74 percent of N.J. schools pass No Child Left Behind test
Published in the Asbury Park Press 9/30/04
By A. SCOTT FERGUSON
STAFF WRITER
Nearly three out of every four New Jersey public schools met federally mandated standards under the No Child Left Behind Act, but educators and state officials still are raising concerns about how the program has been applied in the state.
Based on preliminary test scores this year, 74 percent of the state's 2,398 elementary, middle and high schools met the standards for Adequate Yearly Progress under the federal act. In 2003, 65 percent of schools met those standards.
Progress under the new standards was evident in the Shore area, although educators believe more improvement is needed. In 2003, for example, 23 Monmouth County high schools and 13 high schools in Ocean County failed to make the progress standards.
This year, 15 high schools in Monmouth did not make the standards, as well as 11 in Ocean.
While more schools are doing better this year, implementing the No Child Left Behind Act has been "convoluted and complicated," state Education Commissioner William Librera said.
Figuring it out is just as complicated for parents. Several contacted about the results in their districts refused to discuss the report, saying they just did not know enough about it.
In the Pinelands Regional School District, where both the junior high and high school did not make the cut, Superintendent Detlef Kern said the district is analyzing where students need help and looking to fill the gaps.
"We want to make sure skills where they are lacking get fortified," he said yesterday.
The Adequate Yearly Progress standards are based on year-to-year comparisons of schools' scores in the: High School Proficiency Assessment given to 11th-grade students; Grade Eight Proficiency Assessments; and New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge, which are given to fourth-graders.
In order to achieve adequate progress, a school's students must meet the proficiency targets and a 95 percent participation rate in math and language arts for each of 10 subgroups, which include the total school population, students with disabilities, limited English proficiency students, economically disadvantaged students and white, Hispanic, African American, Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian/Native American students.
If a school misses achieving progress in any one of the 40 indicators, it is placed on an "early warning" list. If a school does not achieve adequate progress in the same content area for two consecutive years, it is deemed to be a "school in need of improvement."
Schools then face the loss of federal funds.
State education officials agree with the standards that No Child Left Behind brings to the classroom. It was how the plan was implemented, and the labeling of schools as failing, that has resulted in disagreement.
"Those issues that we have are how No Child Left Behind was implemented, not the goals," said Richard Vespucci, a spokesman for the state Department of Education. "Calling a school a low-performing school goes against the grain of what educators do. It's bad to label a child and it's not a good idea to label a school with a negative label. As little as missing one indicator out of 40 can create that label."
Frank Belluscio, a spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association, said parents should study their individual schools to see where the problems are. He added that in most cases, a warning or improvement label means there are problems in just one area and that it does not reflect on the school as a whole.
The entire Freehold Regional High School District is listed as needing improvement, as five of the six high schools did not meet at least one of the indicators. Only Colts Neck High School met all 40 requirements.
Of the other schools, all but Freehold Borough High School missed only one or two indicators: test scores in math and language arts from students with disabilities. Freehold Borough missed eight, failing to meet requirements for math and language arts for African-American and Hispanic students, and students with disabilities or who are "economically disadvantaged."
As he did last year, Superintendent James Wasser yesterday expressed frustration as he reviewed the state's findings. To penalize entire schools for failing to meet one or two indicators, as well as demanding that students with disabilities perform on the same level as those without, is unfair and unrealistic, he said.
"I think the worst thing you can do is target kids with learning disabilities as to why schools are in a 'needs improvement' category," Wasser said. "You're stigmatizing them. You're pointing the finger at kids who in essence sometimes just can't perform at the same level as others."
Wasser said that while he disagrees with the driving philosophy behind No Child Left Behind, the district will reach out to students in need and possibly offer more after-school assistance.
Michael O'Connoll, curriculum director for the Toms River Regional school district, said the district has a targeted action plan for each of the schools that did not meet adequate yearly progress standards under the act, including Walnut Street Elementary School, Toms River Intermediate East and West and the district's three high schools, North, South and East.
The action plans aim to increase the scores of students in various subgroups at the schools who have not met the federal requirements.
In all of the schools except Walnut Street Elementary, the overall student population met the federal standards, but at least one subgroup did not meet them. At Walnut Street, the student population overall met the benchmark test scores, but did not meet the 95 percent participation rate in mathematics and language arts required for the total student population and 10 subgroups.
It was a change in locales for the fourth-grade class that kept Red Bank Middle School on the list again this year, school officials said.
Eighth-grade test scores -- which originally put the school on the list -- met the mandated improvements this year, said Elizabeth Keshish, assistant superintendent in the prekindergarten to eighth-grade district.
But fourth graders -- who were moved from the primary to the middle school one year ago -- did not. Out of 66 students, 60.6 percent tested proficient in language arts and 50 percent tested proficient and higher in math, Keshish said.
Both the language arts and math curricula have been re-written and the district plans to introduce TargetTeach -- a program that aligns lessons with skills required on the tests -- to all grade levels by June 2006, Keshish said. Officials already credit the program -- which had not yet been administered to fourth-graders -- for improvements in other grades.
And there is hope for next year. Last spring 87.5 percent of third-graders tested proficient and higher in both math and language arts.
"We are optimistic for the future," Keshish said.
Staff writers Jean Mikle, Brian Prince, James Quirk and Alison Waldman contributed to this story.
