Three Spokane schools miss mark

Spokane Public Schools is notifying parents of every student at three schools that the district will bus their kids elsewhere because special education students haven’t made enough progress in reading.

Other districts in the region may be in the same position if they have schools that haven’t met state standards and – like those affected in Spokane – receive federal Title I money for serving poor neighborhoods.

The consequences become more dire for the Title I schools that continuously fail to meet “adequate yearly progress” – educators use the acronym AYP – over a period of years. In extreme cases, federal authorities could order the replacement of school staff, something that’s happened in some Washington schools, though state officials on Thursday couldn’t say exactly how many.

Although the list hasn’t been made public, districts earlier this month were told by the state which of their schools – Title I and otherwise – fell short of standards in any of 37 AYP categories tracked under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Those categories include unexcused absences, graduation rates and performance on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. Each school is measured for its entire student body, as well as in subgroups like special education students and minority populations.

Audubon and Arlington elementaries and Garry Middle School met the AYP standards in 36 categories last school year or had too few students in any given category to be counted. But too many of their special education students fell short in the reading portion of the WASL, the state’s standardized test, district officials said Thursday.

Spokane families long have had the option of asking that their children attend schools outside their own neighborhood, and those requests were granted if there was room in the school. But the parents had to provide their own transportation.

Now, the district must give students at the three schools the option of being bused to a neighboring school, at district expense.

The district mailed letters this week telling Garry parents that they can ask to have their kids bused to Shaw Middle School. Students at Arlington, which like Garry is in the northeast corner of the district, could be bused to neighboring Whitman or Regal elementaries. Those at Audubon, in the West Central neighborhood, could choose Garfield or Holmes.

All of the alternatives are also Title I schools, meaning they receive federal funding because a high percentage of students come from families with incomes low enough to qualify for subsidized lunches. But they’re all meeting AYP standards.

The district has no way of knowing how many parents will choose to move their kids. Nationwide, such letters have prompted about 2 percent of students to change schools, said Tracy Williams, district director of special programs.

“We think our families like our neighborhood schools; they like walking to school and knowing their principals,” she said.

Last year, nearly 300 schools statewide made the list of those failing to meet one or more categories of AYP, including more than 100 Title I schools. Among the districts with the most Title I schools on that list were Pasco (11 schools), Seattle (nine), Tacoma (eight) and Renton (three).

The statewide list will be longer this year, according to Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson. That’s because the standards are being ratcheted up as the state works toward the federal mandate of 100 percent achievement by students in all categories by 2014.

Instead of expecting 47 percent of third- through fifth-graders to pass the math portion of the WASL, for instance, the state now requires nearly 65 percent success among each category in each school. In 2011, that will jump to 82 percent, the last step before the expectation of full success three years later.

And while a category of students could previously be exempted if it numbered fewer than 40 students at any given school, that number this year dropped to 30.

The standards are especially tough on special-education students and immigrants still learning English. They take the same tests as everyone else, though schools can offer some accommodations – special education students have the option of taking the test verbally, for instance.

And urban districts like Spokane tend to have larger special education populations than suburban and rural districts, because medical services are concentrated in cities, noted Spokane district spokeswoman Terren Roloff.

Many educators have said it’s unfair to punish schools for poor performance in one or two categories.

While she supports No Child Left Behind, “the law has gone too far,” Bergeson said in a statement. “The help it was supposed to deliver to the disenfranchised students in this system has ended up hurting them more.”

Saying they want to give school districts plenty of time to check for errors, Bergeson’s office is waiting until next week to release this year’s list of schools that have failed to meet standards for two or more consecutive years.

Spokane Public Schools said they revealed which Spokane Title I schools are on the list because the letter is already in the mail to parents, who must notify the district by Tuesday if they want their child moved to another school.

In addition to Audubon, Arlington and Garry, there was one other Title I school on Spokane’s list: Bancroft Alternative School, which failed because too few students graduated on time. Bancroft students will be given the option of participating in supplemental classes, online and through other sources.

Other schools in the Spokane district may also be on the list when it’s released next week, but no other Title I schools, Roloff said. North Central High School and Glover Middle School were among those on last year’s list, but neither is a Title I school.

A spokeswoman for Central Valley, Spokane County’s second-largest school district, said Thursday that the district has no Title I schools on the list. University High School has made the list in the past, but does not receive federal funding.

West Valley reported that its Contract Based Education program failed to meet math standards and Spokane Valley Transition School failed for its graduation rate. Neither is a Title I school.

Loon Lake Elementary School is a Title I school that made the list last year for unexcused absences. It’s not on this year’s list, said superintendent Steven Waunch.