The Associated Press State & Local Wire (Wisconsin) June 9, 2009

HEADLINE:  79 Wis. schools ID'd for improvement

By Carrie Antlfinger

Seventy-nine schools and the Milwaukee and Beloit districts failed to make progress in problem areas under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, putting many of the schools on a path of ever-increasing sanctions that ultimately could lead to restructuring.

The individual schools and the Milwaukee and Beloit districts made the list under the more serious ranking of "schools identified for improvement" for failing to make adequate progress in the same category for two consecutive years.

Fifty-eight of those schools receive federal Title I funding and are subject to sanctions under NCLB. Schools that receive that money must make yearly progress toward the government's goal or face punishments that include letting parents transfer their children to better-performing schools in the same district, offering tutoring for students from low-income families and restructuring the way the schools operate.

Overall, 148 Wisconsin schools didn't meet standards set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act for this year, according to the list released Tuesday by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. There are 2,269 public schools in Wisconsin.

Two districts Kenosha and Manitowoc did not meet the standards for this year.

Along with test results, schools are evaluated on graduation rates, test participation rates and attendance. Missing the mark in any category can put a school on the failing list. The district is judged on the collective tests scores.

The number of schools with the more serious ranking was 56 last year, but each year the standards get more strict. The law requires all students to be proficient in math and reading by 2014.

Schools on this year's list have until June 26 to appeal their status.

It is the fifth year in a row for the Milwaukee school district to be on the list and the first for Beloit.

Also, 51 of the 79 individual schools were in Milwaukee Public Schools.

"For us to have 51, yes, we're disappointed in that we have a lot of work to do but it is getting tougher," Milwaukee Public Schools spokeswoman Roseann St. Aubin said.

She noted that MPS already planned to close two schools on the list for academic issues and merge a third with another school. She said eight schools improved this year, meaning one more year of improvement could take them off the list. A message left for Melissa Badger, the spokeswoman at the Beloit School District, was not immediately returned Tuesday.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Elizabeth Burmaster plans to submit a finalized corrective action plan for Milwaukee at a special MPS board meeting June 18.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Gov. Jim Doyle, Burmaster and her soon-to-be successor, Tony Evers, have created a new group called the MPS Innovation and Improvement Council. It is looking at improving MPS, including its long-term financial problems.

Burmaster told the council recently she wants to improve attendance, get parents more involved in their children's education and deal with why some students falter around the eighth and ninth grades.

Jack Jennings, president of the Washington-based Center on Education Policy, said it's common for large school districts in cities with high poverty and large minority populations to not meet goals. He expects the number to grow, as 2014 approaches.

"It's very difficult to succeed under NCLB because you have to meet test targets overall and per each subgroup within a school district and large cities and heavily poor minority school districts have many more subgroups than affluent school districts," he said.

The law, instituted by former Republican President George W. Bush in 2002, may not look the same in 2014, depending whether Democrats and President Barack Obama change it, he said.

Obama has pledged to overhaul the law, but it's unclear how much he would undo.

In a statement, Burmaster said the state will continue to work with national and congressional leaders to promote changes in NCLB to ensure that requirements measure student academic growth and help close the achievement gap.

She also said just because a school misses a standard doesn't necessarily mean it's performing poorly.

"The nature of the NCLB accountability model makes it difficult for some groups of students to meet achievement targets even though they may have made significant gains from the previous year," she said.