Superintendents forced to tell parents their schools are failing, even though they aren’t

This is eye-opening.  "Regressive" is a good word for these disappointing news in Washington state. 

So now superintendents in Washington are sending out letters to parents telling them their children’s schools are failing —while at the same time assuring them that they really aren’t. Superintendents from 28 Washington school districts signed a letter to parents (see below)  criticizing the process forcing them to send the letters.

If all of this seems convoluted, that’s only because it is.

So unfortunate.

-Angela

Superintendents forced to tell parents their schools are failing, even though they aren’

By Valerie Strauss August 16 at 11:30 AM

(Marlon Correa/The Washington Post)

 

Many parents in Washington state are being told that their public schools are being considered as failing — even though it isn’t true. They are learning this from the superintendents of their school districts, who don’t want to do it but are being forced to. What’s going on?

Last April, the U.S. Education Department yanked from the state the waiver it had received exempting it from the most onerous parts of the No Child Left Behind law. The department offered the waivers to states several years ago after Congress failed to do its job and rewrite the bill that nearly everybody believed was severely flawed.

But instead of giving strings-free waivers, the department designed a list of school-reform hoops that states had to promise to jump through in order to receive one. Those included the establishment of assessment systems that link teacher evaluations to student standardized-test scores, a highly controversial practice. Washington’s legislature had followed through with some of its promises to the department but did not take the required action on evaluations last spring. So the state became the first to have its waiver withdrawn, with the promise of reconsideration should it find a way to do what the Obama administration wants.

There is a consequence to having an NCLB waiver pulled. It means that the state has to revert back to meeting all of the requirements of the law —even those requirements that Education Secretary Arne Duncan himself had said repeatedly were unattainable. The most onerous of these are the performance goals, which called for nearly all students to be “proficient” on reading and math standardized-test scores by 2014 through a process known as “annual yearly progress” or AYP. That goal was impossible to reach, as even the authors of NCLB knew, but it was thought that the law would be rewritten in 2007, when it technically expired. It has remained in force, awaiting congressional action, even though it became clear over the years that because of AYP’s flawed process, nearly all of the schools in the country would be considered failing by 2014.

Schools that don’t make AYP (and that would be nearly all of them in Washington’s 295 districts) are considered to be failing and must change in specific ways as spelled out by the NCLB. In a letter Duncan sent to Washington state, he noted that returning to full compliance “is not desirable” and won’t “be simple.” But he was making them do it, anyway.

So now superintendents in Washington are sending out letters to parents telling them their children’s schools are failing —while at the same time assuring them that they really aren’t. Superintendents from 28 Washington school districts signed a letter to parents (see below)  criticizing the process forcing them to send the letters.

If all of this seems convoluted, that’s only because it is. Just like a lot of school reform these days.
Here’s the superintendents’ letter, and following that is Duncan’s letter to Washington state:

Here’s the original Duncan letter:

Waiver Letter

At-risk students could learn ... and earn

HISD plan would pay kids $60 a month for Saturday lessons
By ERICKA MELLON | HOUSTON CHRONICLE
June 3, 2010

Students at nine of the worst-performing middle and high schools in HISD would get paid $60 a month to attend class on Saturdays as part of Superintendent Terry Grier's effort to boost achievement.

His reform plan for those campuses, detailed to the school board Thursday, also includes replacing most of the principals, ousting ineffective teachers, extending the school year and day, and offering a double dose of math and English to students below grade level.

School districts nationwide have experimented with paying students for good grades and doling out prizes for perfect attendance, but paying them to show up for tutoring is less chartered territory.

“So many of the students in these particular schools have to work to support themselves and/or their families,” Grier said, explaining that the idea is to treat Saturday tutoring like their job.

Students behind academically would be asked to attend two Saturday sessions a month for three hours each. They would earn $30 a day, plus free breakfast and lunch.

The reform plan includes other unorthodox approaches. It mandates more formal attire for teachers — ties for the men and business wear for the women. Also, parents and students will be asked to sign contracts promising to put in the extra work, a strategy already in use by the city's most successful charter schools, including KIPP and YES Prep.

Board members didn't raise any serious concerns about the overall plan.
‘Not a bad idea'

Research by Roland Fryer, a Harvard University economics professor who is consulting with HISD, has shown that incentives work best when students have control over the activity. For example, telling students they'll get cash if they earn good grades was less effective than paying them to read books — which ultimately resulted in them getting better grades.

“It's not a bad idea at all,” Ermias Emahazion, a 2010 Lee High School graduate, said of Saturday class. “The students who want to learn and who have a passion for learning would come. The students who do not like learning, maybe the money would kind of make them come.”

HISD spokesman Norm Uhl said he doesn't expect that students will be counted absent if they skip the Saturday tutoring sessions, but they will be required to attend five more days of school during the week next year and 10 more the following year — assuming HISD gets the state's permission to revise the calendar.

The high schools involved in Grier's reform plan are Sharpstown, Lee, Jones and Kashmere. The middle schools are Ryan, Fondren, Dowling, Attucks and Key. The district plans to add 11 unnamed elementary campuses the following year.

The schools, dubbed the “Apollo 20,” are targeted because they have earned the state's “academically unacceptable” rating for multiple years or because of poor student performance.

Although some of the schools are expected to shed their low rating this year, they still aren't up to par — with a large percentage of their students reading below grade level, said HISD's chief academic officer, Chuck Morris.

The entire plan is estimated to cost as much as $28.5 million a year for five years. The district is applying for a state grant to cover the cost of the high schools, and the administration plans, with Fryer's help, to seek private donations for the rest.
Finding top principals

Besides funding, another challenge could be securing top-notch principals. The district is conducting a national search and is offering unspecified bonuses, but Morris and Grier acknowledge they haven't found the right people yet — and the clock is ticking. The extended school year would start Aug. 9 for staff and Aug. 16 for students.

“We're looking for the very best,” Morris said. “We've interviewed some good principals. They weren't great principals.”

The administration also is reviewing the teachers at the targeted schools and could force out the poor performers.

Houston Federation of Teachers President Gayle Fallon said the ousted teachers would be guaranteed a paycheck because they are under contract.

Superintendent Grier's ACTION PLAN

Key elements of HISD Superintendent Terry Grier's plan to turn around nine struggling schools:

• • Replace most principals and ineffective teachers

• • Pay students $60 a month to attend Saturday classes

• • Longer school days: 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays. Classes end at 3:30 p.m. on Fridays.

• • A “double dose” of math and English classes for students below grade level in those subjects

• • Male teachers must wear ties; female teachers must wear business attire

• • Participating schools are Sharpstown, Lee, Jones and Kashmere high schools; and Ryan, Fondren, Dowling, Attucks and Key middle schools.

ericka.mellon@chron.com

6 D.C. schools to be overhauled after failing to meet 'No Child' goals

By Bill Turque
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 15, 2010

About 150 teachers at six low-performing D.C. public schools must reapply for their jobs under a shake-up announced Monday by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee.

