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New Year Boosts Standards for District 62 Teachers, Students

Posted on: Wednesday, 17 August 2005, 21:00 CDT

With a new school year on the horizon, Superintendent Jane Westerhold decided to give the District 62 school board a refresher course in the No Child Left Behind Act.

In her presentation at Monday's board meeting, Westerhold outlined recent changes to the law that could have serious ramifications for teachers and administrators across the state.

The 2002 law was designed to ensure that all students meet certain standards of education in their states. Progress is measured through standardized testing, and goals were set at the law's inception.

In Illinois, 100 percent of a school's students must meet or exceed Illinois Learning Standards by the end of the 2013-14 school year or the school could lose its federal education funding.

The number of students being tested will increase significantly in 2006, Westerhold said, with third- through eighth-graders taking the Illinois Standards Achievement Test in reading and mathematics.

The scores are measured for demographic subgroups, such as race, gender, economic status and disability. To maintain federal funding, schools must show "Adequate Yearly Progress" as a whole and within each subgroup.

In 2006, the progress standard will increase from 47.5 percent to 55 percent, meaning students and subgroups will need to show increased improvement. With more students being tested, this could be difficult to achieve, Westerhold said.

Another important change relates to the law's endorsement of a teacher as "highly qualified."

By the 2005-2006 school year, all schools are required to employ "highly qualified" teachers in every core academic subject.

Since teachers can be certified by the state of Illinois without being considered "highly qualified" under the act, even veteran educators might not satisfy this requirement. Westerhold predicted "wiggle room" that will allow teachers to take the necessary classes to gain federal recognition, but board members agreed compliance with this aspect of the law could cause a major headache for the district.

"This is an annoyance," said board member Paul Piszkiewicz. "We'd be forced to move teachers around because of paperwork rather than doing what we have been doing, which is putting them where they do the most good."

Westerhold said the state has not issued a timetable for when "highly qualified" teachers need to be in place, but stressed the importance of complying with requirements.

"It won't happen tomorrow and we won't be changing our staff tomorrow," she said. "But we want to be in compliance because otherwise we won't get our federal funding and we can't afford that."

Source: Daily Herald; Arlington Heights, Ill.

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