Schools strive to meet federal standards

BOISE, Idaho – More than two-thirds of Idaho’s public schools and half of its state districts surpassed yearly benchmarks in reading, math and other subjects set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Still, 34 schools, spread across 21 of the state’s 123 districts, face tougher sanctions after failing to meet federal standards for the fifth straight year. Of the 46 schools that had fallen short in the past four years, 12 met the targets this year.

Schools that have now underperformed for five years must adopt a so-called “corrective action plan.” That step could make the schools – from Nampa to Blackfoot, often in communities with many poor or immigrant residents – subject to sanctions ranging from curriculum reforms to lengthening the school year to firing teachers or principals.

The plans will be devised by local school districts and monitored by the Idaho Department of Education, which provides yearly reports to the federal government.

The federal guidelines, adopted by each state separately, are a complicated mix of 41 proficiency measures, including test scores and graduation rates. One missed target earns a school a “failing” mark.

In all, 211 of the 620 Idaho public schools measured by standardized test scores in the 2005-06 school year failed to meet at least one of the government’s minimum standards, down from 261 last year.

George Olsen, superintendent of the Plummer-Worley school district in North Idaho, where two of the three schools failed for the fifth year in a row, said the federal standards illuminate single failures, while broad improvements are overlooked.

“There’s nothing in the mandate that says if you continue to move up the ladder, you’re OK,” he said. “You’re not OK because you haven’t met the bar, and that’s a defeating thing for kids and a defeating thing for this community.”