Three of the schools -- Ballou Senior High and Garfield and Stanton elementary -- are in Ward 8. The others are Davis Elementary in Ward 7 and two Ward 5 schools: the Hamilton Center for special education students and Luke C. Moore Academy, an alternative high school for those who drop out or have trouble adjusting to traditional schools.

One of the six, Stanton, will be operated beginning this summer by a Philadelphia-based charter school organization, Scholar Academies.

The changes are mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which gives Rhee options to address problems at schools that have consistently failed to make what the law describes as "adequate yearly progress" on standardized test scores. Overall, about 90 of the District's 123 schools are under some form of federal notice to improve.

The six schools cited Monday, with a combined enrollment of about 2,200, have undergone waves of federally mandated improvement and restructuring. Four of them -- Ballou, Stanton, Hamilton and Garfield -- have not met annual progress benchmarks for at least seven years. They will undergo what the law calls staff "reconstitution."

"At DCPS we know that all children can achieve at high levels," Rhee said in a statement released Monday. "Reconstitution is just one tool offered by the federal government for districts to use to equip schools with the necessary composition to meet high standards."

Last year, Rhee reconstituted six schools, Dunbar and Anacostia high schools, the H.D. Woodson ninth-grade academy at Ronald H. Brown Middle School, Hart and MacFarland middle schools and Ferebee-Hope Elementary School. In 2008, 17 schools were reconstituted. Ten received new administrators; seven underwent faculty overhauls.

Teachers who choose not to reapply or are not rehired at the schools facing overhaul this year will join an "excess staff pool."

Under the current contract with the Washington Teachers' Union, all "excessed" teachers are guaranteed reassignment in the school system.

But under a labor agreement expected to receive D.C. Council approval June 29, principals have expanded power to choose the teachers they want. Those who have received good evaluations and do not find jobs will receive a year's grace period with full salary to continue looking for a position. Or they could take a buyout or early retirement if eligible.

In the case of Stanton, Rhee has exercised her option under the law to hire an outside organization to take over a failing school. Scholar Academies operates Young Scholars, a charter middle school that serves about 200 low-income African American children in Philadelphia. According to its Web site, it uses an extended school day and school year to improve academic rigor.

Rhee said in the statement that the organization was selected after a "rigorous" application process that included a site visit to the Philadelphia school.

Three high schools were placed under outside leadership by Rhee in 2008. Dunbar and Coolidge were taken over by Friends of Bedford, a New York group. Friendship Public Charter Schools assumed control of Anacostia. Rhee has said that although major academic progress has yet to be made, all three have "significantly improved their school culture," including gains in attendance and school safety.

Preliminary results give Austin district officials hope for Reagan and Pearce

By Melissa B. Taboada | Monday, May 24, 2010, 09:44 PM

UPDATE:

Austin school district trustees approved future plans to revamp academics at Reagan High School and Pearce Middle School.

The repurposing plans of the two schools include starting an Early College High School at Reagan, in which students could get up to 60 hours of college credit that counts toward their high school graduation requirements, and an academy at Pearce to prepare students for the early college program.

Trustees are now discussing contingency plans for the schools, including which schools to send students in the event that the state decides to close either school. That decision could come during the June 7 school board meeting.

EARLIER:

Superintendent Meria Carstarphen announced at tonight’s Austin school board meeting that preliminary results from the state mandated tests make it “reasonable to conclude” that Reagan High School and Pearce Middle School will be rated academically acceptable.

Both schools face closure by the state after multiple years of failing to meet state academic, attendance and dropout standards.

“The preliminary data for those two schools are very strong and I am encouraged,” Carstarphen said.

Carstarphen made the announcement tonight minutes before the school board’s discussion on future plans to revamp the two schools.

Trustees were discussing late Monday night approval of the repurposing plans of the two schools that include starting an Early College High School at Reagan, in which students could get up to 60 hours of college credit that counts toward their high school graduation requirements, and an academy at Pearce to prepare students for the early college program.

Nearly 21 Percent of Texas’s High School Students Attend the Nation's Lowest-Performing Schools

Nearly 21 Percent of Texas’s High School Students Attend the Nation's Lowest-Performing Schools

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 12, 2010
 
MEDIA CONTACT:
Jason Amos
(202) 828-0828
jamos@all4ed.org
 
 
ALLIANCE FOR EXCELLENT EDUCATION CALLS ON CONGRESS TO ADDRESS TEXAS’S LOWEST-PERFORMING HIGH SCHOOLS
 
Nearly 21 Percent of Texas’s High School Students Attend These Schools
 
Washington, DC – In advance of an April 13 Senate hearing on school turnaround, a new brief from the Alliance for Excellent Education released today calls on Congress to address the approximately two thousand high schools that account for nearly half of the nation’s dropouts. According to the brief, Prioritizing the Nation’s Lowest-Performing High Schools, these schools exist in every state and in 80 percent of congressional districts.
 
“When emergency medical personnel arrive at an accident scene, they immediately deliver treatment to the most severely injured, said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. “Similarly, the nation must focus its attention on the lowest-performing schools with the largest number of ‘victims’ in the national dropout crisis. The fact that these schools are so widespread and contribute so greatly to the national dropout crisis dictates making them an essential focus of any federal effort to improve the graduation rate.”
 
In the nation’s lowest-performing high schools, sometimes known as “dropout factories,” graduation rates routinely fall below 60 percent. Over half of these schools have student bodies larger than one thousand, but others are small- or medium-sized schools. And contrary to a common misconception, not all of the nation’s lowest-performing high schools are located in urban areas; half are located outside city limits in suburbs, small towns, and rural areas.
 
According to data from Johns Hopkins University and calculations by the Alliance, more than 175 of the nation’s lowest-performing high schools are located in Texas, representing approximately 14 percent of Texas’s high schools and educating about 21 percent of its high school students.
 
In an era of diminishing financial resources, it makes good economic sense to target the nation’s lowest-performing high schools and focus attention, commitment, and resources on improving them, the brief argues. Directing strategic efforts to turn around these schools could significantly reduce the nation’s dropout rate.
 
The Graduation Promise Act (GPA), currently pending before Congress, would authorize $2.5 billion in new funding to ensure that high schools with the greatest challenges receive the support they need to implement research-based interventions. Additionally, it would strengthen a state’s ability to identify and target the level of reform and resources necessary to improve and turn around the nation’s lowest-performing high schools, while ensuring transparency and accountability.
 
“As the Congress works to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act this year, it should include the Graduation Promise Act, which would provide states and school districts with the resources to implement effective, research-based reforms tailored to the specific needs of the nation’s low-performing schools and the students who attend them,” Wise said.
 
The complete brief, which includes a table outlining the number of lowest-performing high schools and the percentages of students who attend them for each state, is available at http://www.all4ed.org/files/PrioritizingLowestPerformingSchools.pdf.
 
