COLUMBUS -- Centennial Elementary School in the Columbus Public Schools District failed to reach No Child Left Behind standards for a second year in a row and has been labeled as “needs improvement.”
Schools receive the label after two consecutive years of not meeting standards in the same subject area.
Jane Stavem, executive director of curriculum for CPS, said the school has fallen into that category because English language learners and Hispanic students have not met performance levels.
“Part of the difficulty of that particular area is that it is more of a mobile population. Some of those students come in mid-year and have difficulties in language proficiencies. But we have plans in place to get those scores up,” Stavem said.
English language learners did not meet performance standards for their grade levels in reading and math. Hispanic students did not meet grade proficiency levels in math.
At Lakeview Community Schools, the district received an overall grade of “not met,” which isn’t as severe as “needs improvement.”
The school district did not meet standards in math, and did not reach standards for reading among Hispanic students, free and reduced lunch students and English language learners.
In individual schools, both Platte Center and Shell Creek met standards. But Sunrise Elementary received a “not met” in reading and math, and Lakeview High School received a “not met” in math.
Lakeview Superintendent Paul Calvert said steps have been taken to address the issues.
“There were some things in there that we continue to work on. That is one of the reasons why we started to implement the eighth-grade algebra program. We hope that will bolster (math scores),” he said.
Also, he said, a federally funded program at Sunrise called Reading First is helping to improve reading skills of individual students from year to year.
Sunrise has a large number of mobile students, including those who are learning English. Because of that, Calvert said, they have to play catch up with those students to get them to proficiency levels.
Assessments were given to students in public schools in grades four, eight and 11. A percentage of students in each grade had to reach the proficiency and participation levels to meet set standards.
Since the federal testing began, the proficiency goals have continued to increase. By the 2012-13 school year, it will be expected that 100 percent of all students be proficient at grade level, no matter if they are in special education, are English language learners or have other barriers. Because of that, Stavem said she anticipates more schools will not be meeting standards.
“More and more schools will have not met (proficiencies) because those proficiency levels will be that high,” she said.
Overall, the CPS district did meet standards, but there were areas in certain schools that did not meet proficiency levels.
Emerson and West Park elementary schools, and Columbus High School all had “not met” ratings in some areas, either performance or participation. Stavem said a school can receive a “not met” rating even if it just misses the mark by a percentage point or two.
That is what happened at CHS. The school received “not met” for having 94 percent of SPED students assessed in reading, not the 95 percent that is required.
Stavem said the assessment is an important measuring tool particularly because it is the state and federal accountability piece of the equation but that it isn’t the only measurement looked at.
“We look for growth over time of individual students. Sometimes they might not hit the magic benchmark in some tests, but they might be making progress. What we are looking for is good progress for every student,” she said.
Forty-one Nebraska schools fell short of standards this year and were designated as “needs improvement.” That number is up from 24 last year.
The State of the Schools Report is available at the Nebraska Department of Education Web site at www.nde.state.ne.us.
Steps taken to reach ‘No Child’
By Julie Blum jblum@columbustelegram.com
Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 - 11:44:37 am CST
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mom3sons
Dec 30, 2008 12:00 PM
I just want to say that Centennial has the best teachers and by no way does this reflect of their abilities. My 3 sons have been there since the beginning and I can not say enough good things about Centennial and the teachers there. They have alot of obstacles to overcome with the immigrant population and their education. You are doing a great job guys, keep it up!!Swingset
Dec 30, 2008 2:49 PM
I agree with mom3sons. My two children attend Centennial and we've been very pleased with the teachers there so far.marwie
Dec 30, 2008 3:50 PM
I think it is very sad that one of our schools received such a bad score. The ones that suffer, in my opinion, are the students that already know English and they have to slow down their learning to let those English has second language students keep up or play catch up. We spend how much money teaching this kids just for the majority of them to drop out or move away before they graduate so we will never see the "fruits of our labor"?!BumperSticker
Dec 30, 2008 10:31 PM
I agree that the staff over at Centennial has been great for my kids too. I was suprised at the needs improvement rating, but I can understand that with a higher percentage of students who are coming in lacking skills and who are quite mobile that the school would be falling behind. Marwie--one of my concerns isn't that we won't see the fruits of our labors...but that by helping all of these students become bilingual...we are setting our own children up to be jobless in the future when they will be EXPECTED to be bilingual!
