Bush vs Bush -- NCLB Too "Rigid"

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

FLORIDA LAGS IN NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND, JEB WANTS LAW CHANGED
   Associated Press -- August 18, 2006
               by Bill Kaczor

Jacksonville's George Washington Carver Elementary is a B school in the 
state's eyes and barely missed getting an A this year.

Yet, Carver, which once got D's and F's, still is considered a failing 
school under the federal No Child Left Behind law, which was adopted in 
2001.

It is one of 2,278 Florida schools - 71 percent of the total - that have 
failed to make the adequate yearly progress, or AYP, required by No 
Child Left Behind in 2006. That's in sharp contrast to the state's 
report card that this year gave an A or B to three of every four Florida 
schools.

Gov. Jeb Bush and state education officials have responded to those 
contradictory results by proposing an experimental AYP program that 
would give Florida schools a better shot at meeting federal standards. 
The governor also is lobbying for changes in the No Child Left Behind 
law, the centerpiece for the domestic policy of his brother, President 
Bush, when it comes up for reauthorization next year.

"How could you argue with a B?" said Carver principal Becky Rhoden. "The 
gains that these students made at Carver went through the roof and 
that's why this school rose to a B."

Carver met No Child Left Behind goals in all except one of 39 possible 
categories. That still wasn't enough.

Only special education students, including children with learning or 
emotional disabilities, failed to score high enough as a subgroup on 
their version of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, or FCAT, 
Rhodan said.

Carver and 29 other Florida schools that have missed AYP five years in a 
row must come up with restructuring plans for the 2007-08 academic year. 
That number could grow to more than 500 the following year.

Restructuring can include replacing the principal and faculty, a 
takeover by the state or a private company, conversion to a charter 
school or "any other major restructuring," according to the law. State 
Education Commissioner John Winn expects most Florida schools to take 
the "any other" option. It can include less drastic changes such as 
curriculum modifications.

Mecheall Giombetti, principal of Endeavor Elementary in Cocoa, said her 
school already has done most things on the list including staffing 
changes, while raising its grade from F to C over a four-year span, but 
it still has missed AYP for five years.

"I can't see them reconstituting the school again," she said.

Schools that fail to make AYP two or more years in a row must give 
students an opportunity to transfer to better public schools with the 
school district paying for transportation. After three years, they must 
offer private tutoring.

This year, 185 Florida schools must offer transfers and 865 tutoring and 
transfers.

Florida has 3,830 public schools but only the 1,398 getting federal 
Title I money for disadvantaged students can be sanctioned. They must 
spend 20 percent of it for transfers and tutoring.

Some school districts have been reluctant to accept tutoring by private 
companies or organizations. Officials estimate no more than 34 percent - 
23,374 - of 68,442 eligible students participated last school year, the 
first it was offered. They also estimate 7,777 students took transfers 
due to No Child Left Behind but say others may have left the same 
schools under other choice programs.

"We learned a lot of lessons in the first year and hope for that to be 
much smoother this year," Winn said.

The FCAT is the measuring tool for No Child Left Behind and the state's 
grades but each uses the scores in a different way.

The state awards points for FCAT gains, including extra credit if the 
lowest performing quarter of a school's students improves. A school can 
get a good grade even if weak in one area.

No Child Left Behind is more rigid. To make AYP last year at least 95 
percent of a Florida school's students had to take the FCAT, 50 percent 
or more had to score at grade level in math and 44 percent in reading. 
The minimums will increase yearly until they reach 100 percent in 2013-14.

The primary criteria also have to be met by each of eight subgroups, if 
large enough to be measured: white, black, Hispanic, Asian, American 
Indian, economically disadvantaged, limited English speakers and 
disabled. There also are writing and high school graduation goals.

Any D or F school automatically fails AYP. If an A, B or C school misses 
just one criteria, like Carver did, it also misses AYP.

"That demonstrates a misunderstanding about how improvement takes 
place," Winn said.

Florida has seen dramatic gains because its grading system sets 
reasonable goals but AYP standards have become hopeless, he said.

"Each year you get farther and farther behind," Winn said. "People throw 
up their hands, and I think No Child Left Behind is kind of losing its 
power as a motivator for change by being so rigid and being just a 
pass-fail kind of achievement."

The U.S. Department of Education has agreed to let up to 10 states adopt 
experimental growth models that track individual student achievement. 
Florida's proposal was rejected but state officials plan to resubmit it 
with changes to resolve calculating process objections.

Gov. Bush and other Florida officials want similar revisions in the 
national program when the law is reconsidered next year.

"We don't want this to be punitive to anybody," Bush said. "We just want 
results."

The governor also has advocated a federal school grading system similar 
to Florida's instead of the pass-fail of AYP and national proficiency 
standards instead of different ones in every state.

He also advocates changes to federal law that would link teacher pay to 
performance, higher salaries for teachers in fields with shortages and 
ways to dismiss poor teachers.

Bush said he spoke briefly about his proposals to the president and in 
detail to U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. The governor 
said his proposals don't mean he opposes No Child Left Behind.

"It's an excellent tool for advancing reform, but it can be enhanced to 
be even better," Bush said.

The federal law requires "proficiency" but doesn't define that term, 
leaving it to the states to set their own levels.

"There was a tendency to kind of lowball what you call proficient," Winn 
said. "We got penalized by the federal program for being honest and 
setting high standards."

Only about 30 percent of Florida's schools have met those standards. 
Much higher percentages have gained AYP status, and avoided sanctions, 
in states that set lower standards.

Florida got into that fix by using the same standards it set for the 
school grading system, said Jack Jennings, president of the independent 
Center on Education Policy.

"The state could have changed its goals for No Child Left Behind, but 
then it would have been accused of watering down its expectations," 
Jennings said.

Jennings said it was interesting that a Republican administration, 
usually opposed to federal education controls, would support a national 
standard.

"It would solve a lot of problems, but I don't know if we're ready for 
that in this country," he said.

At Carver Elementary, Rhodan doesn't worry whether her school is being 
unfairly sanctioned.

"We need to realize that all children can learn," she said. "Exceptional 
students just need more help and more time, and we can make 
accommodations for them."