Re: No Child Left Behind Falls Short, Study Says

[aburke5054@aol.com]

 The principal of the school that improved significantly said that NCLB is one of the best things that's happened.
  
 Art
  
 -----Original Message-----
 From: pfarr@cal.berkeley.edu
 To: ca-resisters@interversity.org
 Sent: Thu, 1 Mar 2007 7:07 AM
 Subject: [arn-l] No Child Left Behind Falls Short, Study Says
 
  Verrrry interesting.... A dry beltway thinktank report causes a major TV network to send a camera crew and reporter out to East Oakland, CA to an EXTREMELY poor school community, and the Oakland Tribune also covers the story (see far below). I wonder how this happened. NEA connections? Anybody know? 
 
 Pete Farruggio 
 
 No Child Left Behind Falls Short, Study Says 
 
 Linda Yee 
 Reporting 
 
 http://cbs5.com/local/local_story_059222458.html 
 
 (CBS 5) OAKLAND They come from low-income families, go to school in a high crime neighborhood, and their test scores were solow for so long, last year Oakland's Sobrante Park Elementary was threatened with closure. 
 
 "We were among the worst of the worst.," said Marco Franco, principal at Sobrante Park Elementary. 
 
 Under the federal "No Child Left Behind" law, low performance schools are given extra money to improve. But they are also put on notice: achieve higher test scores, or face drastic repercussions, including wholesale changes in staff. 
 
 "So the feds came," said Franco. "Okay, do it, or we're bringing out the paddle, and you'll be spanked." 
 
 In five years, Sobrante Park Elementary school teachers worked closely with the children to raise test scores, concentrating on math and language arts. 
 
 It was one of five Oakland schools to get off the state's watch list. 
 
 But a new study by the Center on Education Policy in Washington, DC, shows many more California schools are not succeeding. 
 
 The National Education Association says the focus on testing is wrong. And students are losing out and not really learning. 
 
 "Teachers now have been forced to give up science, art, music, dance," said Oakland Education Association president Betty Olson-Jones. "The things that make children's heart sing when they go to school. All in the name of higher test scores." 
 
 In the coming months, Congress will consider renewing the law. Hearings will be held to consider changes. 
 
 Teachers say it's a program that needs more funding and support, and less emphasis on punishment. 
 
 The Oakland teacher's union says the the law is so punitive, teachers are frustrated and they are seeing a 30% turnover. They're losing good teachers. 
 
 Franco agrees, in part. He still likes the program. 
 
 "(No Child Left Behind) is one of the best things that's happened, but it could be done in a more humane way," Franco said. 
 
 Most agree the law needs fixing, or a program designed to help children, could be leaving them behind. 
 
 ************************************************************************************************************************************************************** 
 
 Study: School staffing shifts too drastic 
 Less extreme methods than Oakland's may be key to reform 
 By Katy Murphy, STAFF WRITER 
 02/28/2007 
 
 http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_5321103 
 
 OAKLAND ­ For many teachers and principals at Oakland's most struggling schools, school reform has meant looking for a new job. 
 
 Perhaps more than in other districts, Oakland's efforts to reshape its lowest-performing schools have involved significant staff changes, according to a report released today by the independent, Washington, D.C.-based Center on Education Policy. 
 
 The report, "Beyond the Mountains: An early look at restructuring results in California," actually found that a combination of less-obtrusive reform strategies allowed under the No Child Left Behind Act might be as effective ­ or more so ­ in raising standardized test scores. 
 
 After analyzing the scores of hundreds of California schools, researchers found no evidence that replacing staff, reopening as a charter school or other drastic reform measures were the secret to success. 
 
 The study noted that the test score analysis was based on just a year's worth of data ­ not enough to draw a solid conclusion ­ and that the variance could be explained by other factors. 
 
 Still, the results came as something of a surprise to researchers. 
 
 Conventional wisdom long has discounted the less-drastic options for school restructuring as an easy way out, said Jack Jennings, president and CEO of the Center on Education Policy. 
 
 "What we're finding is that in order to bring about change, you can't do one single thing, like firing the staff or bringing in a new principal," Jennings said. 
 
 Oakland's state-appointed schools chief, Kimberly Statham, said the report's message about the complexity of such reforms was hardly "earth-shattering," but she did say the district had slightly shifted its approach to staff changes. 
 
 "We have to weigh the impact of changing an entire staff on a school community," said Statham, who added: "If we feel we need to make those changes, we will." 
 
 The study's release coincides with an intensifying debate over the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, which is up for re-authorization this year. 
 
 The goal of the No Child Left Behind Act is for all children to read, write and do math at grade-level by 2014, an ambitious goal that many believe sets up schools to fail. 
 
 To avoid sanctions, such as mandated restructuring, schools must make sure a certain percentage of all students ­ including poor children, those with learning disabilities and those of various races ­ test at grade-level in reading, writing and math. In California, that means scoring "proficient" or above on the standardized tests. 
 
 As the bar continues to rise, the list of schools facing restructuring grows. By this academic year, 701 California schools were in that position after missing the targets for at least five consecutive years ­ a 75 percent jump from the year before, researchers said. 
 
 The report also found 207 of the 358 schools that had been "restructured" have failed to meet the federal benchmarks for seven years in a row. 
 
 Jennings said his organization supported the idea that schools should have more time than the law currently allows to make their reforms work. 
 
 "It's going to take time to bring about long-term changes," Jennings said. 
 
 Intervention plans for some of Oakland's academically struggling schools are on the school board agenda tonight. Unlike previous years, at least six proposals do not necessarily entail staff changes, although several closures are up for approval. 
 
 Of the 18 Oakland schools included in the Center on Education Policy report, some have reopened as new schools or charter schools. Many, in addition to staff changes, increased the level of staff collaboration, teacher training and extra help for students who are behind. 
 
 Despite such intensive interventions, however, just one ­ Sobrante Park Elementary School ­ has done well enough on its standardized tests to exit the "school improvement" program. It did so after meeting all federal targets for two years in a row. 
 
 In a Center on Education Policy case study of Sobrante Park, Marco Franco, the school's principal, told researchers he wasn't sure of what to tell his colleagues who approached him in search of a simple solution. 
 
 "I've been doing this for six years and just last year felt like, 'OK, well, it's coming together,'" he told them. 
 
 The report, which also includes case studies of Whittier, Highland and Cox elementary schools, should be posted soon on the Center on Education Policy's Web site, cep-dc.org/ 
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