Few schools keep pace in math, reading goals
Superintendent calls No Child law ‘flawed’
While the state assessment scores are better, what hasn’t improved is the number of schools failing to make adequate yearly progress, as required by the federal No Child Left Behind law. Preliminary figures show 1,388 Washington schools were on that list in 2011, an increase of about 200 schools from 2010.
Of the Spokane-area schools, Mead School District and Spokane Public Schools had the highest percentage of schools meeting this measurement. The two districts had more than 81 percent.
A total of 223 school districts – out of 295 in the state – failed to make adequate yearly progress in 2011.
To make adequate yearly progress, a certain percentage of students in a school or district need to pass the state’s reading and math tests each year. The results are broken down by ethnic group and poverty level and if one category of students fails to meet its goals, the whole school fails.
By 2014, all states are required to have a goal that all students in all schools pass the reading and math tests.
“Under AYP in 2014, a school or district could have 99 percent of its students at proficiency and still be deemed as needing improvement,” said Randy Dorn, state superintendent of public instruction. “This is a highly flawed law.”
Congress has been debating changes in the law for years.