marwie
Dec 31, 2008 7:49 AM
To BumperSticker: I understand the need to be bi-lingual. My own children are being taught Spanish. Back when I was in High School I wasn't offered Spanish- but German!! My point is that a lot of the Hispanic students -the ones that bring the schools rating down do not finish school anyway. Yes they do deserve and need an education- but at whose expense? At the rate of being a target here on this blog- why can't the English as second language students have their own class- so a) they can learn at their own speed without the pressures of trying to play catch up and b) the English speaking students will not have to be slowed down due to having the others on the same level. Another point to think about- if our students went to Mexico, or France, or Italy- would that country make the needed adjustments for OUR STUDENTS to learn their native language. Probably not. I think the Great US of A makes way to many accomodations for the non-English speakers to not have to learn English- so there really is not incentive for them NOT to learn to speak English!!Re Marwie
Dec 31, 2008 9:34 AM
As a teacher of one of these schools mentioned in the article I would like to address your concerns about the English Language Learners. Our classrooms are not "slowed down" to accommodate these students, so the children who are English speakers are not missing anything. The children do have their own class that they attend for part of the day. It is important for these children to be in a regular classroom setting. This forces them to use English which helps them learn the language much quicker. Also most of the ELL students are actually very skilled in speaking English, the problem comes more in the reading aspect of the tests that they must take. The students can get no help in reading the tests. I would also like to thank those parents who have already spoke out in favor of the Centennial teachers. Those of us in this profession are always grateful when the community stands behind us.
FutureMom
Dec 31, 2008 2:12 PM
To Re Marwie:So if the rating is not caused from the ELL students, then what is the reason for the substandard rating?
grandma
Dec 31, 2008 4:09 PM
In the perfect world, I guess No child left behind is utopia. How much time is wasted giving the tests????? How much time is wasted teaching the tests?????And when standards aren't met...money is taken from the schools that most need it.
It is my hope and prayer No child left behind will be abolished before it affects my grandchildren
schoolmom1969
Dec 31, 2008 4:46 PM
The scores are lower because of ELL, SPED and free and reduced lunch scores. But here is how it breaks down:All students take the same test at the same grade (or in high school same class, except ELL they take all their's in 11th grade). The scores are then sent out in grade level per subject matter. Then they are broken down into sub-groups, White, African American, Asian, Pacific Islander, Middle Easterner, Hispanic, ELL, Special Educaiton, Free and Reduced lunch, etc. . . If any of these sub-groups does not meet proficiency then the whole school is labled "not met", or "needs improvement, or "at risk" etc... So according to NCLB these students, in what are concidered to be at risk groups, should be scoring as well as students in non at risk groups, and need to be making the same gains every year.
The biggest problem comes when schools start to do really well (as with Columbus High Schools most recent years' writing scores). You are required each year to make a certain percentage of gains on scores. Once you get to really high percentage of students being labeled "proficient" you have little room for improvment but NCLB still requires it. So even if a school gets to 99% of students proficient, they need to make a certain level of improvements the next year. If they are unable to do that a couple years in a row, they get labeled negatively and eventually money will be pulled. The obvious problem here is that there will not be even a minimal amout of schools (if any) that will ever get 100% of their students scoring at grade level every year (you will never get 100% of regular ed students to do so, let alone throwing in at risk groups in the mix).
The problem also with this testing is it doesn't compare the same students every year. This year's 8th graders may do really well, but next year's 8th graders with the same teachers, curriculum, etc... may not perform as well just because the group is different. So NCLB testing does not show true student growth because they are not comparing the same students year by year.
Another problem for ELL is that these student are ELL because they just came here. There scores will pretty much be the same every year because every year they just got here. If they were proficient in REading and Writing English they would not be ELL becuase their level would not qualify them to be ELL. So, NCLB is asking these students to know more each year than the previous year's group even though they just got here.
