2007 test scores: Hundreds more schools fall short

More than 700 Minnesota public schools -- more than one-third of the all state schools -- failed to meet their 2007 achievement goals, setting off a cycle of increasing penalties under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

The results released Thursday by the state Department of Education led some educators to question whether the goal of having every child proficient in math and reading by 2014 is realistic.

The list of schools that failed to meet "adequate yearly progress" goals for 2007 showed 729 schools falling short of their testing targets. Last year, 483 schools failed to meet their goals. And in 2005, 247 schools fell short.

Minnesota Education Commissioner Alice Seagren said officials were disappointed that the list of underperforming schools grew so much but added that the results weren't a surprise because of tougher federal requirements for reporting test results.

Seagren said the state would continue to strive to meet the requirement that all students be proficient by 2014.

"We are going to focus doing everything we can to meet that goal," she said.

Others are less optimistic.

"I get frustrated with people saying to schools that somehow, by magic, this is all supposed to turn out right," said Charlie Kyte, executive director of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators. "It isn't going to work. They have a micromanaging lemon on their hands as a federal law."

Larger questions

The swelling list likely will rekindle arguments by legislators and educators that the testing requirements and the sanctions that go with them should be overhauled -- or even scrapped. Some educators have warned for years that the law that was designed to raise student achievement will result in progressively more schools being branded as failures.

Schools are listed as not meeting their goals if students score too low on state tests, or if different groupings of students -- such as black, poor, non-English speaking, or special education students -- miss their testing goals. Other measures include attendance and high school graduation rates.

For most schools, not meeting their goals is little more than a public embarrassment. That's because only schools receiving Title I federal aid for poor students are subject to federal sanctions. This year, 110 Minnesota schools face sanctions. Many expect that number to keep growing.

Sanctions range from having to offer transfers and tutoring to having to restructure staff and programs. Sanctions kick in when schools miss their goals two years in a row.

Seagren said the state continues to request that the federal government ease up on its testing requirements. And state officials anticipate that the No Child Left Behind law, which must be reauthorized this year by Congress, will be changed to allow more flexibility.

Minnesota not alone

Other states also are seeing many schools fall short of their goals. Along with Minnesota, many states are lobbying to loosen testing requirements and lessen sanctions.

Thursday's results go hand in hand with results of state math and reading tests released earlier this summer. Those scores changed little from 2006.

What may have put more schools on the list this year was a rule change dictated by the federal government.

It used to be that a school had to test at least 40 special education students and 40 limited-English students for their scores to count. That's been cut to 20, meaning that more schools have to report test results for special education and non-English language students, who tend to post lower test scores. In the Robbinsdale district, 10 schools didn't meet testing goals, mostly due to the scores for special education kids and children who speak limited English.

Plus, the math tests got harder last year.

"What we're finding at this point is that our kids haven't taken that much math, and they're taking a test that's above them," said South Washington County Superintendent Tom Nelson. "The bottom line is we're going to have to catch up to the test standards, and that's going to take a little while."

Six of Nelson's schools didn't meet their goals. Eighteen Anoka-Hennepin schools didn't meet their goals, and Franklin Elementary School, in Anoka, faces sanctions for not meeting goals for two years in a row. The school must now provide students with transfers to other schools in the district.

In Franklin's case, the school's poor children did not meet the testing goals in math. Franklin principal Vickie Spindler said her students' test scores actually rose after teachers spent more time helping low-performing students. But it wasn't enough.

"We were seven-hundredths of a point from meeting our proficiency level," Spindler said. Still, she sees the importance of having testing goals .

"We have to have accountability," she said. "Even if it's disappointing sometimes."

Franklin parent Amy Elise Jones wants schools to be responsible for raising academic performance. Still, she finds the 2007 results frustrating.

"It frustrates me to know how close we were," she said. "It seems like a big punishment for one teeny percentage of one group."

Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools often struggle to meet their goals. This year is no different, with just 19 of Minneapolis' 92 schools and 22 of St. Paul's 84 schools or programs making the grade in both reading and math. While both districts saw schools come off the list from last year, they saw many more move on.

St. Paul Superintendent Meria Carstarphen said many factors are feeding those numbers, including new and more difficult math tests and even how the tests were given. Two months ago, she challenged the validity of the new tests. Now, she's questioning what this list really shows.

'Keeps shifting, changing'

"Some of it is simply a challenge to understand," she said of schools that are showing improvement on many measures, including the district's own tests, but still miss their goals.

Bernadeia Johnson, chief academic officer for the Minneapolis District, likens the changing criteria for measuring success to the time she went to the doctor's office to check her blood pressure. The number the nurse read back to her was good news, Johnson said, until the nurse told her the definition of high blood pressure had changed.

"It keeps shifting, changing," she said.

In Minneapolis, Jefferson Elementary has shown growth for almost every student group, she said. The school has an inspiring principal who lives in the community. And it attracts families from several socio-economic groups. But because the school also is home to a citywide program for special education students who did not meet their testing target, Johnson said, it gets tagged as underperforming.

"Is it a good school?" she asked. "I'd say, 'Yes it is.' "

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