Oxford Area Schools district officials were not surprised when Lakeville Elementary appeared on the state’s newest No Child Left Behind list of schools needing improvement; however, they are concerned about public reactions.
“This is not new information,” said Superintendent Virginia Brennan-Kyro, “but it is confusing for the parents.”
Brennan-Kyro explained that Lakeville Elementary did make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) this past year and that is why the school was not on the original list. However, the federal government’s No Child Left Behind legislation requires the state to look at the past two year’s scores.
“Two years ago Lakeville did not make AYP on the MEAP (Michigan Educational Assessment Program),” explained Brennan-Kyro.
When the state released the original AYP list of schools needing improvement, organizers only used this past year’s scores. When organizers realized that the federal government requires the list to be based on the past two years, they released a new list.
“They just kind of back-peddled and reported the list with the schools added from two years ago,” Brennan-Kyro said.
The Michigan Department of Education notified 544 schools across the state that they did not meet the criteria of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. As a result, many of the schools are now required to begin implementing assistance measures such as allowing students to transfer to other qualifying schools in the district and providing tutoring.
Many of the same schools will also be facing an even more difficult challenge this year since not only their overall MEAP results will be used, but also the results from sub-categories such as special education or minority groups. According to the No Child Left Behind legislation, these subgroups must make AYP within the whole or the school has not made overall AYP.
A bit of good news for Oxford administrators is that the subgroup scores will not be applicable when considering AYP for Lakeville Elementary.
Curriculum Director Karen Eckert explained that the subgroup scores are only taken into consideration if the school has 30 or more students, all in the fourth grade, in a category. The federal government set this number for two reasons: one, any less than 30 students is not a statistically valuable number, and two, any less than 30 and students could be too easily identified.
“Lakeville does not have 30 students in any subgroup,” Eckert stated.
However, she emphasized that even though those scores may not be important to the state or federal governments, they are important to the district.
“We use that information to see how to make improvements or changes ourselves,” she explained. “We use those scores to see where our students are.”
Superintendent Brennan-Kyro wanted to stress that Oxford district administrators do not rely only on the AYP and MEAP results.
“We are really not waiting to see if we make Adequate Yearly Progress or are put on some list to address any issues at a school,” she said. “We are really making a strong effort to see what resources we need and what improvements we need to make now.”
In fact, changes began at Lakeville Elementary more than two years ago to improve student learning and test results, and the district is beginning to see the results. Oxford schools is always moving forward with new curriculum, new techniques and new learning opportunities for the students, said Brennan-Kyro.
Districts across the state are now patiently waiting for yet a third list to be created after the 2002-2003 MEAP scores are released in early August.