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DEL.ICIO.USSchool Transfers Under NCLB
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thanks, all, for indulging my bee mania. Now back to No Child Left Behind. A school board member in a metro district poses this question:
“If your school is labeled a non-performing school - because of attendance or special education, is it better to let the school continue at that level (even with state intervention) or allow it to be a “good school” and receive any and all students who want to transfer under NCLB?”
Under No Child Left Behind, schools deemed “Needs Improvement” must offer students the option of transferring to a better school. But sometimes the schools offered as the transfer option aren’t regarded in the community as any better than the school that “Needs Improvement,” and sometimes a highly regarded school will miss a target such as attendance or special education.
I think what the board member is getting at is should a school be excused from accepting transfers under NCLB if it falls short in a sub-category such as special education?
Comments
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By Another Teacher
June 3, 2005 01:52 PM | Link to this
Wow - tough question…the transfer policy is not as simple as it may first seem (your child’s school not doing well? Put them here instead…).
I saw or heard about several different scenarios:
Although another school was offered, transportation was not - essentially negating the offer for some parents. Some offered schools were considered too far away for parents even with transportation.
Schools that made AYP were actually in danger of being overcrowded if everyone who could’ve taken advantage of the switch had.
Many schools failed, not because of test scores of the majority of the school, but because of attendance in sub-groups (like Hispanic males - who culturally are sometimes expected to work to help the family instead of attending school).
Some schools that “passed” AYP had similiar results in sub-groups as those that didn’t, but because they had fewer than 40 students (the minimum required to count), those results were not factored in.
NCLB in general and the way it’s being administered in Georgia, in particular, have some kinks to work out.
By Dan
June 3, 2005 02:06 PM | Link to this
Long before NCLB Chicago was allowing students to move to better schools and because of the obvious limitations they used a lottery system. Interestingly enough, a statistical study done by Steven Levitt concluded that two students with equivelent backgrounds history grades etc., one goes to the school of their choice ie a better performing school, the other because he/she didn’t win the lottery stays in the under performing school. Tracking the performance of both students showed no material differnence in their accoumplishments, suggesting that the school is not as important as the desire to improve oneself.
By Sciteacher
June 3, 2005 03:50 PM | Link to this
The state must revisit some of their AYP criteria. As another teacher, my school missed AYP by 2 students not being there for the 1st testing of math. The State (and on lookers) skipped over a 3 point gain in science scores, 6 point gain in math scores and 12 points in social studies.
These secondary factors should be eliminated from the equation for transfer.
Attendance is not always within the control of a school. Let’s start fining parents for excessive absences.
By Another Teacher
June 3, 2005 04:37 PM | Link to this
I also forgot to mention another issue - if you are displeased with the district, and not just the school, being offered another school in the same district may not solve the problem, either.
By Lisa
June 6, 2005 09:06 AM | Link to this
During the last school year, my school system really cracked down on absenteeism in order to meet AYP. Parents were called whenever students were absent, notes were pursued, certfied letters sent after five missed days, names turned over to social workers after ten missed days, etc. After 20 unexcused days, parents had to appear before the judge, and some were jailed several consecutive week-ends. Attendance improved, then flu season hit. Parents complained they couldn’t take all their kids to the doctor for an excuse everytime they were sick. I believe my school system works very hard to improve attendance, but much of the problem is beyond our control. Our test scores look good, but we’re waiting to see if our school system met all the other criteria to meet AYP.
By abc
June 6, 2005 09:29 AM | Link to this
The most common ploy used by high school students to skip is to have a friend phone the office and impersonate the other kid’s parent, asking to have them checked out; then the 2nd kid does the same thing. Works like a charm. Parents never find out, school is none the wiser. If only they’d insist that the parent report to the office to pick up the child, but nobody does that. I know kids that skipped half the year this way. Their parents didn’t find out until they were expelled for it, after a couple of warning letters of course, but even after that the school didn’t have a better check-out method.