###
The Alliance for Excellent Education is a Washington, DC-based national policy and advocacy organization that works to improve national and federal policy so that all students can achieve at high academic levels and graduate from high school ready for success in college, work, and citizenship in the twenty-first century. For more information about the Alliance for Excellent Education, please visit http://www.all4ed.org

L.A. Unified to allow parents to initiate school reforms

Under the superintendent's school-control resolution, low-performing campuses can be forced to undergo major changes if a majority of parents demand it.


By Howard Blume | LA Times
October 28, 2009

For the first time in Los Angeles, parents will be able to initiate major reforms at low-performing individual schools, rather than waiting for the school district to make changes, under a plan unveiled Tuesday.

This new parental power has emerged as part of a school-control resolution that allows for groups inside and outside the Los Angeles Unified School District to take over campuses. Supt. Ramon C. Cortines has included 12 underachieving schools and 18 new campuses in the process, but the parent option could add others to the list, especially in future years.

Under Cortines' plan, a majority of parents at a school could trigger reforms at a local campus. Parents whose students are matriculating from one school to another also could take part.

Parents, Cortines said, "have a right to be involved in the process."

But the superintendent's plan doesn't go far enough for school board member Yolie Flores Aguilar, the primary author of the school-control resolution, which was approved in August. She supported allowing more parents the ability to trigger reforms. The parents of a preschooler, for example, should be able to sign the petition for a middle school or high school, she said.

Her position aligns with that of Ben Austin, executive director of the Parent Revolution, a nonprofit closely affiliated with Green Dot Public Schools, which operates local charter schools. Austin has lobbied for the widest possible version of parent participation because, he said, improving a school can consume several years. The parent of a young child should have the right to set in motion changes to that child's future middle school, he said.

Leading up to the meeting, Austin, Flores Aguilar and their allies thought their position had prevailed. But Cortines refused to go that far.

In an interview last week, he said he didn't want the views of parents currently attending a school trumped by those of parents not enrolled, especially those who might be ill- informed. He stuck to that position Tuesday.

"Those same parents . . . won't even go and visit the middle school," Cortines said. "What they're doing is making judgments based on rumor or what they've heard."

Other complaints have come from the operators of charter schools, which are independently run but publicly funded. They contend that new restrictions in the reform resolution will limit their ability to manage academics and control costs, and they are threatening to pull out of the process entirely.

Cortines also opened the door to the possibility of allowing a majority of a school's staff to set off reforms. The rules for opening up additional schools to sweeping reform are still being developed and debated, so they're unlikely to result in more schools joining this year's list of 30 campuses, officials said. Cortines will recommend reform proposals for those schools in February.

"Bracey Report" Curtain-Call Takes on Trendy Education Reforms

Here's the link to the full brief

It centers on "three prominent policy-relevant assumptions":

1. High-quality schools can eliminate the achievement gap between
whites and minorities.
2. Mayoral control of public schools is an improvement over the more
common elected board governance systems.
3. Higher standards will improve the performance of public schools.

Worth the read.

-Patricia

Press Release
November 9, 2009

Late researcher's final work turned his critical eye toward 'high-quality' schools, mayoral control, and the push for higher standards

Contact: Kevin Welner, (303) 492-8370; kevin.welner@colorado.edu

BOULDER, Colo. and TEMPE, Ariz. (November 9, 2009) -- The 2009 edition of the annual "Bracey Report on the Condition of Public Education" offers a sober assessment of three popular education reforms, finding all of them wanting. Readers will be informed by one last critical analysis from celebrated education researcher Gerald Bracey, who completed his 18th and final "Bracey Report" shortly before his unexpected death October 20 at the age of 69.

The 2009 report is published today by the Education in the Public Interest Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Education Policy Research Unit at Arizona State University. Previous editions of the report were published in the educational journal Phi Delta Kappan.

Bracey first targets blithe calls to create "high-quality schools," calls that he contends ignore the enormous challenges that urban schools in particular face when educating children born into poverty. He then looks at mayoral control and concludes that little evidence supports claims that turning control of urban schools over to mayors will spur meaningful educational improvement. Finally, Bracey examines the drive to impose ‘higher' standards on schools, which he maintains is little more than a rush toward even more standardized testing that is likely to further impoverish education.

Edited after his death by Susan Ohanian and Pat Hinchey, the 2009 Report departs from Bracey's past practice, which typically entailed a comprehensive survey of policies relating to public education. Instead, it focuses on these three specifically defined policies. He analyzed the record and research regarding each policy and came away skeptical, leveling particularly pointed criticism at the administration of President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan for uncritically advancing questionable approaches.

In examining the push for "high-quality schools," Bracey first noted that he found no single definition or agreement on the specifics of "high quality." Moreover, he wrote, the relentless focus on creating such schools has consistently ignored the overwhelming impact of poverty on the educational opportunities for children. He wrote, "Thus, the key question becomes can schools alone overcome the difficulties associated with poverty? Advocates who answer yes usually contend that to be high-quality, schools need only high standards, high expectations, and strong principals leading a faculty of highly qualified teachers. However, terms like 'high standards' and 'high expectations' are usually left undefined, as if their meanings were self evident--which they are not. Ignoring such gaps in rationale, No Child Left Behind's reliance on testing and sanctions codifies the conception that schools alone are capable of erasing the achievement gap and need only to be required to do so." Why, he asks, would the new administration choose to continue down that path?

Bracey similarly found that programs putting mayors in control of public school systems in New York and Chicago do not live up to their claims. For instance, he wrote that "vaunted improvements in test scores do not appear for Chicago's black and Latino students." He concluded that Chicago's "Renaissance" looks to some "more like a return to the Dark Ages."

Finally, turning his attention to the demand for higher standards, Bracey observed: "After 100 years of cries for higher standards, we are still in an education crisis. The push for higher standards has not worked. Perhaps it is time to try something else."

For that "something else,' Bracey returned to a school that President Obama might know well himself. Citing an essay in Education Week by Seattle University's David Marshak, Bracey suggested that Sidwell Friends School, where Obama's daughters are enrolled, offers a model for the children of all other American parents--a fresh, richly textured and human-centered approach to the questions of quality and standards, an approach that is a striking contrast to the model being pushed on America's public schools.

"Many would find Sidwell's approach 'high quality,' but test scores are not mentioned in its statements of philosophy or expectations," Bracey wrote. "Sidwell emphasizes 'greeting the day with enthusiasm,' 'a search for truth,' and 'sensitivity to the human condition.' The President has not answered Marshak. He should."

Find "Bracey Report on the Condition of Public Education" on the web at:
http://epicpolicy.org/publication/Bracey-Report

CONTACT:
Kevin Welner, Professor and Director
Education and the Public Interest Center
University of Colorado at Boulder
(303) 492-8370
kevin.welner@colorado.edu

The Education and the Public Interest Center (EPIC) at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Education Policy Research Unit (EPRU) at Arizona State University collaborate to produce policy briefs and think tank reviews. Our goal is to promote well-informed democratic deliberation about education policy by providing academic as well as non-academic audiences with useful information and high quality analyses. This policy brief was made possible in part by the generous support of the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice.

