Unify school standards

The Nell Holcomb, Jackson, Advance, Oak Ridge and Oran school districts recently were among 176 districts recognized by the state for "distinction in performance." The award is given annually for academic performance showing consistent improvement.

The four smaller districts also made passing grades on the 2003 Missouri Assessment Program tests mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, but Jackson was among 98 districts in the state that received the state distinction while falling short of the federal standards for adequate yearly progress.

The disparity in state and federal school standards lies in the different ways performance is assessed. Missouri uses MAP and ACT scores along with dropout rates and attendance to gauge the academic progress of its students. The results are averaged.

But No Child Left Behind requires that a certain percentage of all student subgroups must show proficiency on their annual assessments. Racial, economic and special education subgroups are not averaged into the whole.

When districts don't meet federal benchmarks for adequate yearly progress, commonly known as AYP, they can be required to pay for transferring students to another school or for replacing staff. Thus a district can win a state award and be penalized by the feds in the same year.

Students, teachers and administrators are getting confusing messages about their performance.

The way to end the disagreement between the state and federal standards is to integrate them, says Jim Morris, director of public information for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The good news is that state education officials already are at work on that goal. They are considering adding AYP as a standard by 2006, the beginning of a new five-year accreditation cycle.

The aim of the No Child Left Behind Act is for all students in the U.S. to score at a proficient level by 2014.

But larger school districts such as Jackson argue that simply adding AYP would be unfair to them because smaller school districts don't have enough students to allow for subgroups. Each subgroup is required to be composed of at least 30 students.

Dr. Ron Anderson, superintendent of the Jackson public schools, points out that "proficient" as applied to the state's annual MAP tests means students are doing work "above grade level," while in other states proficient means "at grade level." Missouri didn't change its definition of proficient when No Child Left Behind came along. Anderson thinks the definition of proficient and the MAP test curriculum should be changed to reflect work at grade level.

Fairness to school districts and as well as to students in the subgroups are not incompatible goals. Missouri needs equitable standards for judging how well our schools are educating our children.