THE POST AND COURIER (CHARLESTON, SC) October 31, 2007

HEADLINE: S.C. Schools Static on Federal Goals

By Diette Courègè and Mindy B. Hagen

South Carolina schools fared about the same as last year in meeting federal goals under the No Child Left Behind law, but educators already are cautioning that next year’s results will drop.

Thirty-seven percent of schools statewide met the law’s requirements, down slightly from 38 percent last year, according to results released Tuesday.

But state Superintendent Jim Rex warned that next year’s results will be significantly lower even if students’ test scores improve dramatically because the achievement goals for elementary and middle school students will jump by more than 50 percent.

Federal law requires schools and districts to separate performance data into categories such as black, white, low-income and disabled students. To make Adequate Yearly Progress, students in each area must score proficient on the state’s standardized tests. If one subgroup fails to make Adequate Yearly Progress, the whole school is counted as failing to make AYP.

None of the state’s 85 school districts made the goal for the second consecutive year. The state as a whole isn’t making the commitment to reform and transform the public school system, Rex said.

“We have a long way to go, but we are doing as well as, and probably better than, many other states even, though the AYP data doesn’t show that,” he said.

Schools and districts that consistently fail to make Adequate Yearly Progress face sanctions. Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton and Dorchester 4 school districts have missed the goal for four years and are in corrective action, which means they must implement improvement plans. Dorchester 2 is a newly identified district because it has missed the goal for two years and must develop or revise an improvement plan.

Three Charleston schools — Brentwood Middle, Burke High and North Charleston High — are among 30 statewide that are required to restructure, the most serious sanction. These schools have missed the goal for six years and must implement restructuring plans.

The Berkeley school district met its targets in 30 of 37 areas, and Assistant Superintendent for Learning Services Mike Turner said those results represent significant progress from last year when the district met targets in 26 of 35 areas.

Turner criticized the rating system for penalizing larger and more diverse schools and said parents and community members should analyze schools’ overall achievement data rather than just AYP results.

Frustration is high at Sedgefield Intermediate, which won a Palmetto Silver Award last year as one of the state’s top schools. Sedgefield missed only one of its 29 targets. Still, Principal Susan Best knows her teachers are discouraged and she blames it on AYP’s all-or-nothing evaluation system.

“Our compliance rate is 97 percent, but we’ll still be listed as a failing school,” Best said. “I don’t believe anyone would say that is fair to us.”

In Charleston, a majority of schools either met the federal targets or missed them by a wide margin. Thirty-eight of the district’s 79 schools made AYP while about one-fifth missed it in more than five areas. Schools Superintendent Nancy McGinley said the results were a mixed bag, but she highlighted Lincoln and Baptist Hill high schools, which are high-poverty, traditionally struggling schools that both made AYP.

Those schools show the goals can be met, but it’s a multi-year process that involves establishing a positive school climate, hiring high-quality teachers and putting in the academic supports that struggling students need, she said.

“There’s no quick fix, and under No Child Left Behind, there’s no place to hide,” she said.

Dorchester District 2 met targets as a district in 30 out of 37 areas and six of its 16 schools made AYP.

Debi Gilliam, the district’s testing director, said Dorchester County’s population boom is causing diverse students to enter the district’s schools and leading to more subgroups that must meet standards in each school. Two schools added the Hispanic subgroup for the first time this year, she said.

“Our size does matter,” she said.

Gilliam said principals already are discussing strategies to meet the needs of different subgroups, which officials hope will lead to improvements in next year’s results.