By Kelly Mae Ross
Students, teachers and administrators from Parry McCluer High School in Buena Vista are waiting to receive the results of the standardized tests that their students are taking this week. The tests are used to determine whether schools are meeting state and federal education standards.
Other students in Buena Vista, Rockbridge County and Lexington will take their tests in the spring.
Buena Vista Superintendent Rebecca Gates said she believes that schools have entered the “age of accountability,” marked by standardized testing and rising progress goals for schools.
The federal government intensified its use of standardized testing for accountability after the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also known as No Child Left Behind. Jan. 8 marked the 10th anniversary of the legislation’s signing.
While Lexington has met federal standards every year since they were adopted, the other two area districts have failed to meet the “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) standards for the past several years. Last year, seven of the 11 schools in Rockbridge County and Buena Vista did not meet federal standards.
“Nobody’s where they need to be,” said Gates. “Including myself.”
Rockbridge County School Superintendent John Reynolds said he is not surprised that four of seven schools in his district did not make AYP.
“We would like for [our scores] to be better. We would like to be able to say we made AYP,” Reynolds said. “And it has forced us as school division and a staff here to kind of examine our methodology.”
Administrators and teachers in the Buena Vista and Rockbridge County schools have come up with ways to help struggling students pass the tests.
Parry McCluer High School has set up what Principal Anna Graham calls “built-in interventions” to keep kids in school through senior year. Most of those intervention programs allow students to get extra help with work during the school day rather than after school.
Special block scheduling offered at PMHS is one such “built-in intervention.” The school’s arrangement gives students more flexibility to retake failed classes and still graduate on time.
Another intervention for failing students is an online learning program called Class.com. Class.com is offered at both PMHS and Rockbridge County High School as an option for students who need to take or retake courses required for graduation.
Twenty-seven students are enrolled in the program at RCHS and 28 are using Class.com at PMHS.
“It’s a good option,” says Graham. “[Class.com] in and of itself has saved a whole lot of kids.”
According to Graham, other intervention programs at PMHS include an afterschool tutoring program for students who need help passing SOL tests. There are also programs that allow students to gain job experience and learn firsthand the potential benefits of a high school diploma.
“They see how hard life’s going to be when you have a job,” said Graham. “It kind of helps them stay more focused because they know they need their high school diploma. They see it; they hear it from people that they’re working with.”
But even with these intervention programs, the high schools in Rockbridge County and Buena Vista have not met federal standards for the past two years.
These two schools are not alone. According to the Virginia Department of Education, only 38 percent of Virginia schools met federal learning standards in 2010-2011.
AYP goals have increased steadily each year. For example, in 2001-2002, 60.7 percent of students at a school had to be proficient in reading to meet AYP. In 2010-2011, that number rose to 86 percent.
Reading and math are two of the biggest AYP categories. High school graduation rates are also measured.
Each AYP category is divided into the following subgroups: white, Hispanic, black, students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged students and limited-language-proficient students. The scores of students in each subgroup are averaged. Each subgroup’s average score must meet the federal standard for the entire school to make AYP.
If one subgroup fails one subject by one percentage point, the entire school fails to meet AYP for the year.
AYP standards for math and reading are expected to reach 100 percent in two years, according to the Virginia Department of Education.
Many local teachers and administrators said they believe that 100 percent proficiency is an unrealistic goal.
“You’re not going to get everybody to the same spot,” said Reynolds.
Jennifer Hall, RCHS math teacher and department chair, said she agrees that the goals of No Child Left Behind are unrealistic because they treat all children as the same.
“Everyone has a different pace,” she said. “Some kids learn much quicker and some kids learn slower, and I think the bad thing about No Child Left Behind is it focuses on that middle group.”
But local schools might not actually have to meet that 100 percent standard in two years. The Obama administration announced in August that it would accept state applications for waivers from certain aspects of NCLB.
According to minutes from the Jan. 12 Virginia Board of Education meeting, officials have reviewed a draft of an application for an NCLB wavier.
The federal Department of Education has not yet granted waivers to any states.