Time and again Minnesota students top national rankings for student achievement. From SAT college entrance scores to international math and science exams, Minnesota kids always fare well, typically placing among the top five.
That's why it's especially frustrating -- and somewhat counterintuitive -- when hundreds of schools land on a list designating failure. This year's adequate yearly progress scores (AYP) for Minnesota schools once again reveal two major lessons. First, the No Child Left Behind federal education law needs reform. And second, despite the state's reputation for educational excellence, some Minnesota schools and communities must do more to bring students up to academic par more quickly.
On Monday, the Minnesota Department of Education reported that nearly half of the state's 2,300 schools are now on the AYP watch list based on 2009 reading and math test scores. Of those on the list, about 60 percent failed to meet goals but will not suffer any consequences because they do not receive Title I federal funds for lower-income students. And 192 schools will receive only warnings.
But the remainder have missed the test score targets for several years. As a result, they are now required to take action ranging from allowing students to transfer to restructuring the entire school.
Scores of schools with strong overall academic performance are on the list -- many in the no consequences category. Most of them failed only because a small number of students didn't meet the goals. It does much more harm than good to stigmatize entire school communities in those circumstances; the law should be changed to avoid that outcome.
In addition, federal requirements should expand assessments beyond a single test and include more appropriate evaluations of English-learning and special-ed students..
A signature program of the George W. Bush administration, NCLB calls for all students to be proficient in reading and math by 2014. That proficiency is determined by a test, designed by each state for its students. Federal law also requires states to identify schools that miss the test benchmark -- a moving target that keeps rising each year. Minnesota's situation is complicated by the fact that this state set higher standards than most, making them that much more difficult to reach.
While some changes are needed, the spirit of the law should not be abandoned; it has helped bring important attention to the academic needs of many students. Looking only at aggregate scores in the past, for example, obscured the fact that Minnesota has a significant achievement gap between white and lower-income students of color.
