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More California Schools Headed for Sanctions

Posted on: Wednesday, 21 September 2005, 18:00 CDT

Sep. 21--Hundreds more California schools just tumbled into the No Child Left Behind abyss.

The soaring test scores greeted so deliriously a few short weeks ago are insufficient under federal goals that suddenly ratcheted up this year. According to a report released by state officials Tuesday, 414 more schools -- including 30 in the East Bay -- will enter their first round of federal sanctions this fall.

The latest casualties bring California's total to 1,772 "failed schools" under the much touted, bipartisan reform legislation President Bush signed into law three years ago.

"While these results can be useful as a potential warning sign for our schools," State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said in a prepared statement, "It's important to recognize that many of the schools ... are in fact making good progress in student achievement."

The latest casualties include 13 Oakland schools, five West Contra Costa campuses and 12 others scattered across the East Bay. Brentwood's Edna Hill Middle School, for example, saw scores rise across the board, but the school's disabled students failed to meet academic proficiency goals in English and math. Mt. Diablo's Fair Oaks Elementary saw dramatic but ultimately insufficient improvement among its English language learners.

The bottom line is that scores that would have passed muster last year fell short under new, nearly doubled federal goals. Those goals will continue to ratchet up until 2013-14, when every child in every school must be proficient in English and math, no matter what his disability or level of English fluency.

Although 44 percent of California's schools failed to meet academic goals this year, the only schools subject to sanctions are those that receive federal Title I dollars, a $12.7 billion funding source for education programs for the nation's most disadvantaged students. Nearly a third of California's Title I schools are undergoing sanctions now.

Newly sanctioned schools such as Antioch's Turner Elementary and Mt. Diablo's Bel Air Elementary must offer students guaranteed transfers and free transportation to another school. They must start laying plans to improve their courses of study. And they will face a series of escalating "program improvement" sanctions over the next several years. They will have to offer free tutoring, replace staff and redesign course offerings.

Despite the jump in academic goals this year, more than a hundred "program improvement" schools managed to exit No Child Left Behind's sanctions or gain a reprieve -- some because they ceased operation altogether or stopped receiving Title I funds. But others successfully met academic proficiency requirements two years in a row or improved enough to gain what state officials call "safe harbor."

Ten schools in the West Contra Costa district, which received $10.6 million in Title I money in 2004, appeared to be headed into the final and most drastic stage of sanctions this fall. They faced restructuring as charter schools, wholesale staff replacement or state takeovers.

But three of those schools -- Chavez, Stege and King -- improved so much that they were granted a year's reprieve by the state. Their sanctions remain at the year four level: planning for restructuring.

A fourth school, Richmond's Riverside Elementary, met federal academic goals and will exit "program improvement" altogether if test scores hold steady for another year.

"We're pleased that more of our schools have met the stringent federal standards," said West Contra Costa spokesman Paul Ehara. "But everyone realizes there's much work ahead of us."

Interim superintendent Cynthia LeBlanc will assume direct control of the other six schools. And English and math specialists will be assigned to West Contra's five newest "program improvement" schools.

Reporter Shirley Dang contributed to this story.

SCHOOLS LEFT BEHIND: Thirty East Bay schools, including 13 in Oakland, have just entered their first year of sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind act. They include Antioch's Turner Elementary, Berkeley's Oxford Elementary, Brentwood's Edna Hill Middle School, Mt. Diablo's Bel Air and Fair Oaks elementary schools, Pittsburg's Riverside High, and West Contra Costa's Gompers Continuation School, Montalvin Manor and Lovonya DeJean. These schools must offer students transfers and free transportation to a non-failing school within the district. Nearly a hundred other schools began undergoing sanctions a year or more ago. Visit www.contracostatimes.com for a list of those schools.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.

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Source: Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.)

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