More schools meet standards

Several local schools received a “thumbs-up” after the most recent school year in hitting federal academic targets after receiving a “thumbs-down,” the previous year. That’s according to a preliminary report released Monday by the state Department of Education. The final reports come out in October.

Overall, Oregon’s public schools saw a slight increase for 2009-2010 in meeting federal benchmarks relative to the previous school year.

Local schools showing im-provement included three of the Eugene School District’s high schools. Churchill, Sheldon and North Eugene high schools not only fell short of meeting the standards for the 2008-2009 school year, but they have never met the controversial federal guidelines under what used to be known as the No Child Left Behind Act. Not until now, that is.

All three joined South Eugene High School in meeting the “adequate yearly progress,” or AYP, standards for 2009-2010, the report shows.

“I’m positively thrilled with the growth our students are making in our middle schools and high schools,” said Laurie Moses, the Eugene School District’s director of high school services.

Improved scores on the state’s standardized math and English/language arts test by students with disabilities at all three high schools resulted in the overall improved performances at all three high schools.

Although students with disabilities at Churchill, North Eugene and Sheldon again did not meet the required percentages (60 percent in English/language arts and 59 percent in math) in their subgroup, the students showed enough improvement over the previous school year to give their respective schools an overall passing AYP grade under the act’s policy.

There also was good news at Kennedy and Madison middle schools in Eugene, which met the standards under what is now known as the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act this year after failing to meet them in 2008-2009. It was also the first time Madison had ever met them.

However, Monroe Mid-dle School in Eugene did not meet the standards for the third straight year and for the fifth time in the eight years the act has existed, because of inadequate test scores by students with disabilities.

The scores improved from 2008-2009, but not enough to meet the growth target known as “safe harbor” under the act, said Jim Conaghan, coordinator of research and assessment for the Eugene School District.

Overall, 72 percent of the state’s schools made AYP this year, compared with 70 percent last year, according to state Department of Education numbers released Monday.

The vast majority of elementary schools in the state (88.6 percent), including all in the Eugene and Bethel school districts and all but two in the Springfield School District, met the standards. Only Agnes Stewart and Moffitt elementary schools in Springfield did not meet the standards.

Middle and high schools have a tougher time meeting the standards because of their more diverse populations. In fact, only 44.8 percent of Oregon’s middle schools and 49.7 percent of high schools, met the standards this year, although both percentages were improvements statewide over the 2008-2009 school year.

Looking at two years’ worth of data, the state Department of Education rates schools based on whether they hit the math and reading targets on the standardized tests; test participation rates; attendance; and, for high schools, graduation rates.

Progress must be measured and reported by subgroups: students from six racial or ethnic groups, as well as students from low-income families, those with disabilities and those not fluent in English. To make AYP, schools must hit targets in every category, for every subgroup.

To meet the standards, 60 percent of all students in a school must pass the standardized English/language arts, and 59 percent must pass the math test. Those numbers increase for the 2010-2011 school year to 70 percent for both categories. By 2014, the law calls for 100 percent success for all schools in both.

If a school misses the AYP mark two years in a row and receives federal Title I funds, earmarked for schools with high poverty rates, parents must be notified two weeks before school starts and given the option of sending their children to a different school, with the district picking up the transportation cost.

That will be the case once again this year for Springfield Middle School, which receives the funding and has not met the standards three years in a row. Hamlin Middle School in Springfield avoided the fate of notifying parents this year by making AYP.

Creswell Middle School also has not met the standards for three straight years and receives Title I funds. But since there is no other middle school in the district, it does not have to offer transfers. It must notify parents of an improvement plan, however.

All public school students in Oregon take the tests during the school year and have three chances to pass them. Students with disabilities take the same tests as all other students. The tests have always been controversial since established during the presidency of George W. Bush because one subgroup can cause an entire school to receive a “Not Met” score for a school year. Some believe that having more students with disabilities puts certain schools at a disadvantage when it comes to the testing.

South Eugene High School, for example, which has met the standards for all but two years, has a lower number of special education students than the other three Eugene district high schools, Moses said.

Two Bethel School District schools that did not meet the standards last year because of low scores by students with disabilities, Danebo Elementary School and Cascade Middle School, offered students with disabilities “extra doses” of instruction this past school year, said Drew Braun, the district’s director of instruction.

The Eugene School District emphasized access to general education for students with disabilities in middle and high schools this past year, Moses said. For example, at North Eugene High School, students with disabilities are now mixed in with the general population, a practice known as “push in” rather than “pull out,” she said.

“What we find is, if those students are given proper (instruction) they can, in fact, learn much more than we ever thought they could,” Moses said.