

“This is a federal law urgently in need of reform,” he said.

Still, Phillips credited clear goals, lesson plans designed around student performance data (i.e., tests), constant communication among teachers and differentiated instruction – much of it motivated by a desire to make AYP – as the reason for her children’s success.

A subgroup at Welcome that had tended to underperform on tests was Hispanic children.

“My ESOL teacher and her assistant, it’s back to that communication piece, they were in those classrooms,” Phillips said. “They were working with those little ones even in kindergarten. They are eager and love all the little picture cards.”

Nancy Busbee, state director of the Federal and State Accountability Office, applauded such stories but said it’s a blow to morale among schools showing real success and missing the standard by only a few students.

“Those that are near perfection are treated the same as those missing it by a mile,” Rex said. “These schools ecstatic this year in all likelihood won’t be next year.”

Hollis Academy, a Title I school because of high poverty just like Welcome, also made AYP this year. Principal Miki Golden echoed Phillips’ methods. Teachers create folders for children in math and reading centers to work on specific skills.

Hollis also has a number of single-gender classes for older students, which helps with discipline. About half his students also sign up for free tutoring at a Sylvan Center – a federally funded benefit for students at Title I schools not making AYP.

Other highlights from this year’s AYP results:

• Disabled-student groups at 22 elementary and middle schools succeeded while those at 28 did not. None of the high-school disabled groups succeeded except for those taking the English test at Riverside High.

• Black student groups at three middle schools didn’t succeed in math.

• Low-income student groups at all 14 high schools didn’t succeed in math, and only four made it in English.

• None of the low-income student groups at elementary or middle schools failed to meet English and math standards; the same for Hispanic students.

Comments

Add New

Leave a Comment
Comments are moderated and may not be posted immediately.
Name:
Email:	do not notifynotify
Title:
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."