South Carolina State October 2, 2008

HEADLINE: S.C. Schools Miss Federal Targets: State's Showing Worst Since No Child Left Behind Passed

By GINA SMITH

Four out of five South Carolina's schools did not meet 2008 targets under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Eighty-two percent of elementary and middle schools failed to meet the federal objective known as "adequate yearly progress" or AYP.

As a result, thousands of students will get the opportunity to transfer to another school.

The reason for the poor showing: the federal government moved up - by more than 50 percent - test score targets for elementary and middle schools.

This year for the first time, nearly 59 percent of the state's third through eighth graders had to score "proficient" on the English portion of the PACT test. That's up from 38 percent last year.

On the math portion of PACT, nearly 58 percent of students had to score proficient, up from nearly 37 percent last year.

"Proficient" means a student is well-prepared to go on to the next grade and is exceeding grade-level standards, according to state education leaders.

State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex predicts parents will be confused because AYP results went down this year while PACT scores improved."While schools are improving (according to PACT scores) they're not improving rapidly enough to keep up with this bar that No Child Left Behind has put in place," Rex explained at a Wednesday news conference.

The AYP bar will continue to rise incrementally with the goal of all students scoring proficient by 2014.

Because of the state's AYP results:

o Seventy elementary and middle schools will allow students to transfer to another school within their districts starting in the next few weeks. Parents will be notified by letter. That's in addition to nearly 190 schools already required to offer transfers.

o Overall, 257 schools are facing sanctions ranging from offering transfers and after-school tutoring to intervention by the state Department of Education to restructure the school.

Rex urged parents to consider the AYP results as just one of several factors when evaluating their children's schools. Report card grades, the quality of a child's teacher and PACT scores should also be taken into account, he said.

AYP has long been criticized by educators around the nation because of its "all or nothing" approach.

Public education critics like South Carolina for Responsible Government say Rex is passing the buck.

"(The state Department of Education) has been working toward this goal since 2001," said Neil Mellen of South Carolinians for Responsible Government.

"They should have been working deliberately toward this goal," he said. "It's incredibly disappointing and frustrating. Trying to chalk it up to an esoteric way that the federal government determines AYP is not an appropriate response."

Others like Phil Clark, president of the state PTA, said the AYP results are proof No Child Left Behind must be reformed.

Specifically, Clark would like to see one standardized test all 50 states use in determining AYP. Currently, each state develops its own test.

"Right now, we're not comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges," he said.

Sen. John Courson, R-Richland and chairman of the Senate's education committee, agreed.

"No Child Left Behind is not a good indicator of the educational accomplishments in this state," he said.