Many schools off the mark

Many North Idaho schools with a history of good performance failed to meet state standards last school year and will face sanctions if they don’t shape up.

Of the 13 school districts in the six northern counties, 10 didn’t make “adequate yearly progress,” a measurement that assesses schools in about 40 areas and can bring sanctions after two consecutive years.

Of 33 schools in the Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls and Lakeland districts, 12 met the standards, and each did far worse than the previous year, due in part to a tougher statewide standardized test.

Post Falls showed the biggest decline among North Idaho’s largest districts. Each of its seven schools met standards previously, but none did this year.

“Certainly, we’re not very pleased with that result,” said Superintendent Jerry Keane.

In the Coeur d’Alene district, 10 of 16 schools fell short, compared with four last year.

And while Lakeland had just one of its 10 schools failing to make adequate progress last year, five fell short this year.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires states to implement their own standards for schools, draft appropriate tests to measure performance, and issue yearly progress reports. Statistics are broken down by students’ race and income level. Disabled students make up their own subgroup, as do students learning English. One group failing to hit standards means the whole school misses its progress goal.

A school that falls short one year is placed on “alert” status. Failure a second year brings a “needs improvement” label.

Even if they fail to clear the statewide bar, schools and districts can still make adequate yearly progress if the number of failing students decreases by at least 10 percent each year.

Standards increase over time, with the goal of all students being proficient by 2014.

Of 128 districts statewide, 33 met progress standards this year, compared with 64 the previous year.

State officials attribute the drop to tougher standards and a new version of the main assessment tool, the Idaho Standards Achievement Test.

Now, educators are looking at how to adjust curriculum and teaching methods.

“It was a tougher test,” said Mark Browning, spokesman for the state Board of Education. “In years past, we had a test that was not completely aligned to our standards, but we do this year.”

The scores needed to pass the tests were higher this year as well. But schools will have a chance to catch up: The standards won’t increase again until the 2008-09 school year.

“Many districts had not adjusted their curriculum to the standards yet,” Browning said. “It’s key to watch next year to see how many districts really are able to react and change their approaches.”

The Lakeland School District held a two-day meeting last week to discuss changes to the elementary school language curriculum. Like most districts, Lakeland saw its students’ language scores drop on the new version of the ISAT, and it showed in the district’s yearly results.

Three of the five Lakeland schools failing standards this year – Garwood Elementary and Lakeland and Timberlake junior high schools – missed meeting standard only because of the low ISAT language scores.

“Based on what I understand right now, like it or not, this is what the tests are going to be and this is what our students need to do,” said Ron Schmidt, assistant superintendent of the Lakeland School District. “So we’re going to respond accordingly.”

The state won’t try to get a pass on the standards from the federal government, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna wrote in his weekly newsletter for the Idaho Department of Education.

“While the Spring 2007 ISAT scores have caused some alarm, I am confident that we as a state can rise to meet the challenges before us – just like we have done in the past,” he wrote.

The Education Department budget includes $5 million to help districts tutor students struggling with the ISAT.

Keane, the Post Falls superintendent, said the missed standards are “absolutely not” the fault of teachers or students. Missed language standards – nothing else – kept Ponderosa, Seltice and Prairie View elementary schools from making the annual standards.

“I totally think our teachers are still doing great work; we just need to make some adjustments,” Keane said.

District administrators will meet with principals Friday.

“We really need to find each individual student and say, ‘What can we do more of or a better job of with that particular student?’ ” Keane said.

In Coeur d’Alene, reading and math scores for disabled and low-income students resulted in many schools falling short.

Six of 10 Coeur d’Alene elementary schools met standards. Atlas Elementary missed in language and reading, and in math skills for disabled students. Bryan and Hayden Meadows elementaries missed language standards and reading standards for low-income students.

Both high schools and all three middle schools fell short, too. But only Lakes Middle School missed language score targets.

Low-income students at Coeur d’Alene High School missed reading and math standards, and the graduation rate dropped from about 84 percent in 2005 to about 83 percent in 2006. To make “adequate yearly progress,” a high school’s graduation rate must increase, or be above 90 percent.

Post Falls High School missed the graduation target, too, dropping from about 88 percent to about 87 percent.

Lake City met the graduation requirement but missed targets in reading and math for low-income students.

Coeur d’Alene district officials did not return phone calls seeking comment.