Nearly Half of Fayette Schools Fail Fed Standard

Aug. 3–Nearly half of Fayette County schools failed to meet federal standards under the No Child Left Behind act this year as measured through state tests in reading and math.

According to data released yesterday, 23 Fayette schools out of 51 failed to meet those standards, including four of the county’s five high schools. Statewide, 311 schools out of 1,198 did not meet goals under No Child Left Behind.

“Overall we’ve got a lot to do,” Fayette Schools Superintendent Stu Silberman said at a news conference yesterday. Silberman also said that results should not simply be viewed as pass or fail and that 90 percent of Fayette schools met more than 80 percent of their targets.

Last year 15 schools in Fayette County failed to meet federal NCLB standards.

Every three years the goals under NCLB increase. This year reading goals went up roughly six points and math goals went up roughly 10 points in each grade level. That increase could be what tripped up many schools. The federal law measures all schools but its sanctions apply only to those that receive federal aid for needy students, known as Title 1 schools.

This year, 195 Title 1 schools in Kentucky failed to meet their goals. In Fayette County 15 of the 23 schools that failed are Title 1. Of those, seven schools must offer students the choice to transfer to another school.

Last year, eight Fayette schools gave students a chance to transfer under No Child Left Behind; fewer than 400 students responded.

Fayette County boasted some success stories in the new round of numbers. Cardinal Valley Elementary had been a Title 1 school in danger of facing corrective action. But it met its goals last year and again this year, essentially wiping the slate clean.

“It came from lots of hard work from the teachers and students,” said Susie Eads, Cardinal Valley PTA president.

Eads said new school principal Matt Perkins set goals for the students. He engaged students by fulfilling dares if they met those goals. As a result of the students’ perform-ance in reading during the year, Perkins had to kiss a pig, dyed his hair blue and spent a day serving lunches in the cafeteria.

“It was wonderful, they kept the children pumped up about the testing and they all enjoyed it and worked so hard,” said Eads, whose daughter will be entering the fifth grade this month. “We’re going places.”

Winburn Middle did not meet testing goals, but officials there say they are on the way to improvement.

“I’m asking that the parents of Winburn students give us a chance,” said Winburn Principal Tina Stevenson. Stevenson said students were pushed to achieve at higher levels this past year.

“Basically we held them hostage. We told them we know you can do this,” she said. Stevenson said officials will continue to work with students to identify learning barriers.

Of Lexington’s five high schools, only Lafayette met its progress goals. Among the four high schools that didn’t, Bryan Station is the only Title 1 school and therefore is the only one that will have to offer students the option to transfer.

Bryan Station students will be able to transfer to Lafayette.

School district officials sent letters to parents yesterday notifying them of their school choice options. Parents have until Aug. 9 to submit applications for enrollment at a different school.

Silberman said school officials will try to meet testing goals by having teachers and other officials continually check and give feedback to students during testing cycles. Schools also will look at individual students and track strengths and weaknesses.

No schools in Fayette County were given the Tier 4 label, which applies to Title 1 schools that failed to meet NCLB goals five years in a row. If a school is given a Tier 4 label, it must begin planning to do one of five things: Reopen the school as a charter, replace all or most of the school staff, turn management over to a private company, turn the operation of the school over to a state education agency or restructure the school’s administration.

Jefferson County has four schools labeled Tier 4 — Hazelwood Elementary, Okolona Elementary, Southern Leadership Academy Middle and Thomas Jefferson Middle. (Other Tier 4 schools in Kentucky are Fulton County Elementary School and-Inez Middle School in Martin County.)

“We will have a team formed to look at all the options for these four schools,” said Ken Draut, director of planning for Jefferson County Schools. “We will ask the department of education to give us some guidance and then we’ll develop a plan.”

Draut said that so far 250 students have requested transfers there. Thirty-nine schools are offering transfers in Jefferson County.

“Our numbers for the last two years is about a 1 to 2 percent request for transfers,” he said. “So far we haven’t seen high percentages of parent interest in transferring their kids.”

Computer-assisted reporting coordinator Linda J. Johnson contributed to this article.

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