Federal, state standards are no easy match

Disparities between state and federal education standards have some Missouri school districts accepting academic accolades with one hand while getting slapped on the other for not making enough progress.

One hundred fifty-three school districts recently were recognized for "distinction in performance," an annual state award given for consistent improvement in academic performance.

But of those 153, 98 districts -- or 64 percent -- did not make adequate yearly progress on the 2003 Missouri Assessment Program tests as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

It's a conflict school districts nationwide face because states' accreditation standards often don't match up to the NCLB requirements. But Missouri officials are now looking at ways to integrate the two standards, including the possibility of adding adequate yearly progress, commonly known as AYP, to the current accreditation requirements.

"State awards are often based on an average, which can mask problems," said Monty Neill, executive director of FairTests. org, a nonprofit organization in Cambridge, Mass., that focuses on test reform. "Few states would determine that a school isn't doing well based on one population of students, but under No Child Left Behind, all subgroups of students have to make AYP."

Missouri's distinction in performance recognition is one of the state's most prestigious awards for districts and is based on academic performance factors such as MAP and ACT scores, attendance, and dropout rates.

Adequate yearly progress, which began this year, also is based on MAP scores. But AYP requires schools and various racial and economic subgroups within schools to have a certain percentage of students scoring at proficient or higher on the annual assessments.

A school district could rack up numerous state awards but still face major penalties -- such as paying for students to transfer to another school or replacing staff -- if the annual AYP goal isn't met.

"We knew there would be discrepancies," said Jim Morris, director of public information with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. "The only way to eliminate the discrepancies is to integrate state and federal standards."

That's what state education officials hope to do by 2006. In that year, a new five-year accreditation cycle will begin and NCLB will require school districts to test all students in third though eighth grades in communication arts and math.

To coincide with those changes, Morris said the state is considering adding AYP as an accreditation standard.

Incorporating AYP into state accreditation could have a huge impact on schools struggling to meet the annual test score goals, mainly larger districts with a diverse body of students.

The Jackson School District, with 25-percent of 4,600 students on free and reduced lunches, and 13-percent enrolled in special education, was named to the distinction in performance list but did not make AYP this year.

Jackson superintendent Dr. Ron Anderson said the reason is because No Child Left Behind has changed the way educators must look at student subgroups.

"I doubt if any large schools made AYP, because they haven't focused on the individual groups as much as they could or should have," Anderson said. "Smaller districts don't have those groups, so they're on a different playing field."

Anderson said there would have to be major changes made to the state and federal legislation before AYP could fairly be added as an accreditation standard.

"We would be shooting ourselves in the foot to make it a standard as things are now," Anderson said.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128

What is No Child Left Behind?

Signed into law in January of 2002 by President Bush, the federal No Child Left Behind Act is a reformation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 that increases accountability for schools and impacts nearly every aspect of public education -- everything from testing and curriculum to teacher quality and school prayer.

The law requires school districts to make incremental improvements on annual state assessments, so that every student will score at proficient or higher by 2014.