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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • More than 60 schools on federal watch list 8/29/08   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, August 29, 2008 More schools in state added to No Child Left Behind watch list By Kaitlin Manry and Eric Stevick Herald Writers More Washington schools than ever have been added to a federal watch list because they have not met expectations, with the number of schools failing this year more than double over last year. On Thursday, the state released an annual list of schools that didn't make "adequate yearly progress," meaning there were groups of students within those schools who didn't earn high enough state test scores based on targets set under the federal No Child Left Behind law. This year, 628 schools and 57 school districts statewide were failing, compared to 280 schools and 30 districts last year. In Snohomish County, there are about 60 schools that are now on the federal list, more than double the number from a year ago. Six school districts in Snohomish County also made the list: Everett, Edmonds, Lake Stevens, Marysville, Monroe and Sultan. Under the federal rules, schools and districts are judged not just on their overall reading and math test scores from the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, but on how students in individual categories perform as well. There also was a bright spot in this year's report: Scriber Lake High, an alternative school in Edmonds, is one of four schools statewide to come off the list in 2008, after meeting all their federal achievement targets for the second straight year. A double whammy is partially to blame for the increased number of schools on the list this year. The targets that schools needed to meet on the WASL were raised. At the same time, they could land on the list with fewer English language learners and special-education students. Some schools in Everett and Marysville are losing enrollment and money because they've landed on the list for multiple years. Schools that receive federal Title I funds because of high poverty rates face an escalating series of consequences. The law punishes the struggling schools it was intended to help, said Gail Miller, assistant superintendent of the Marysville School District. Although nine Marysville schools are on the list, only Tulalip and Quil Ceda elementaries receive Title 1 funds, so they must hire outside tutors and pay to bus students who request it to other schools, as the federal law requires. Statewide, fewer than 1 percent of students attending Title I schools have requested transfers, but the federal law has hit some schools hard. So far, 48 students from Tulalip and Quil Ceda have signed up to be bused to Grove Elementary or Pinewood Elementary. District officials are now considering moving teachers from Quil Ceda and Tulalip to Grove, and the district is setting aside around $120,000 for the changes, Miller said. "Now money is being funneled elsewhere that could be used to add more support at those schools -- which is the point of Title 1 in the fist place," Miller said. In a given year, schools in Washington receive about $180 million in Title I funding. About half of the 2,200 schools in Washington receive the federal funds. Two years ago, Hawthorne Elementary School in northeast Everett was put on the improvement list. Over the past few years, 15 students transferred to Lowell Elementary and 57 to Whittier Elementary. "No Child Left Behind has focused attention on every child, but it has a set of academic standards that fail to take into account the individual positions of the children when they enter the system," said Mary Waggoner, an Everett School District spokeswoman. Under the law, a percentage of students classified as low-income, English-language learners, special education and those from five different races or ethnic groups must pass the WASL in order for schools to make adequate yearly progress. Schools are evaluated in up to 37 categories, and districts in up to 111. About 15 percent more students in each elementary, middle and high school had to pass the reading and math WASL this year than in the year prior in order to make adequate yearly progress. The standard is increased every three years in the state, with the goal of having all students pass the WASL by 2014. Two years ago, Kamiak High School was placed on the list because of low special-education scores, despite some of the highest overall test scores in the state. It is still on the list, although it reached its test score targets in 2008. "Don't judge a school by adequate yearly progress alone because that would be a drastic mistake," state Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson said. "It just makes me very angry to have a judgment made by a federal mechanism for accountability that does not take into account the complexity of our schools." Randy Dorn, who is challenging Bergeson for her job as state school chief, said fewer schools would be on the list if the WASL were changed. However, he agrees with Bergeson that No Child Left Behind needs to be rewritten, to give schools with high numbers of immigrants and special-education students a chance at success. "I've been to schools where they're testing special-ed kids and there's no way they can do it," the former legislator said. "It makes no sense. It's a waste of money." Of the 390 schools on the list for the first time this year, about 100 of them missed the standard in just one or two categories. Typically, those schools are able to address their issues within one to two years and get off the list, said Eric Earling, a regional representative for the U.S. Department of Education. "The headlines will obviously say one thing, but I think the actual meat of the issue is a little different," he said. The No Child Left Behind law is up for reauthorization in Congress. The Department of Education has recognized there is room for more flexibility, particularly in areas of special education and English as a Second Language, Earling said. Even so, Earling defends the law overall, saying it gives the public a chance to look at schools "beyond the surface" of a single test score.

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