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Schools' Report Cards Show Gains More Nebraska Students Are Meeting Goals Set By No Child Left Behind.

Posted on: Saturday, 10 December 2005, 18:00 CST

By Michaela Saunders

More students across Nebraska are making gains in the classroom, according to data released Friday by the State Department of Education.

The federal No Child Left Behind law requires school districts to report student performance based on students' income level, race or ethnicity and whether they are learning English. The law says all students must be proficient in math and reading by the end of the 2013-14 school year.

In Nebraska, more students in each of those categories at the elementary, middle and high school levels showed measurable improvement during the 2004-05 year.

"Things are working. There is improvement," Education Commissioner Doug Christensen said. "However, we're not satisfied, and won't be until all our students are performing at the same high level of academic performance on our reading and mathematics standards."

For example, there was a 30 percentage-point gain in the number of middle school students learning English who earned a "proficient" score on mathematics tests between 2002-03 and 2004-05. The number of black high school students proficient in math increased by nearly 40 percentage-points over the same period.

The smallest increase over the span was a 4.8 percentagepoint increase in the number of white students who are proficient in reading.

Students are tested in reading and math in grades four, eight and 11.

In Nebraska, only schools with at least 30 students in a given identifying category report information for that group. For example, if a school has 30 students learning English and 10 black students, the scores of students learning English would be reported but the scores of the black students would not.

Jef Johnston, an administrator for the Papillion-La Vista Public Schools, said his district has to meet improvement goals in 63 categories every year.

Because special education students did not reach their goals in math, he said, the district and both of its high schools have been placed on a federal watch list.

"We want them to try to do the same kind of work" as other students, Johnston said of the district's special education students. "We're not particularly surprised they scored 20 points below the rest of the group."

Schools and districts that appear on the list for consecutive years are required to let students transfer to schools not on the list or to provide tutoring and other services.

If schools that receive federal funding for low-income students do not improve after several years, they can lose that money and can even be forced to close and reorganize. That has not happened in Nebraska.

To get off the watch list, low-income districts and schools must meet all of their improvement goals for two consecutive years.

The Omaha Public Schools, Ralston Public Schools and the Schuyler Central High School district met their district goals this year but remain on the list because of that requirement.

Four low-income schools -- Chase County High, Schuyler Central High, Lincoln Elementary in Grand Island and Bluffs Middle School in Scottsbluff -- also met their goals this year but remain on the watch list.

One school, Sandoz Elementary in Lexington, did not reach its goals this year and remains on the list.

Statewide, 22 schools that do not receive federal funding for low- income students were placed on the list this year. Nineteen such schools that were on that list last year met their goals and have been removed.

Several districts are reviewing their data internally. At least one believes the state's figures were inaccurate. Peggy Rupprecht, spokeswoman for the Westside Community Schools, said the district believes its middle school should not be on the list of schools needing improvement. The district has been in communication with state officials to resolve the discrepancy.

Nebraska has 145 school districts that must meet all of their target goals every year, because there are at least 30 students in each of the subgroups.

Based on the 2004-05 school year tests, 80 percent of those 145 districts met all of their goals.

There are 514 Nebraska schools required to meet the targets, based on their student populations. Of those, 461, or 89 percent, met all of their goals this year.

Source: Omaha World - Herald

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