Students at 254 schools in Missouri, including 85 local schools, may have the right to transfer this year because of sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind law.
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released on Thursday a preliminary list of schools - including middle schools in the Francis Howell and Rockwood school districts - that will have to offer students the choice of moving to a better performing school. The numbers could change as school officials review their data. Almost immediately, local school leaders launched a flurry of e-mails and phone calls about just who belonged on the list.
The federal law requires every child to score proficient or higher in math and reading by 2014. The law leaves it up to states to define proficiency, and Missouri sets the bar above grade level, which is higher than many states.
To meet yearly progress goals in Missouri this year, at least 20.4 percent of students had to score proficient or advanced in communication arts, and 10.3 percent had to do so in math.
Schools that do not achieve adequate yearly progress for two years may have to offer students a chance to transfer to a better performing school in the district. Schools that continue to fall short of yearly progress goals in subsequent years must go beyond transfers and after-school tutoring to make changes in areas such as staffing, curriculum and management.
The problem with the transfer concept is that other schools often have little room or don't want to enroll lower-performing students.
And what about an accounting system in which top districts such as Clayton, Ladue and Parkway do not make adequate yearly progress, but an unaccredited school district like Wellston does?
State officials explained that Wellston gets credit for improvement, even though student performance there has not reached the level where it needs to be.
At the same time, if just a few students fall short of the annual progress goals in top-performing districts, the whole district can fail.
In these ways, the federal law may be startling, but it is working, said Stephanie Robinson, a principal partner with Education Trust, a group based in Washington.
"The goal of No Child Left Behind was to create schools where all students get taught to high levels," she said. "In the past, schools in the suburbs have been able to mask nonperformance of subgroups through reporting average scores. Now that's no longer acceptable."
Under No Child Left Behind, states are required to measure progress on standardized tests not just for an entire grade, but also for all groups of students, such as minorities, low-income and special needs. If any group fails to make adequate progress, the entire school or district will fall short.
Of the 867 schools in Missouri that did not make adequate yearly progress this year, 29 percent got that designation because of the performance of one subgroup.
But federal sanctions apply only to schools that receive federal Title I money, which is targeted at educating low-income students.
Hazelwood school Superintendent Chris Wright said her district's Kirby Middle and Jamestown Elementary schools should not appear on the state's list of schools that have to offer transfers, because they do not receive federal Title I money.
Likewise, Ferguson-Florissant officials said Berkeley Middle School was not subject to sanctions because the school gets none of that money. But they said Walnut Grove Elementary should be on the school improvement list.
Wright said that because the state may not finalize its lists for two months, and because of uncertainty about space available in schools, she is considering delaying transfers of students within Hazelwood until the second half of the school year. Hazelwood students returned to school on Monday.
About 43 percent of the state's 2,034 schools did not make adequate yearly progress this year in communication arts and math. That's an improvement over last year when about half of the state's schools fell short.
Missouri students showed significant gains this year on state tests in math in grades four and 10, state Education Commissioner D. Kent King said Thursday.
"I'm encouraged and pleased by the math scores," King said. But he added that he would like to see similar improvement in communication arts.
In the St. Louis Public Schools, scores at the elementary level rose significantly, but about half of the district's 94 schools did not meet yearly standards.
There was little immediate reaction from the district, which for the past year has been pushing teachers and staff to increase test scores.
Of the 52 city schools that did not meet standards, 30 appear to have missed the mark for the second year, allowing students to transfer to other schools in the district.
Pattonville Superintendent Hugh Kinney said his district did not make adequate yearly progress in communication arts because students with disabilities fell 1 percent below the goal. The district did not make adequate progress in math because African-American students fell 1 percent below the mark districtwide.
Yet the district's students perform above the state average in both subjects, Kinney said.
Kinney said No Child Left Behind rewards districts that meet a target that in his opinion is not based on research and best practices.
King, Missouri's education commissioner, said he hopes the announcement of schools that fell short does not obscure the good job most schools do to educate most students.