Published in the Asbury Park Press 9/30/04
By A. SCOTT FERGUSON
STAFF WRITER
Nearly three out of every four New Jersey public schools met federally mandated standards under the No Child Left Behind Act, but educators and state officials still are raising concerns about how the program has been applied in the state.
Based on preliminary test scores this year, 74 percent of the state's 2,398 elementary, middle and high schools met the standards for Adequate Yearly Progress under the federal act. In 2003, 65 percent of schools met those standards.
Progress under the new standards was evident in the Shore area, although educators believe more improvement is needed. In 2003, for example, 23 Monmouth County high schools and 13 high schools in Ocean County failed to make the progress standards.
This year, 15 high schools in Monmouth did not make the standards, as well as 11 in Ocean.
While more schools are doing better this year, implementing the No Child Left Behind Act has been "convoluted and complicated," state Education Commissioner William Librera said.
Figuring it out is just as complicated for parents. Several contacted about the results in their districts refused to discuss the report, saying they just did not know enough about it.
In the Pinelands Regional School District, where both the junior high and high school did not make the cut, Superintendent Detlef Kern said the district is analyzing where students need help and looking to fill the gaps.
"We want to make sure skills where they are lacking get fortified," he said yesterday.
The Adequate Yearly Progress standards are based on year-to-year comparisons of schools' scores in the: High School Proficiency Assessment given to 11th-grade students; Grade Eight Proficiency Assessments; and New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge, which are given to fourth-graders.
In order to achieve adequate progress, a school's students must meet the proficiency targets and a 95 percent participation rate in math and language arts for each of 10 subgroups, which include the total school population, students with disabilities, limited English proficiency students, economically disadvantaged students and white, Hispanic, African American, Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian/Native American students.
If a school misses achieving progress in any one of the 40 indicators, it is placed on an "early warning" list. If a school does not achieve adequate progress in the same content area for two consecutive years, it is deemed to be a "school in need of improvement."
Schools then face the loss of federal funds.
State education officials agree with the standards that No Child Left Behind brings to the classroom. It was how the plan was implemented, and the labeling of schools as failing, that has resulted in disagreement.
"Those issues that we have are how No Child Left Behind was implemented, not the goals," said Richard Vespucci, a spokesman for the state Department of Education. "Calling a school a low-performing school goes against the grain of what educators do. It's bad to label a child and it's not a good idea to label a school with a negative label. As little as missing one indicator out of 40 can create that label."
Frank Belluscio, a spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association, said parents should study their individual schools to see where the problems are. He added that in most cases, a warning or improvement label means there are problems in just one area and that it does not reflect on the school as a whole.
The entire Freehold Regional High School District is listed as needing improvement, as five of the six high schools did not meet at least one of the indicators. Only Colts Neck High School met all 40 requirements.
Of the other schools, all but Freehold Borough High School missed only one or two indicators: test scores in math and language arts from students with disabilities. Freehold Borough missed eight, failing to meet requirements for math and language arts for African-American and Hispanic students, and students with disabilities or who are "economically disadvantaged."
As he did last year, Superintendent James Wasser yesterday expressed frustration as he reviewed the state's findings. To penalize entire schools for failing to meet one or two indicators, as well as demanding that students with disabilities perform on the same level as those without, is unfair and unrealistic, he said.
"I think the worst thing you can do is target kids with learning disabilities as to why schools are in a 'needs improvement' category," Wasser said. "You're stigmatizing them. You're pointing the finger at kids who in essence sometimes just can't perform at the same level as others."
Wasser said that while he disagrees with the driving philosophy behind No Child Left Behind, the district will reach out to students in need and possibly offer more after-school assistance.
Michael O'Connoll, curriculum director for the Toms River Regional school district, said the district has a targeted action plan for each of the schools that did not meet adequate yearly progress standards under the act, including Walnut Street Elementary School, Toms River Intermediate East and West and the district's three high schools, North, South and East.
The action plans aim to increase the scores of students in various subgroups at the schools who have not met the federal requirements.
In all of the schools except Walnut Street Elementary, the overall student population met the federal standards, but at least one subgroup did not meet them. At Walnut Street, the student population overall met the benchmark test scores, but did not meet the 95 percent participation rate in mathematics and language arts required for the total student population and 10 subgroups.
It was a change in locales for the fourth-grade class that kept Red Bank Middle School on the list again this year, school officials said.
Eighth-grade test scores -- which originally put the school on the list -- met the mandated improvements this year, said Elizabeth Keshish, assistant superintendent in the prekindergarten to eighth-grade district.
But fourth graders -- who were moved from the primary to the middle school one year ago -- did not. Out of 66 students, 60.6 percent tested proficient in language arts and 50 percent tested proficient and higher in math, Keshish said.
Both the language arts and math curricula have been re-written and the district plans to introduce TargetTeach -- a program that aligns lessons with skills required on the tests -- to all grade levels by June 2006, Keshish said. Officials already credit the program -- which had not yet been administered to fourth-graders -- for improvements in other grades.
And there is hope for next year. Last spring 87.5 percent of third-graders tested proficient and higher in both math and language arts.
"We are optimistic for the future," Keshish said.
Staff writers Jean Mikle, Brian Prince, James Quirk and Alison Waldman contributed to this story.
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