High School Keeps ‘High Performing’ Ranking

By STEVE PEOPLES Journal Staff Writer

But because of higher federal standards this year, English scores for a group of high school students in the special education subgroup did not meet the required level.

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PORTSMOUTH – Portsmouth High School has retained its status as “high performing” for another year, but last night’s announcement came with an asterisk.

By missing 1 of the 21 targets outlined by President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act, the school is now listed as “high performing, with caution,” school officials reported at last night’s School Committee meeting.

High school students comprising the special education subgroup failed to attain the necessary test scores in English. The group, consisting of roughly 35 students, passed the math benchmarks.

The test results and corresponding school rankings will be announced today statewide by the Department of Education. High school juniors took the federally mandated tests last spring.

Schools Supt. Susan Lusi said yesterday that she hadn’t seen the scores for all the state’s high schools, but that she had learned there are others that missed the mark in at least one category.

She noted that the federal government raised its standards this year — for the first time since the law took effect three years ago — requiring that schools attain higher test scores to reach the same rankings as last year.

“So this year, my understanding through talking with the state is that a number of high schools missed in at least one target, like we did,” she said. “It’s not that we’re slipping at all, it’s that the expectations have increased. We’ve met those increased expectations in 20 of 21 targets.”

The tests — designed to objectively measure progress at each school in response to the No Child Left Behind Act — are divided into seven subtests: four in English (basic reading, analysis and interpretation, effective writing and writing conventions) and three in math (basic skills, problem solving and concepts).

School rankings for the district’s middle and elementary schools won’t be known until March, as those students completed testing last month.

Lusi said that the high school administration was working to address the failure with the special education group.

“The principal, Mr. (Robert) Littlefield, has already started talking to his faculty about this,” Lusi said. “We have to pay extra attention to curriculum and support for these (special education) students — we have to pay attention to all students — but especially these students.”

As first outlined in the state’s School and District Accountability System, approved by the General Assembly in 1997, schools each year are classified as High Performing, Moderately Performing, or as being In Need of Improvement.

Once a school is identified as High Performing, in subsequent years its label is amended to include High Performing and sustaining, High Performing and improving, or High Performing with caution if it is in its first year of having missed at least one target.

To contact staff writer Steve Peoples, phone (401) 277-7459 or e- mail SPeoples@projo.com