MARYSVILLE — The Marysville School District has reported that two of its schools are making Adequate Yearly Progress, according to the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, in the wake of the recently released results of the spring of 2009 administration of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, as well as comments by state Superintendent Randy Dorn.
The Marysville School District scored below state averages for all subjects and grade levels. Dorn noted that, when compared to the previous year, state scores for this year had increased in seven subject areas, decreased in another seven and remained unchanged in six, but added that preliminary results for AYP show that 1,073 schools moved into “improvement” status, up from 618 last year.
“Our state testing scores are flat, yet the federal system shows an additional 500 schools are failing,” Dorn said. “What is failing is No Child Left Behind. The law is completely unfair. While we know there is certainly room for improvement in our schools, it’s a statistical guarantee in this law that all of our schools will soon be in federal improvement status. That’s unrealistic.”
AYP is designed to ensure that all schools and districts make “adequate yearly progress” toward the goal of having every student meet academic standards on annual reading and math tests by 2014. AYP is measured by the performance of a number of subgroups, including those based on different ethnicities, those who receive “special services,” such as English Language Learners and those enrolled in special education, and those who qualify as “low income.” If the percentage of students meeting standards in any one of those subgroups falls below their targets, then the entire school is identified as falling short of making AYP.
Every three years, those targets move up, as they did last year, toward the goal of having 100 percent of students meet those standards by 2014. Schools and districts that do not meet AYP targets for two consecutive years move into “improvement” status and, if they receive federal Title I funds, face an escalating series of consequences each year they do not make AYP.
Marysville School District Assistant Superintendent Gail Miller noted that only the Grove and Sunnyside elementary schools are making AYP in every category, but added that many schools which have not made AYP have nonetheless made “a lot of progress” toward meeting AYP targets. She explained how narrow the margin for meeting those AYP targets can be by citing Totem Middle School.
In special education, Totem missed its AYP target by 2 percent. Given the class sizes for special education at Totem, Miller described this as a margin of “maybe two or three kids. It’s not to blame the kids themselves, but it shows that, unless a school makes AYP in every category, its progress won’t be recognized. Totem serves higher percentages of students of color, and those on free and reduced lunches, who face more challenges in meeting these standards, and yet, Totem is above the uniform bar for reading, for black and Hispanic students.”
Miller likewise cited the nearly 80 percent of low-income third and fourth-grade students at Shoultes Elementary who met reading standards, versus the roughly 65.3 percent of low-income fifth-grade students who managed to do so. The latter percentage was below the AYP target of 76.1 percent, and ensured that Shoultes as a whole did not meet AYP in reading, even though Miller described the margin as reflecting “about four or five fifth-graders.”
Miller acknowledged that math is proving to be a problematic issue throughout the school district. This echoes Dorn’s advice for the state as a whole, when he predicted that, “If we continue on our current path, we’ll have 40 percent of our students not graduating in 2013, when it’s required for students to pass a state math assessment.”
To combat this trend, the Marysville School District is switching from a “spiral” math curriculum, in which math concepts are addressed and revisited each year, to a more traditional, state-recommended math series, in which each year’s courses are more self-contained.
“The spiral curriculum can be very successful for school districts with more stable student populations, such as Bellingham,” Miller said. “In districts where students are more mobile, though, it simply doesn’t work.”
Last year, two Title I schools in the Marysville School District were officially in “improvement” status. This year, the Cascade, Marshall, Liberty and Shoultes elementary schools all moved into Step 1 of “improvement,” while Quil Ceda Elementary moved into Step 2 and Tulalip Elementary moved into Step 4. Families whose students are enrolled in Step 1 schools will have the option to transfer their students to other schools in the district, that are not in “improvement.” Step 2 schools must supply supplemental education, such as private tutors. Step 3 schools adopt new curricula, new materials, professional development and “corrective action,” in Miller’s words.
As a Step 4 school, Tulalip must now undergo “reconstitution.” This can include hiring a new principal, replacing “significant staff,” developing plans for meeting AYP with the community, or “other,” according to Miller. Tulalip’s principal has already requested a transfer.
The Allen Creek and Pinewood elementary schools did not make AYP for the first time this year, but unlike the aforementioned schools, they do not receive Title I funds, and therefore do not face the same progressive steps of consequences.
The 2008-09 school year was the last for the WASL. Starting in the 2009-2010 school year, the WASL will be replaced by two new tests — the grades 3-8 Measurements of Student Progress, and the High School Proficiency Exam. The graduation requirements associated with high school state testing will remain the same, but schools will be able to volunteer to participate in online testing in the spring of 2010, for sixth through eighth grades in reading and math. Reading, math and science exams will take one day to administer instead of two.
Approximately 25 percent of students statewide in sixth through eighth grades are expected to participate in voluntary online testing in the spring of 2010. In the spring of 2011, fifth-graders will participate in online testing in reading, math and science, and eighth graders will also start online testing in science. In the spring of 2012, fourth-graders are expected to move to online testing in reading and math. Writing exams will debut online in the spring of 2011 for seventh and 10th-graders, with an online practice test beginning in the fall of 2010. OSPI is currently conducting feasibility studies for online testing in fourth grade writing and all subjects in third grade.
