St. Louis Post-Dispatch October 20, 2008

HEADLINE: No School Left Behind

By Valerie Schremp Hahn

The grimly worded letter, delivered to Pat and Sarah McDermott in Ballwin, didn't seem to reflect reality.

Ballwin Elementary School, in the Rockwood School District, did not do as well as the federal government would like in Missouri's state testing, the letter said. So they had to tell all parents they could transfer their child to another school at the district's expense if they'd like.

Poor performance? Transfer your child? Here, in one of the state's top school districts?

This letter is one of thousands mailed this fall not only to neighborhoods where public schools have failed for generations but - increasingly - to homes such as the McDermotts', where parents have long taken pride in the fact that their schools outperform state averages.

Due to the details of the federal No Child Left Behind law, some of the best area schools - ones that out-tested 90 percent of the state - had to send such letters.

Almost half the area's 500-plus schools were reprimanded under the law. Yet, according to a Post-Dispatch analysis, nearly 100 of those schools scored above the state average on the yearly tests.

No area district was entirely spared. Federal reprimands fell on those long considered among the best - Clayton, Parkway, Rockwood, Lindbergh, Ladue.

The issue isn't that the schools are scoring low - it's whether a broad enough range of students are improving their performance fast enough for federal standards.

When the law went into effect in 2002, it spelled out goals for students to pass state exams. Initially, only a small fraction had to do well. By 2014, all are supposed to pass the tests.

It didn't take long for struggling schools to fail to measure up. But as the annual benchmarks for test scores get higher, the tide has washed out to suburban districts, many of which boast above-average scores that improve year after year.

In the case of Ballwin Elementary, the composite score on state exams is higher than the state average. Even so, certain groups of students didn't perform high enough for federal requirements.

That doesn't bother the McDermotts, whose two daughters enjoy school and do well there. "If your child is loving to learn, that's the most important thing," said Sarah McDermott. "Not to meet a criteria from the federal government."

They are happy with their school and no letter or law will change that. And the McDermotts aren't alone.

Across the nation, parents have rarely exercised their right to transfer from schools not meeting federal standards. Only about 1.2 percent of 5.4 million eligible children nationwide take advantage of the offer to transfer.

Ballwin Elementary was the first Rockwood elementary school to send a letter to parents for not making improvement targets. Three families took the district up on the offer to transfer schools. But 10 other district families, including the McDermotts, are choosing to keep their children at Ballwin.

That inaction, some say, threatens to undermine the purpose of the federal law, which envisioned parents voting with their feet as schools scrambled to improve performance and hang on to students.

Still, if No Child Left Behind doesn't threaten the very structure of a suburban school, it may shake its image.

"We're really running the risk of doing some serious if not irreparable damage to some public schools across the area," said Brent Underwood, superintendent of Webster Groves schools. Avery Elementary, which was named a state Gold Star School last year and boasts some of the state's highest test scores, this year did not meet expectations for the first time.

Just the idea of being on a "school improvement" list - even one that every other district in St. Louis County is on - is enough to get schools to buckle down and work harder with students, administrators say.

"We look at every single student, every single week," said Nancy Rathjan, an assistant superintendent at Lindbergh schools. "You know that child falling through the cracks? That just doesn't happen anymore."

NO EXCEPTIONS

At issue is a school's failure to make "adequate yearly progress" - that's how much the government wants schools to improve each year. With each year, the targets for each state's test scores grow more ambitious, requiring more students to pass the tests. In six years, the government wants all students to be proficient in reading and math.

And they mean all students - including those with special needs and those learning English as a second language. If such a group of students doesn't meet the annual progress goals, that means the entire school falls short.

And if one school falls short, the entire district falls short.

"We knew realistically there would be a day this would happen, just like every other school in the country knew this day would be coming," said Charles Penberthy, superintendent of the high-scoring Brentwood schools, which this year didn't meet goals for the first time.

In Illinois, most Metro East schools met progress goals last year. This year, the bar is higher, but scores have not yet been released. The test there isn't considered as rigorous as in Missouri, but a few above-average schools, such as O'Fallon High and Marie Schaefer Elementary in St. Clair County, still did not make progress goals.

Not surprisingly, many schools report few phone calls and questions from concerned parents. The ho-hum reaction could be because schools do a good job of explaining what the sanctions mean. It could also be because parents know test scores are just one measure.

Two years ago, Clayton schools surveyed parents and asked them about eight ways of measuring school district quality. Achieving federal requirements, state test scores, and grade-point averages ranked at the bottom, with teacher quality and graduation rate at the top.

Meanwhile, in many suburban districts, the sanctions mandated by No Child Left Behind don't play out at all. The law targets schools that get federal Title 1 funds meant to help low-income students. If schools in more affluent areas qualify for the funds, the amount may be so small it's easy enough to say "no thanks" to the money.

THE PUSH TO OVERHAUL

Many groups agree No Child Left Behind has improved accountability and student performance. But during this presidential election year, the cry to overhaul the program has grown louder. A federal bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Tarkio, is pending. It would freeze escalating sanctions until Congress can alter the law.

The Cooperating School Districts of Greater St. Louis, a consortium of 65 area public districts, developed a list of suggestions for improving the law. Other local school boards are supporting legislative changes.

In the meantime, top-performing districts aren't abandoning the goals spelled out in the law.

"They can't not accredit all of us in the nation," said Kathy Blackmore, who oversees curriculum and development for Parkway schools. "It's going to cause some different thinking at the national level. We're in good company with districts all around us and we're all working together."