Visit EPIC and EPRU at http://www.educationanalysis.org/

EPIC and EPRU are members of the Education Policy Alliance
(http://educationpolicyalliance.org)

More Schools Facing Sanctions Under NCLB

Data on adequate yearly progress show that 1 in 5 public schools are in some stage of penalties under the federal law.

By David J. Hoff | Ed Week
December 19, 2008

Almost 30,000 schools in the United States failed to make adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind Act in the 2007-08 school year. For states with comparable data for the 2006-07 school year, the number of such schools increased by 28 percent.

Half those schools missed their achievement goals for two or more years, putting almost one in five of the nation’s public schools in some stage of a federally mandated process designed to improve student achievement. The number facing sanctions represents a 13 percent increase for states with comparable data over the 2006-07 school year.

Read on...

A New System of Support For Low–Performing Schools

To check out the full report Click Here -Patricia

Legislative Analyst's Office
June 10, 2008

California currently operates two systems designed to turn around low–performing schools—one for state purposes and one for federal purposes. The two systems are uncoordinated and often duplicative, in addition to being poorly structured. We recommend replacing the two systems with an integrated system that serves both state and federal purposes. Under the new system, the state would support district reform efforts. Districts would receive different levels of support depending on the severity of their underlying performance problem and be given short–term funding linked to specific short–term district reform activities. By virtue of being integrated and district–centered, the new system would cost substantially less than the existing system and could be supported entirely with federal funding.

Failing Texas schools face dwindling option

By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News
July 28, 2008

AUSTIN – Fixing the worst schools in Texas is about to get harder.

A 2006 law meant to spur improvements at low-rated schools gave the state two options for campuses that rack up five consecutive years of "unacceptable" ratings – closure or the use of outside managers to run them.

In practice, though, there's just one choice. The state did not attract a single bid – from either a private company or a nonprofit entity – after soliciting proposals for several months for an outside manager.

"At this point, we have no one to call on," said state Education Commissioner Robert Scott. "Because there are no takers, we are left with just one option – closure" for chronic underachievers.

Two high schools, in Austin and Houston, were ordered closed this summer by Mr. Scott after failing to meet minimum academic standards for at least five years. Both will reopen in the fall as specialized campuses with new students and teachers.

A third high school, Spruce in Dallas, saw the writing on the wall after four years of failing marks and was also recast recently as a new type of school serving mostly ninth graders. Most students and teachers have been transferred elsewhere.

As many as a dozen more schools in Texas could be headed toward the same fate next year.

Outside managers are used in several other states. Mr. Scott said he couldn't explain the lack of interest in Texas. A Texas Education Agency spokeswoman said it might be because of the relatively small number of campuses available for an outside manager to take over.

Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, said dramatic action is necessary when a school consistently fails to meet minimum achievement standards.

"Schools that repeatedly fall short should face consequences," said Ms. Shapiro, who authored the legislation to deal aggressively with poor-performing schools. "After five years, surely something needs to change if youngsters at those schools continue to receive an inferior education. They deserve better."

Her counterpart in the House, Rep. Rob Eissler, agreed, noting that low-rated schools get assistance under state law each year they make the unacceptable list.

But he also said the lack of potential outside managers is a concern.

"Everybody wants a fighting chance to succeed. But the perception about many of these schools is you won't get a fighting chance," said Mr. Eissler, R-The Woodlands.

Ms. Shapiro and Mr. Eissler lead a special legislative committee that is looking at revisions in the state's accountability and school rating system – one that may rely more on incentives and less on penalties.

Taking action

In the meantime, Mr. Scott is considering his limited options for dealing with bad schools.

He said he takes some encouragement from the way the Dallas school district took the initiative at Spruce High School.

"I'm pleased they decided not to wait for the state before they took action," he said. "Dallas is the only school district to get an early jump like this, but hopefully this will be a model for other schools in a similar situation."

Two experts in remaking poor-performing schools told lawmakers from Texas and other states on Friday that the job is not hopeless. But they said it takes a willingness to make unpopular decisions and undertake radical solutions, such as an 11-month school calendar and a longer school day. Both also said weak school leadership must be tossed out for improvement to occur.

'Remove the obstacles'

Paul Vallas, superintendent of the Recovery School District of New Orleans – created to manage 63 low-performing schools in New Orleans and 10 troubled schools in other parts of Louisiana – said all state restrictions must be set aside to turn such schools around.

"There's a reason U.S. schools get their butts kicked in international comparisons," Dr. Vallas said at the National Conference of State Legislatures meeting in New Orleans, pointing to the greater length of time students spend in school in other countries. "You've got to remove the obstacles that limit instructional time."

He instituted an 11-month school year and a longer school day, increasing the total amount of instruction for students by a third. Other restrictions, such as those on class size and seniority rules that protect less effective teachers, must also be challenged, he said.

Dr. Vallas also was superintendent of the Chicago and Philadelphia school systems, where he was credited with boosting achievement in low-performing schools. He noted that in Philadelphia, a third of the schools were run by private managers or charter schools.

Mel Riddile of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, who was credited with turning around one of the nation's worst high schools in Fairfax County, Va., assured lawmakers that bad schools can be turned around with the right combination of actions – including a state legislature that stands firm on high standards for its schools.

It took him four years to bring J.E.B. Stuart High School in Virginia from the bottom – with three-fourths of students reading three or more years below grade level – to the top of the state's academic standings. For his efforts, he was honored as the national high school principal of the year in 2005.

Based on his experience, Dr. Riddile is convinced that the principal is the key to turning around a bad school.

"You can put them in a new building, you can hire all new teachers, but if you don't have a principal who can effect change, nothing's going to happen. You have to have a principal who can lead the change," he said.

FIXING THE SCHOOLS
What academically unacceptable schools must do:

Year 1

•Appoint a campus intervention team

•Assess needs and complete evaluation

•Write school improvement plan

Year 2

•Work with campus intervention team

•Plan to replace staff

•Update school improvement plan

Year 3

•Continue with campus intervention team

•Begin staff replacement

•Hold public hearing on remedies

Year 4

•Continue with campus intervention team

•Hold additional public hearing on remedies

•Appoint conservator or implement other sanctions

Year 5

•Use alternative management or school is closed by commissioner

SOURCE: Texas Education Agency

Eleven Schools "Academically Unacceptable" for Austin ISD

Below are links to listen to audio of the AISD news conference on this issue. -Patricia

Newsroom
8/1/2008

Austin School Administrators have their work cut out for them now that the state has declared 11 schools as academically unacceptable.

CLICK TO SEE KLBJ WEB VIDEO

CLICK TO HEAR ENTIRE AISD NEWS CONFERENCE
(news conference audio run time: 34 min, 16 sec)

But all is not gloom and doom for AISD, because more than a hundred schools in the district are considered either "acceptable" or "exemplary" by the Texas Education Agency.

Superintendent Pat Forgione admits there's not a level playing field educationally in Austin.

