OTTUMWA —
It may have sounded like a simple idea. Tell every school in the nation that 50 percent of their students must pass a proficiency test approved by the federal government. Then raise the percentage every year. Soon, when you demand 100 percent, every child in America will be proficient.
Jason Glass, director of the Iowa Department of Education, said that U.S. government plan is not realistic.
“We expect our schools to meet high standards, but we need an approach that focuses on student growth and progress in addition to proficiency on tests,” Glass said.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Education released their report card on how states did meeting federal No Child Left Behind standards. The program or a waiver are required in order to receive federal funds.
More Iowa schools and districts missed Adequate Yearly Progress targets in reading and mathematics, and districts identified as “in need of assistance” also climbed.
The federal report card for Iowa states more than half — 800 out of 1,381 public schools — missed AYP, annual yearly progress. Unfortunately, even that simple title can be misunderstood, said Ottumwa’s superintendent. The kids tested this year weren’t tested last year. Nor will they be tested next year.
“I think what we have to remember is the assessment we are currently using does not measure year-to-year progress,” said Davis Eidahl. “Iowa [has] proposed monitoring year-to-year progress of each student, not each [class group]. Now that, I think, would be a fair way of evaluating a school’s success.”
Testers can say this year’s eighth-graders did really well on the test. But the way progress is tracked doesn’t make sense, according to Eidahl and the Iowa DOE, because this year’s eighth-graders will be compared next year to students currently in the seventh grade.
Instead, Iowa has asked federal lawmakers to allow the state to test each child and measure their growth.
Requiring 100 percent proficiency also seems unrealistic when considering that children take the test regardless of where they are educationally.
“With the [rigorous] assessment that we use, we have to test every child — whether they [just arrived] from another country and [live] in a home [where no one] speaks English. We have to test students with a diagnosed learning disability who are performing below their peers.”
The requirement for all students to test at a proficient level despite language barriers or medical issues might be a good place to make a change in No Child Left Behind, Eidahl said.
Actually, Glass said he doesn’t feel Iowa should use the program at all as it is currently worded.
“Either re-authorization of No Child Left Behind must become a priority at the federal level, or [we need] a federal waiver from No Child Left Behind, which would allow us to develop a rigorous accountability system that makes sense for our state.”
Glass gave several reasons for the drop in proficiency.
First, a new version of the state assessment that Iowa students took was more challenging, because it was aligned with the Iowa Core standards. Yet even though tougher classes and tests can mean lower grades, he said, Iowa students need relevant education.
“Student achievement will be stronger in the long run as our state assessments evolve to match our standards, which have been raised to better prepare students for the demands of our globally competitive marketplace,” Glass said.
None of those reasons mean the testing is useless, however.
“When we do not do well on the Iowa Test, we do not dismiss it or make excuses,” Eidahl said. “We learn from it. But it’s not the only assessment we use. We have to accept all the data we receive, and what it tells us. Every child can grow, every child can learn at high levels, but every child learns at a different rate.
Local News
September 29, 2012
No Child Left Behind report card released
Officials say law, while well-meaning, wasn’t thought through, making it flawed, unrealistic
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