ACSD Superintendent Herold details East Elementary School's designation as a School in Need of Assistance

by Brianne Eilers

Parents of students attending East Elementary School in Waukon recently received a letter informing them that East Elementary has been designated as a School in Need of Assistance (SINA), per federal guidelines under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). NCLB requires that schools must assess students annually, and has certain proficiency target goals in place for the schools to meet.
If a school does not meet these proficiency goals for two consecutive years, and if that school also receives Title I Funding, they are then placed on the SINA list. An average of 95% of students must be assessed. At East Elementary, not enough of the students assessed were able to meet proficiency goals set for math, and thus the school has been designated a SINA school due to the math scores.
Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) Superintendent Dave Herold explained that certain provisions of NCLB are not exactly fair when it comes to testing. He noted that each state has different proficiency goals, and in order for scores to count, there must be at least 30 students in a group or sub-group, and if there are less than 30 students in any group, the scores don’t count and they automatically get proficiency. This would especially affect smaller schools.
“Now, if you look at our ACT scores, Iowa usually ranks number one, two or three in the nation,” Herold pointed out, adding that the ACT is a standardized test with the same criteria in every state, taken nationwide. “Our juniors from last year’s test scores were well above,” Herold said. “This is a more accurate measure. We have also met the checkpoints, or exceeded them, for NCLB since 2002, but it is just getting to the point where it is impossible.”
In the next school year, schools will be required to have 100% of the students proficient, and at the August 19 school board meeting, Herold said that many more schools will end up being designated SINA schools as the proficiency rates got up. East Elementary is hardly alone in its SINA designation, as 512 schools (individual school buildings) in Iowa were designated as SINA schools this past school year.
Herold stated that this number is expected to increase dramatically when that report is released concerning schools who are now on the list this year. Herold also noted that the formula used to see if a school has or hasn’t met proficiency goals is confusing, and that schools are not really told in a crystal clear manner what is required to pass for proficiency. “NCLB is not a bad thing, it’s just the way they have gone about doing it. It’s time to re-examine the law,” Herold said.
In the letter sent home to parents, the district is required by law to offer parents and students the opportunity to attend another school within the district that has not been designated a SINA school (in the case of ACSD it would be Waterville Elementary) for the 2013-2014 school year. Transportation would be provided by ACSD. Herold noted that even this provision can be unfair, as some districts simply do not have the option to offer another school center, so they just don’t have to.
East Elementary students and staff are implementing strategies to improve upon the students’ math scores, including implementation of a new math curriculum that aligns with Iowa/Core Assessments. There will also be implementation of a new student learning menu, which will have students and teachers meeting at least once a month to reflect and discuss students’ learning needs and determine what actions need to be taken to meet goals. The elementary staff will also be having professional development/training in math strategies to meet future goals.
Title I funds will be used to make such improvements. Schools receive Title I funding in areas that are considered a poverty area, and the receipt of these funds is based on the amount of free and reduced lunches in a district. This is again another area of some unfairness, according to Herold, because if a school does not receive Title I funding and fails to meet proficiency goals, there are no repercussions for that school.
The district will also be looking to Keystone Area Education Association (AEA) for help, and may possibly be hiring additional staff to help with math. Herold said that staff and administration had seen something like this coming, and in order to be proactive, they moved up the math series to last year in order to look at new text books. “Tests and norms changed about two years ago,” Herold explained. “For example, fractions have been taught in fourth grade, but they are being tested for them in third grade.” He also noted that after school programming will be helping in the math area as well.
While it may sound a little scary that East Elementary is a School in Need of Assistance on a federal list, Herold stressed that it is still a fully accredited school in complete compliance with State of Iowa regulations. There are no upcoming sanctions against the school, either.
“It’s a good school, we are proud of the school and the staff, but proficiency levels are to a point where it is very difficult to stay off this list.  We are not alone. This frustration with NCLB legislation is something that all schools in Iowa and the nation are experiencing right now,” Herold said.