"Just give me your zip code and I can tell you your wealth, right, in Austin?," Forgione said, in a Friday afternoon news conference. "We don't have a level playing field, but when Campbell Elementary School can go exemplary, we know that everyone can do it."

Forgione says new programs, better training for teachers and wiser investments are slowly turning things around. But he says the testing standards are still very new.

"I've been 35 years doing this. This is a new world, this accountability," he says. "You see, you have five subject areas and five subgroups? That's 25 cells. You must make every one of them."

Forgione says he understands the stakes are high for getting academic standards up to state levels.

"It's about a sense of urgency. Pay now, or you pay five times as much at the big house. We've gotta stop our young men from going to Huntsville. We've got to get them literate."

But the superintendent has a message, a reality check of sorts, for some of the district's students.

"You know, my problem isn't a few kids skipping school. It's a lot of kids coming and skipping classes," Forgione said.

AISD schools which ranked Academically Unacceptable by state standards include: (HS=high school; MS=middle school; ES=elementary school) Johnston HS, Reagan HS, Crockett HS, Pearce MS, Garcia MS, Becker ES, Travis Heights ES, Norman ES, Winn ES, Overton ES.

Few options offered for Texas schools facing closure

By ERICKA MELLON | Houston Chronicle
June 13, 2008

Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott faced a historic decision this month: What should he do with four schools that had failed for so long that the law required drastic action?

Legislators had given him two options: Close the schools or let an outside group — either a nonprofit or another school district — take them over.

The catch: No nonprofit had applied to the Texas Education Agency for a shot at the task.

"It would have been nice to have had that option," said Scott, whose agency first solicited applications via the Internet last July.

Instead, Scott found another option: Using little-known rules written by TEA officials, he announced last week that the Houston and Austin school districts could have a chance to redesign the schools they had repeatedly failed to raise to acceptable levels.

This week, Scott waived the harsh sanctions against a Waco middle school after it barely missed the acceptable mark. He has yet to say whether Oak Village Middle School in North Forest cleared the bar.

The long-troubled campuses, including Sam Houston High School in the Houston Independent School District, are the first in Texas to reach the end of the line in the state's accountability system, falling short of minimum academic standards since at least 2004.

Many more schools could land in a similar fix in coming years, raising questions about the state's ability to better serve students when outside groups are unable to help and when displacing thousands of children by closing a neighborhood school is not practical.

"There isn't the capacity on the part of states or private groups to bring about large-scale change," said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, which studies reform efforts nationwide. "The hopeful thing is that states and school districts are taking this task much more seriously than in the past."

Meeting standards
One driver is the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which like Texas' accountability system, orders escalating sanctions against schools each year they fail to meet standards.

In Texas, schools that have unacceptable test scores and dropout rates for five straight years must be closed or put under alternative management.

State Sen. Florence Shapiro, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, defended the state's school accountability system, which lawmakers toughened in 2006.

"For the first time in quite a long time, we're no longer just talking with an idle threat; we're actually acting," the Plano Republican said.

HISD and Austin officials said they appreciate the flexibility that allows them to reinvent their own schools.

Under the TEA's rules, the new schools must have a different academic program, a new name and principal, plus at least 75 percent of the instructional staff and 50 percent of the students must be new.

"We tried to make rules that allowed the building to be used, or repurposed, but would still result in the children getting a better quality of education," Scott said.

HISD Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra said he is thrilled Sam Houston likely will remain under his control, especially because the school would have made the acceptable mark this year had about a dozen more students passed the math exam.

"I don't think we ever as a staff felt we would turn our back on that school," Saavedra said.

Unreasonable action
Closing schools, based on a few students' test scores at a campus that is making progress, is unreasonable, he said. Half the students at Sam Houston passed the math exam this year, compared with 41 percent five years ago.

"No Child Left Behind says, by 2014, every school in this country is going to meet a level of proficiency in every (student) subgroup," Saavedra said. "Is the nation ready to close every single school that doesn't meet that? I can tell you the answer is, 'No way.' The system's got to be fair and recognize progress."

HISD's $3.4 million plan for reforming Sam Houston would split the school in two. Ninth-graders would have their own school on the same campus and would remain in class for an extra hour a day. The school for upperclassmen would encourage students to focus on careers in engineering, information technology or the automotive industry.

State Rep. Rob Eissler, who chairs the House Public Education Committee, said he was only slightly surprised the state has not received any applications from nonprofit school managers.

"Often, alternative managers want to come in, and they want to be successful so they kind of size up what those chances would be," said Eissler, R-The Woodlands. "Maybe that is part of their reticence."

After striking out last summer, the TEA posted another request for proposals in November. Two undisclosed entities have expressed interest, said agency spokeswoman Suzanne Marchman, and have until July 2 to apply.

2 new schools proposed at Johnston site

District's plans emphasize technology, early college start.

By Molly Bloom
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, June 07, 2008

A proposal to be submitted to the Austin school board Monday calls for two new high schools on the campus of the former Johnston High School, which the state closed this week for failing to meet state academic standards for five years in a row.

Under the proposal, Johnston students would see few major changes during the 2008-09 school year. The new school would operate much as Johnston High did, with the addition of various support systems and an increased focus on individualized instruction. Significant changes would come the following year, when the new schools would open at the Johnston campus.

District officials say the two models that seem to best suit Johnston students are a technology-focused high school, in which students learn by working on projects rather than through lectures, and an "early college start" high school that allows students to earn college credits.

If trustees approve the proposal, the district will submit it to state Education Commissioner Robert Scott. District officials say they will flesh out the plan's details in the coming months.

Johnston was closed for repeatedly failing to meet state standards based on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills and dropout rates. Scott said Thursday that he hoped to rule on the plan by the end of the month. Under the law, Scott also had the option of placing the school under alternative management. If Scott turns down the district's plan for reopening, the district can either let the campus sit vacant or open a school with different grade levels, such as elementary, at the site.

"We believe we have to get this right," said Patti Everitt, the district's director of operations and community engagement. "We have to match what we do to the needs of the students."

The district plans to ask struggling Johnston students and incoming freshmen who didn't do well on the TAKS in middle school to attend summer programs to bring them up to grade level. A college and career support center would help students plan their futures beyond high school graduation, according to the plan.

The district also could hire a contractor to run the schools, similar to the "in-district" charter school arrangements in Houston and San Antonio.

At such schools, an outside entity would act as the principal while the district paid for day-to-day operations and salaries.

Under state law, at least 75 percent of Johnston teachers must be reassigned; district officials have said that they will find other positions for teachers not returning to Johnston who want to stay in the district.

State law also requires that at least 50 percent of the students at any new schools on the Johnston campus must have not been previously served by the school.

However, the Austin school district has not proposed a dramatic change to the school's student body, and district officials say students who want to attend Johnston will not be reassigned to other schools.

The proposal does not specify how the district would be able to accomplish that and still meet state requirements.

In past years, less than half of students in Johnston's attendance zone chose to attend the East Austin school.