It will be a great day when this program as a complete and total overhaul!! The program was built on faulty logic anyway. If you look at their scores they are increasing, gaps are closing, however, give them a different type of test, one that teachers aren't preparing them for and everything goes back to the original gaps and scores (it has been proven that this is true. even GW Bush's education professional that helped design NCLB now says it is a bad program).
To FutureMom
Dec 31, 2008 5:30 PM
No where in my statement did I say that the ELL students were not the cause of the ratings we as a district have received. Because that is the area that we are struggling in. I only wished to help marwie to understand that her child is not missing anything because of the ELL students.rob g
Jan 1, 2009 10:09 AM
No Child left behind has been most effective in larger Middle and High Schools. That is where the true problems are and that is why it was created. Our schools are getting larger and more cosolidated and that only leaves more kids behind and more of a need for standardized tests. Economies of scale does not work in education. We need to get a larger percentage of our tax dollars going directly to our local schools and rely less on Fed and State money. At that point we can decide on a local level what is best for our kids. The larger districts can keep taking all the Fed money they want but also need to realize that with that money comes needed regulations like no child left behind. built in Columubus.rob g
Jan 1, 2009 10:17 AM
A great way to create smaller and more effective classrooms is school vouchers. A brand new parochial high school was built in Norfolk about 5 years ago. With a sensible school voucher program you would see a new school built in Columbus and many other medium size cities as well. That would be a great way to get back some of the high schools that Nebraska has lost in the last 10 years.marwie
Jan 1, 2009 3:16 PM
To: To Futuremom aka re marwie You say you are a teacher. You are telling my that my child was not "missing anything because of the ELL students" How do you know? Did you teach my child? The teachers at the public school we attended were great!! I do not hold anything against these teachers, or any teachers. You all have a very tough job. I am just saying that I personlly felt that my child was better off going to a different school (non-public). I used to have an active part at the school's PTA. How funny is it that we provided a translator at these meetings? Also- all papers that were sent home were in both English and Spanish?? How is that "forcing them to learn English"?Imwithbilly
Jan 2, 2009 9:58 AM
We are not all made equal, some of us just don't get it...not matter how hard you try we will not be. Each one of us has our own brain to which we can think for ourselves. Conforming to meet your standards is impossible so don't even try. There are lots of jobs out there that require less brain power, whose going to work those jobs?Oh Geesh
Jan 2, 2009 10:38 AM
I actually am usually the first to complain about the school system. My children have suffered greatly at the hands of an uninformed and very disrespectful administration in the past. But I have to respond to marwie and her huge distain for our hispanic population. As far as things being sent home in Spanish and English, well, be glad that it is only those two languages. Where I grew up, in AMERICA, there were about 26 languages represented in a classroom of 30! America is a melting pot or a salad bowl or however you would like to visualise it, so get used to it. My concern with the schools and NCLB is that it only addresses average to low kids. What about our gifted and talented population. As kids, people don't want to elevate the gifted, b/c it is not fair to others or b/c they are uninformed or so whatever rediculous reason people come up with (my favorite is social skills problems, do the research, most gifted kids will have them if you elevate them or not). But when you need an operation, do you want an average surgeon or a gifted one? When you get falsly accused of a crime, do you want an average lawyer or a gifted one? What about the inventions that have yet to be invented, do you want American making them or another country that takes hold of and elevates their talent? We take our gifted and talented youngsters in this community and SQUASH their desire to learn and if any child gets slightly elevated (or shall I use the words "encouraged to think beyond the general classroom curriculum"), it is those "bright" children from good families who are organized AND THEY MAY NOT BE THE GIFTED ONES! Bright children are easy to handle in the classroom, gifted children are often disruptive and many professionals can't seem to get this. We need to educate our teachers or countries that do elevate their gifted, like Japan, will soon be unreachable with what they can accomplish, and we will fail as a country! (And marwie, there are many in the hispanic population in our community that fall in the gifted category, too.)
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