Report: Schools Fail to Make ‘Adequate Yearly Progress’

By JON SWARD

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND

Schools: Class of 2007 largest in school history

The Pojoaque Valley School District received some unwelcome news Friday, when the state Public Education Department released testing results revealing that all four of Pojoaque’s schools had once again failed to make “adequate yearly progress” under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Pablo Roybal Elementary School and Pojoaque Valley High School now carry a “corrective action” designation as a result of their failures to reach annual goals.

Pojoaque Valley Intermediate School and Pojoaque Valley Middle School, meanwhile, are both labeled “restructuring I.”

Both designations require the schools to implement plans for improvement, including offering supplemental programs for qualified students. Schools labeled “restructuring I” must also work with the state to address areas in which students did not meet proficiency levels as determined by standardized tests.

Pojoaque Superintendent Toni Nolan Trujillo said Monday that the district met with officials from the Public Education Department on June 17 to discuss potential restructuring in relation to the test results. But she stressed that the district was determined to “take a balanced approach” to the results, which she said contained indicators of progress in addition to isolating areas where improvement is needed.

In tests that measure reading and math proficiency, schools must show proficiency in a number of student subgroups, which include separate categories for minorities, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students.

If a school fails to show proficiency in any single subgroup, it fails to make adequate yearly progress. Schools also must meet attendance, graduation and testing-participation requirements.

The ultimate goal of the No Child Left Behind Act, introduced by the Bush administration in 2001, is to make all the nation’s students proficient in reading and math by 2014. As a result, proficiency expectations increase every year.

Students with disabilities are one subgroup that has fallen short in proficiency tests. Students in that subgroup at all four of the district’s schools failed to record proficiency in reading or math this year for the third consecutive year.

Trujillo said the district is hiring additional special- education teachers and is also committed to professional development for special-education staff.

The district also has an educational plan for student success, which seeks to improve math and reading proficiency districtwide, partly through continuing professional development for teachers.

The comprehensive testing results also revealed some good news, as all schools tested at or above the proficiency level for all students before results were broken into subgroups.

The district’s efforts to improve American Indian education over the past several years were also reflected in the results. All Native students, with the exception of high-school students, recorded proficient scores in reading and math.

Trujillo pointed to further signs of progress at the high school, which had its largest graduating class in school history this year and had more students enrolled in Advanced Placement courses than ever.

The district, she said, is prepared to deal with the test results but would prefer to see the No Child Left Behind’s pass/fail system revamped.

Despite the test results, she said, all four Pojoaque schools are near capacity, and there are waiting lists for out-of-district transfers at all four schools.

(c) 2007 The Santa Fe New Mexican. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.