The district also plans to try to recruit students districtwide to attend the new schools on the Johnston campus.

On Thursday, Scott declined to say what type of plan would address the enrollment requirement but said he didn't "want to punish the district for having an open enrollment policy."

Math scores of a few were the death of Sam Houston

By ERICKA MELLON | Houston Chronicle
June 6, 2008

The closure of Sam Houston High School boiled down to math.

Officials with the Houston Independent School District say they tried to solve the problem — spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix it — but for five straight years, Sam Houston could not get a small group of black students to pass the state-mandated math exam.

Now, after state Education Commissioner Robert Scott forced the predominantly Hispanic school to close Thursday, some are criticizing Texas' accountability system as too harsh — mandating drastic action based on a few students. Others say the blame lies with HISD for letting the poor performance continue.

This year, only 29 percent of the black students at Sam Houston passed the math portion of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. Half the Hispanic students passed, which would have been just good enough to qualify for the state's acceptable rating, if not for the black students' passing rate.

"In one sense, closing the whole school is a very heavy-handed response," said Ed Fuller, an education researcher at the University of Texas at Austin. "But then again, you have this five-year track record of poor math performance."

Numbers behind the scores
Among Sam Houston's 2,500 or so students, only about 110 are black. Most of the others are Hispanic, and about 65 white students attend.

For school officials, talking about the performance of one student group is tough, and raising test scores can be tougher.

"You have to be very careful with singling out groups of kids at the high school level," said Kelly Trlica, HISD's assistant superintendent over secondary curriculum and instruction. "Any group of students, to sort of single them out, is hard socially," she said

HISD might have another chance with Sam Houston, though. Commissioner Scott has said the district can submit a plan to reopen the school in the fall with a new principal, mostly new teachers, some new students, a different academic program and a fresh name.

As district leaders craft that plan, due to the school board Thursday, some are warning district leaders to learn from their mistakes.

"People of other races always feel like they have the best solution for the teaching and learning of African-American students when they don't even understand the total concept of African-American culture and the environment which these young people of today live in," said Carol Mims Galloway, a Houston school board member and president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Houston.

Valerie Hill-Jackson, an assistant education professor at Texas A&M University, said teachers need to learn how to connect with black students.

"We know this is a culture that is very vibrant, exuberant, likes to talk," said Hill-Jackson, who is black. "So, if I'm a math and science teacher, how can I use that to my advantage? I can have them get out of their seats."

Julia Guajardo, Sam Houston's executive principal, and Trlica said school officials made serious efforts to boost the test scores of all students, no matter their race. Teachers assessed which students were having difficulty with the same math concepts and then tutored them in small groups.

Working on a solution
The school also adopted a new computerized math program called Agile Mind and worked with consultants from the respected Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

Still, only 17 of the 59 black students tested — or 29 percent — passed the math exam this year. That's up slightly from 24 percent last year.

The passing rate of Hispanic students increased from 46 percent to 51 percent.

Gloria White, managing director of the Dana Center, characterized the math gains at Sam Houston as "small forward progress." She emphasized that a major turnaround takes at least three years and that consultants only started working with Sam Houston teachers last year.

"You need collaboration time with the teachers," White said. "It's a process. It's not an event. Sometimes you see some movement in the first year, but it's not anything you can count on."

'Antiquated' system
Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra, when he announced the news of Sam Houston's closure Thursday, called the state's accountability system "antiquated," in part because it doesn't take into account the progress made by schools.

On the language arts test this year, for example, the passing rates of black students at Sam Houston jumped 17 points to 84 percent.

Marina Mendoza, the president of the parent group at Sam Houston, said she was shocked to hear some people, who weren't aware of the problems with black students' scores, suggest the campus performed poorly because of illegal immigrants at the school.

"I thought that was so unfair," said Mendoza, who has two children at the school. "We should never look at this as a racial problem. It's an educational problem."

Austin school officials seeking way to keep Johnston High open

If chronically low performing East Austin school fails to meet academic standards this year, state could close it or put it under alternative management.

By Laura Heinauer
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, May 19, 2008

The Austin school district is hoping to create a new vision for Johnston High School that will allow the district to retain some control of the academic programs and follow state education officials' requirements for dealing with chronically low-performing schools that fail to improve.

However, it is unclear whether trustees can agree on a new vision for the East Austin school and whether such a plan would be acceptable to state Education Commissioner Robert Scott and allowable under state law.

Under the state's accountability system for schools, Johnston could be closed if it again fails to meet testing and attendance standards.

But with the help of state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin , school district officials have sketched out a rough plan, without specifics, to create an unconventional instructional program at Johnston that could be modeled after the technology program at Akins High School or the alternative self-paced program at Garza High School. District administrators plan to come up with a more specific plan in the next few weeks after having Johnston parents visit such programs.

Whether the entire school board and the Johnston community will back the administration's new vision plan is uncertain, however.

Some say the timing is too short. Scott is expected to make a decision about the future of the school by mid-June, after seeing the results of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills exam.

Others question whether the district's plan will be different enough from, or more effective than, what has already been tried. Two years ago, Johnston underwent a state-approved redesign of its academic programs that divided the campus into small learning academies that allowed students to choose electives that focus on science, such as engineering, and the arts, such as filmmaking. Since then, the school has made another shift, to the First Things First program, which focuses on establishing stronger relationships among students and their families and school staff members.

Despite those programs, state figures show that fewer than one of every five of Johnston's 711 students passed all portions of the TAKS in 2007.

Furthermore, state law appears to leave Scott with little leeway. The Texas Administrative Code outlines the rules for how the state should deal with campuses that have been deemed "unacceptable" under the Texas accountability system, which considers achievement test scores and dropout rates. Johnston has failed to meet the acceptable standard for the past four years. If the students fail again this year, Scott must either close the school or put it under alternative management.

"While I can appreciate the community's concerns about the future of Johnston High School, as commissioner of education, I am bound by the law," Scott said. "I will continue to work with Sen. Watson, the district and the community to provide a quality education for these students."

Johnston would be among the first schools in the state — others include campuses in the Houston, North Forest and Waco districts — subject to the most extreme censure possible under the state's accountability system.

If closed, Johnston could be reopened with the commissioner's approval. However, it would be required to have a new name and principal and a mostly new teaching staff, and it would have to either serve entirely new grade levels or not serve more than 50 percent of the same students. Under alternative management, another school district or a nonprofit organization such as a charter school would take over instructional programs. The law stipulates that the commissioner can put Johnston under new management only if there is a reasonable expectation that the school will be rated "acceptable" again in three years.

Johnston Principal Celina Estrada-Thomas and trustees said they would prefer the school to remain open to children in the neighborhood and under the district's control, and Watson, a former Austin mayor, said he has hope that Scott will consider other options.

"In my conversations with the commissioner, I have been impressed with his willingness to listen to concerns that I've had, and that the school district has had, related to the potential closure of Johnston," Watson said. "The law requires certain things. However, we will continue to work with the commissioner to see how within the law we can meet the specific needs of the community and the district."