Michael Pons, a policy analyst for the National Education Association in Washington, said the No Child Left Behind law doesn't provide for additional help in areas that parents and teachers have said would make a difference - areas such as parent involvement, nutrition, health care and access to early childhood education, full-day kindergarten and after-school programs.
Timing is everything
Missouri officials released the state test results for districts and schools on the same day as classes started in some schools, and after other schools had already begun.
Missouri's standardized test results took most of the summer to grade because the tests include short written responses and essays, in addition to the quicker-to-grade multiple choice items.
The grading schedule has become more important under the federal No Child Left Behind law. Schools now have several weeks to appeal their scores. Schools that still fall short of achievement goals under the federal law will be required to take certain actions to improve.
Best in their class
Top performing schools on 2004 Missouri Assessment Program
4th grade math
Wm. R. Cappel Elementary (Troy) 273.5
Kennard/Classical Jr. Academy (St. Louis) 262.5
Remington Traditional (Pattonville) 260.0
Pond Elementary (Rockwood) 257.3
Labadie Elementary (Washington) 257.1
Avery Elementary (Webster Groves)256.6
Kennerly Elementary (Lindbergh) 255.9
Walker Elementary (Hazelwood) 252.5
Meramec Elementary (Clayton)252.5
Clark Elementary (Webster Groves)252.3
Grade 11 communications arts
Metro High (St. Louis)250.0
Clayton High209.2
Eureka High (Rockwood) 208.5
Lindbergh High208.3
Lafayette High (Rockwood) 207.4
Francis Howell High206.6
Brentwood High205.9
Ladue Horton Watkins High204.9
Parkway Central High204.8
Marquette High (Rockwood) 202.1
Source: Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Post-Dispatch
Schools needing improvement
Bayless
Bayless Junior High
Crystal City
Crystal City High
Dunklin
Herculaneum High
Elsberry
Ida Cannon Middle
Ferguson-Florissant
Airport Elementary
Berkeley Middle
Central Elementary
Festus
Festus Middle
Francis Howell
Barnwell Middle
Hazelwood
Grannemann Elementary
Jamestown Elementary
Jury Elementary
Keeven Elementary
Kirby Middle
Townsend Elementary
Twillman Elementary
Jennings
Fairview Elementary
Jennings High
Northview Elementary
Meramec Valley
Meramec Valley Middle
Normandy
Bel-Nor Elementary
Jefferson Elementary
Normandy Middle
Washington Elementary
Ritenour
Hoech Middle
Kratz Elementary
Ritenour Middle
Riverview Gardens
Danforth Elementary
East Middle
Gibson Elementary
Highland Elementary
Koch Elementary
Lemasters Elementary
Lewis And Clark
Elementary
Meadows Elementary
R.G. Central Middle
Riverview Gardens High
Rockwood
Lasalle Springs Middle
Morgan Selvidge Middle
Rockwood South Middle
Wildwood Middle
St. Clair
St. Clair Junior High
St. Louis City
Adams Elementary
Ames VPA Elementary
Blewett Middle
Blow Middle
Bunche International
Studies
Busch/Academic-Athletic Academy
Carr Lane VPA Middle
Clark Elementary
Clay Elementary
Cole Elementary
Compton-Drew Middle
Ethel Hedgeman Lyle
Academy
Fanning Middle
Ford-Ford Br. Elementary
Froebel Elementary
Gateway Middle
Gundlach Elementary
Henry Elementary
Herzog Elementary
Humboldt Middle
Langston Middle
Lift For Life Academy
L'Ouverture Middle
Mark Twain Elementary
Mason Elementary
Northwest Middle
Pruitt Military Academy
Shaw VPA
St. Louis Charter
Academies
St. Louis Charter School
Stevens Middle
Stowe Middle
Thurgood Marshall
Academy
Turner Middle and Branch
Webster Middle
Yeatman Middle
Union
Union Middle
University City
Pershing Elementary
Warrenton
Daniel Boone Elementary
Wellston
Bishop Middle
Wentzville
Heritage Intermediate
Wentzville Middle
Wentzville South Middle
Source: Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Reporter Carolyn Bower
E-mail: cbower@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-209-1246
