Rising bar trips up some of Minnesota's best schools

Nearly half of Minnesota's public schools are failing to meet state standards in math and reading, which can trigger consequences ranging from a black mark on a school's reputation to forced restructuring of programs and staff.

According to data released Tuesday by the Minnesota Department of Education, 937 of 1,951 schools are not making "adequate yearly progress" under the 2001 No Child Left Behind law. That number is up sharply from 727 schools last year and 483 in 2006.

The list is growing, officials say, because slight test score gains didn't keep pace with annually increasing benchmarks.

The increase frustrates some educators, who say the system is designed to eventually label all schools as failing. But others say the law forces schools to devote resources to students they overlooked before.

"Some of the ways of reporting it are frustrating," said Minnesota Education Commissioner Alice Seagren. "But we're not going to go back to the old way of doing things, of just letting kids pass from grade to grade without having any kind of a proficiency standard."

Several high schools hailed as among the best in Minnesota and the nation, including Edina, Wayzata and Eastview in Apple Valley, also were labeled as "underperforming."

Newsweek magazine had ranked Edina as one of the nation's top 100 high schools earlier this year.

Some educators predict the addition of such schools to the list is certain to alter attitudes about the federal law.

With those schools on the list, "It's not 'those kids,' it becomes 'our kids,'" said Tom Dooher, president of Education Minnesota, the statewide teachers' union. "And when people with influence see that it's happening to them, they're going to put some influence and pressure on the political system to change it."

An uphill battle

According to the 2001 No Child Left Behind law, states need to test how different student groups fare in school. If one group -- such as special-education students -- fails to meet targets on state tests, the whole school is labeled as not making "adequate yearly progress."

For schools receiving federal Title I money, failure means penalties that increase over time, from having to offer transfers and tutoring to restructuring an entire school. The proficiency level required each year is a moving target -- by 2014, the law says, every student group in the country is supposed to pass the tests.

Sanctions don't apply to schools such as Edina, Wayzata and Eastview, which don't receive federal Title I funds for low-income students.

About 37 percent of the state's elementary schools and 52 percent of Minnesota high schools didn't meet targets this year. Statewide, middle and junior high schools fared the worst, with almost 70 percent not making the grade. Among charter schools, 58 percent did not meet goals.

"There are so many ways to fail," said Charlie Kyte, executive director of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators, "and they keep raising the bar. No matter how hard we try, we end up having more schools look like they're not making it."

Many educators credit the law with forcing teachers and staff to focus on student groups that might get overlooked in wealthy schools with smaller concentrations of low-income students or students of color.

Edina and Eastview High Schools, for example, were both identified as not making their 2008 achievement goals because of the performance of their black students on the 11th-grade math test. Black students make up 6 percent of the students at both schools.

"We take the test seriously but it's a challenge because all of the bars keep getting raised," said Edina Superintendent Ric Dressen. But, "we're going much deeper into the data to track students."

About half the schools failed to get their low-income students across the line, and about as many fell short with special-education students. From there, black students, those who speak limited English and Hispanic students were the most common groups to fall behind.

"If you have a sizable special-education or [limited-English] program, it's very challenging to make those targets," said Don Pascoe, testing director in Osseo, the state's fifth-largest district, where 23 of 26 schools didn't meet their goals.

Urban districts struggle

Minnesota's two urban districts continued to struggle. In Minneapolis, only 12 of the district's 81 schools met testing benchmarks. St. Paul fared slightly better, with 20 of 77 schools making the grade.

Last year, Lucy Laney and Nellie Stone Johnson elementary schools in north Minneapolis were the first Minnesota schools to be restructured under the NCLB law. Each received additional attention, such as extra teacher training and class size reductions, under the district's North Side Initiative. But both schools still made the list this year.

"Sometimes it takes more than a year to get traction with these programs," said Dave Heistad, Minneapolis' testing chief.

This year, four Minneapolis elementary schools are on the state's restructuring list and nine must prepare to restructure. St. Paul must prepare to restructure three schools.

Superintendent Bill Green pointed out that Minneapolis students made testing gains similar to those seen statewide. He said the data reveal challenges, not excuses for failure.

"We're a district that believes wholeheartedly in accountability," he said. "The challenge for us is, we must go faster and further than any other district in the state."

St. Paul Superintendent Meria Carstarphen echoed Green, saying that despite "encouraging" gains in math and reading scores, "We know we have to really move up our game."

Carstarphen pointed to district-wide efforts to improve professional development and restructure programming. Interventions take time, she said, but the district is watching closely to see what works.

Ames Elementary, for instance, was removed from the list of underperforming schools after two years of good performance. Principal Delores Henderson credits high expectations and increased individual attention for the gains.

Revisiting the law

The 2001 No Child Left Behind law is up for reauthorization but will stay in effect until Congress acts. Opposition is growing not only in Minnesota, where some legislators want to opt out of the law, but nationwide.

Last year, the Department of Education and a group of Minnesota education organizations issued recommendations for improving the law. The department said the group's consensus was that the law needed to be "mended, not ended."

The list of struggling schools is helpful because it lets parents know that students at certain schools may be eligible for supplemental services such as tutoring, said Minneapolis' deputy superintendent Bernadeia Johnson. For the community, the list is "a trigger point that says your school is a high priority," she said.

But Carstarphen said schools could be nearing a tipping point where, instead of feeling resolved to raise test scores, they could get frustrated with the system.

"I'm not frustrated," she said. "I do think there's a lot more we could do about our practices that would give kids a better outcome. ... We just need to be careful and make real-time adjustments when things don't make sense. If we can keep our heads on straight that way, educators worth their salt will get that and do what they need to do."

Emily Johns • 651-298-1541 • ejohns@startribune.com Patrice Relerford • 612-673-4395 • prelerford@startribune.com