Superintendent Pat Forgione said he was confident as well. "I believe our commissioner and our state agency is looking to partner with us," Forgione said.

The trick is coming up with a proposal to present to Scott that parents and trustees support.

Roxanne Perez, a Johnston parent, said she isn't convinced that another program is the best answer and questioned the district's commitment to meaningful parent involvement.

"I feel like the wheels are already in motion," she said.

After parents and administrators visit programs at schools in Austin, Manor and possibly other cities, the district intends to compile community recommendations and collect letters of intent from groups that would help set up such programs to submit to the Texas Education Agency in early June.

Trustee Vincent Torres said he has reservations about the lack of thought and time that administrators are putting into the new vision and warned that he would be a tough sell with the clock counting down to June.

"Right now, I think the thing you guys are lacking is credibility," he said at a board meeting last week. "I don't want those kids to be another experiment. You think you folks can come up with what you need in three weeks?"

District administrators, meanwhile, have not identified exactly which programs they will look at during the site visits and admit that they won't be able to put any new plan in place before the 2009-10 school year. Patti Everitt, the district's director of redesign, said administrators hope to stay in control at Johnston for one more year and plan to continue some of the more successful programs that were started this year at the school, including one to help boost attendance that involved having parents patrol neighborhoods.

District officials have noticeably refrained from talking about visiting charter schools or about exploring the alternative management option.

Trustee Karen Dulaney Smith said board members don't want to be presumptive about their options but do want to send the message that the district isn't ready to give up.

"I do have confidence that there isn't anyone out there that's going to come up with options that are better than what we will explore."

School districts start to face sanctions under landmark law

By JULIET WILLIAMS – May 10, 2008
Associated Press

THERMAL, Calif. (AP) — At Las Palmitas Elementary School, nestled between rundown homes and fields of grapes, peppers and dates in Southern California, 99 percent of students live in poverty and fewer than 20 percent speak English fluently.

Las Palmitas and other schools in the Coachella Valley Unified School District are just the type policy makers had in mind when Congress passed the federal No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 to shed light on the disparities facing poor and minority children.

Nineteen of the district's 21 schools — including Las Palmitas — have not met the federal law's performance benchmarks for four years. Now the entire district faces sanctions for the first time.

"We have hardworking, dedicated, trained teachers like everybody else. They've got to teach a language, they've got to teach the content, and they've got to counter poverty," said Foch "Tut" Pensis, the district's superintendent. "We are the poster child for NCLB."

California has 97 school districts that failed to meet their goals under the law for four years, more than twice as many failing districts as any other state so far. Kentucky has the next highest number facing sanctions, with 47.

Nationwide, 411 school districts in 27 states now face intervention.

Over the next few years, hundreds more districts are destined to enter the next phase that California already has begun. The state has ordered districts to undergo everything from reporting how they are implementing the federal law to having a team of specialists assess every aspect of their operations. In the most extreme cases, California districts could be subject to a state takeover.

How California and the other states will turn around those struggling districts is unclear.

"No one, on a large scale, has figured out how to solve the achievement gap," Pensis said. "Everybody's looking for that answer."

If they need better teachers and administrators, it's not apparent where they will come from. Some federal money is available, but it's unlikely it will be enough to cover all the failing districts.

Many states already are losing revenue due to the sliding economy. California's budget deficit for the fiscal year that begins this summer is projected to be anywhere from $15 billion to $20 billion.

No Child Left Behind sought to shine a light on inequality in the nation's education system, where schools have been accused of setting lower expectations for poor and minority children. Nationwide, black and Hispanic students consistently lag behind their white and Asian peers in performance, a chasm referred to as the achievement gap.

The law also set tough goals for districts to demonstrate steady improvement.

U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings says California is taking the right steps. It is the first state to take widespread action against all its districts that have failed to meet the achievement target set by No Child Left Behind.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state's elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jack O'Connell, proposed the sliding scale of punishment for the 97 districts — which are responsible for educating nearly a third of California's 6.3 million students.

Their approach reserves severe measures, such as replacing administrators or a takeover by the state, for districts that have shown the least improvement.

"He is the first governor to kind of embrace this law, to take it on himself, to be acting for it, and in keeping completely with the spirit of No Child Left Behind," Spellings said in an interview.

By taking action now, California can collect $45 million from the federal government. The districts facing the most severe sanctions each will receive $250,000 in federal money to pay for intervention teams and to start following their suggestions.

They will need to hire turnaround experts, new principals and coaches, and many more teachers to replace those judged to be ineffective. Where the districts will find those top-quality educators is unknown. California expects to face a shortage of as many as 100,000 qualified teachers in the next decade, even without changes to its existing school system.

"I think it's going to take leadership, commitment and expectations," she said. "It's just like with the kids: If you think you have a bunch of kids who can't get to grade level, that's what you have. If you think you have superstars, that's what you have."

With half the black and Hispanic students in the country dropping out before graduation, anything less than aggressive action to turn around the failing districts is unacceptable, Spellings said. Under some of the states' current improvement plans, it would take some districts more than 100 years to bring students' reading and math skills to grade level.

"The accountability — all the testing, all the data, all the stuff we do — are meaningless unless we have real consequences for failure," Spellings said.

Two Austin schools fighting to stay open face uphill battle

Double digit percentage point gains in passing rates for Pearce Middle School and Johnston High School will be required to meet tougher passing standards.

By Laura Heinauer | AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, April 16, 2008

For the two Austin schools most in need of improvement this year, the path to meet the new TAKS passing standards finalized this week by the state won't be easy.

Pearce Middle School in East Austin, where the district held a planning forum Tuesday evening, will have to show double-digit percentage-point gains in the passing rate for this year's science test. Students will take the test for the first time this year on May 1.

Campuses must meet state standards within all student groups on all subjects on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills or risk closure. Pearce, now entering its third year of "unacceptable" status in the accountability system, could be closed by the state this year.

State officials said passing rates at Johnston High School would have to show significant gains on both the math and science portions of the tests, which students take at the end of this month and in May, to keep that campus open.

Superintendent Pat Forgione thanked parents at the forum and said their support for helping students and keeping the campus open is critical.

"This is like preparing for a hurricane. Tonight, we have a storm warning," he said.

In recognition of the uphill battle Pearce faces, several East Austin advocates have been pitching in to help. Michael Lofton, a local talk-show host who organizes monthly conferences for African American men and boys, said he and members of other groups, including churches and local neighborhood associations, have met to coordinate mentoring and social services for Pearce students and their families.

"I know this is kind of at the 99th hour," Lofton said. "But if all goes well, I think we can make a lot of headway by the end of the year."

Most observers agree that meeting the state's new 2008 passing standards will be difficult for schools like Pearce and Johnston. This year, the minimum passing rate for English has been increased from 65 percent to 70 percent. In math, 50 percent of students must pass, up from 45 percent, and in science it went from 40 percent to 45 percent.

Both schools could get a reprieve by getting just to the "acceptable" standard. Johnston would have to improve performance in 20 areas to meet that so-called required improvement standard. Pearce would have to do it in 16 areas. Reaching that standard is what got Webb Middle School in North Austin off the state's low-performing list and saved it from the threat of closure last year.

Two Austin schools fighting to stay open face uphill battle

Double digit percentage point gains in passing rates for Pearce Middle School and Johnston High School will be required to meet tougher passing standards.

By Laura Heinauer | American-Statesman Staff
Wednesday, April 16, 2008

For the two Austin schools most in need of improvement this year, the path to meet the new TAKS passing standards finalized this week by the state won't be easy.

Pearce Middle School in East Austin, where the district held a planning forum Tuesday evening, will have to show double-digit percentage-point gains in the passing rate for this year's science test. Students will take the test for the first time this year on May 1.

Campuses must meet state standards within all student groups on all subjects on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills or risk closure. Pearce, now entering its third year of "unacceptable" status in the accountability system, could be closed by the state this year.

State officials said passing rates at Johnston High School would have to show significant gains on both the math and science portions of the tests, which students take at the end of this month and in May, to keep that campus open.

Superintendent Pat Forgione thanked parents at the forum and said their support for helping students and keeping the campus open is critical.

"This is like preparing for a hurricane. Tonight, we have a storm warning," he said.

In recognition of the uphill battle Pearce faces, several East Austin advocates have been pitching in to help. Michael Lofton, a local talk-show host who organizes monthly conferences for African American men and boys, said he and members of other groups, including churches and local neighborhood associations, have met to coordinate mentoring and social services for Pearce students and their families.

"I know this is kind of at the 99th hour," Lofton said. "But if all goes well, I think we can make a lot of headway by the end of the year."

Most observers agree that meeting the state's new 2008 passing standards will be difficult for schools like Pearce and Johnston. This year, the minimum passing rate for English has been increased from 65 percent to 70 percent. In math, 50 percent of students must pass, up from 45 percent, and in science it went from 40 percent to 45 percent.

Both schools could get a reprieve by getting just to the "acceptable" standard. Johnston would have to improve performance in 20 areas to meet that so-called required improvement standard. Pearce would have to do it in 16 areas. Reaching that standard is what got Webb Middle School in North Austin off the state's low-performing list and saved it from the threat of closure last year.

Parents rally to save Pearce Middle School

April 14, 2008

Austin, Texas (KXAN) -- Parents and school officials plan to meet Tuesday night to dicuss the future of Pearce Middle School.

The Texas Education Agency is threatening to shut down Pearce Middle School because of bad test scores.

Despite the academically unacceptable rating, parents said closing the school is not the answer.

"The best thing to do is to keep the building open," said Pearce PTA President, Charlotte Dotson. "Find out what the problem is and handle it there instead of threatening the closure because the kids think it's their fault, when it's not."

Tuesday's community conversation kicks off at 6 p.m. at Pearce Middle School, located at 6401 North Hampton Drive.

The Aiustin Independent School District superintendent, board of trustee members and other AISD officials will be at the meeting to listen to community concerns and answer questions.

School chiefs to fight sanctions

An update on the situation of California's schools facing sanctions. It's no surprise that the schools mentioned here are those serving a high number of Latino students. What's more is that schools in this area are serving high numbers of ELL students who in and of themselves are a diverse group. Because of migration this area of Califonia has experienced a slow increase in the number of students who speak one or more of the many Mexican indigenous languages. NCLB assessments and policies don't take this into account regardless of schools' success in showing student growth (as mentioned). At the state level these actions are yet another example of Schwarzenegger's poor decision making on education issues.

A brief bio of the schools mentioned in this article:
Alisal Union: 91.8% Latino and 67.9% ELL
Salinas City 80.4% Latino and 48.6% ELL
Greenfield Union: 95.6% Latino and 63.8% ELL
King City Union: 85.7% Latino and 53.6% ELL

Source: http://www.ed-data.k12.ca.us/

-Patricia

By SUNITA VIJAYAN
The Salinas Californian

SEASIDE - At least three Monterey County school superintendents will head to the state Capitol on Thursday to fight sanctions recommended by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state schools chief Jack O'Connell.

"It's an opportunity for us to tell the real story," said Roger Antón, whose Salinas Union High School District has been listed as requiring "light" corrective action. "What we'd like to get across to the state is: 'Provide us the support we need, but do not impose on us sanctions that are going to distract us, and do not impose sanctions that you're not funding.'"

Antón's SUHSD is one of six county districts that face penalties proposed by Schwarzenegger and O'Connell, the state's superintendent of public instruction. The others are Alisal Union, Salinas City Elementary, Greenfield Union, King City Union, and Monterey Peninsula Unified.

Superintendents from each of those districts, except Greenfield, met Tuesday at Ord Terrace Elementary School in Seaside to discuss their respective progress and prepare for the coming trip to Sacramento, where they'll address their concerns to the State Board of Education. The board will decide whether to approve the governor's Feb. 27 recommendations of imposing light to severe sanctions on the 97 districts listed as program improvement under NCLB. Nearly half of the districts listed require "moderate" or "severe" action, according to the state.

Greenfield neediest

Greenfield's superintendent, Elida Garza, could not be reached for comment Tuesday, and it wasn't immediately clear why she did not attend the meeting.

Greenfield is one of six districts statewide listed as "severe" and has the highest-priority assistance rating of all 97 districts. Four Monterey County districts were recommended for "moderate" action - Monterey Peninsula Unified, Alisal Union, Salinas City Elementary and King City Union.

Marilyn Shepherd, superintendent of Monterey Peninsula Unified, said she'd like to know the financial impact sanctions would have on her district. That's a significant concern, she said, considering potential cuts the district already faces because of the state's budget crisis.

In accordance with federal law, under the light- to moderate categories the governor has suggested, state-approved education experts will evaluate districts and revise their curriculum and teaching techniques. For those facing the harshest sanctions, the state may replace the district's entire administration with state-appointed replacements.

If the State Board of Education approves the recommendations, California would be the first state in the nation to follow the letter of the law.

"The kids in our schools that are being educated are making progress, yet the reward our students and teachers get is: 'You're a failing district.' That's got to change," Antón said.

NCLB 'flawed,' 'unfair'

Esperanza Zendejas, superintendent at Alisal Union, said it's important to note that districts in this region have an added challenge: a high percentage of students who enter schools with little knowledge or no English skills. In her district, nine out of 11 schools are in program-improvement status.

Zendejas said the state should amend the state-required curriculum to meet individual districts' needs and add strategies to help English learners to achieve academic goals.

All five superintendents stressed that their districts have shown progress each year but could not attain federal NCLB growth targets, partially because those targets increase annually.

The state's tool for measuring student proficiency levels, the Academic Performance Index, does take into account student-growth levels.

"None of us are opposed to being held accountable for our students' achievements," Alonzo said. "But (NCLB's) a flawed methodology and an unfair system. It's all or nothing."