Seven Hopkins Schools Miss No Child Left Behind Targets

Hopkins added three more schools to the list of facilities that aren't making “adequate yearly progress” under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

, and joined , , and —which were already on the list for missing AYP targets earlier. Alice Smith and L.H. Tanglen both met the standards last year but had to achieve their targets two years in a row to get off AYP status.

“We take these results seriously, but it’s also important to recognize that this is only one of the measures we use to determine student progress,” said Diane Schimelpfenig, the district’s director of teaching and learning. “We do our best. Our work with students, that’s why we get up in the morning.”

In order to avoid being labeled as “in need of improvement” under the No Child Left Behind law, schools must reach certain targets for both the student body as a whole and for all subgroups—including free and reduced lunch, limited English proficiency, special education and racial and ethnic groups.

It is with these subgroups that the schools typically fall short—often by just one or two subgroups. At Glen Lake, for example, only one subgroup in one subject failed to make adequate yearly progress—black students in reading. That was enough to push the school onto the list with others that didn’t meet their targets.

A school district news release noted that three of the schools that didn’t meet AYP targets last year had more subgroups meeting targets this year. The release also noted that four of the nine schools met all or had only one subgroup that failed to make adequate yearly progress.

Schimelpfenig criticized what she termed a “deficit model” that focused on failures instead of the overwhelming majority of students who did make adequate yearly progress.

Still, only two Hopkins schools met all their targets and stayed off the AYP list: and .

Predictable results

The overall results were not surprising even if the details weren’t yet known until now. In mid-September, the state of last spring’s Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, on which adequate yearly progress is determined. Hopkins’ third-, fourth- and fifth-grade math scores all fell behind the state average, although readings scores remained strong.

Those scores also reflected a persistent “achievement gap” between white students and students of color—reflected in the failure of certain subgroups to make adequate yearly progress. While black students failed to meet targets in five categories, white students met targets in every category.

Race was far from the only factor, though. Special education students also missed targets in five areas, while students receiving free or reduced lunch—a common measure of poverty—missed targets in three areas.

Easing No Child Left Behind Mandates

Failure to meet adequate yearly progress targets under No Child Left Behind can carry stiff sanctions. If districts and schools receiving Title I funding fail to meet AYP goals for two or more consecutive years, they are classified as “in need of improvement” and face a battery of potential consequences. Corrective action may include a complete restructuring of the school, the replacement of school staff or the implementation of a new curriculum.

This year, nearly half of the state’s schools failed to make adequate yearly progress, and 34 schools—out of 2,255 total—are in the law’s most serious category.

Educators have long objected to the No Child Left Behind penalties and requirements—saying that it is unrealistic for all students to reach targets and unfair to punish schools whose students struggle the most.

To compound the challenge, the law's scoring system means schools can fail to make adequate yearly progress even if all of their subgroups meet targets. At Alice Smith, for example, all subgroups met their targets but the school failed to make adequate yearly progress for its student population as a whole.

“It’s a confusing message to deliver,” Schimelpfenig said.

This year, Minnesota sought exemptions from certain provisions of the law. AYP reports while the Minnesota Department of Education waited to find out whether the waiver request would be approved. The U.S. Department of Education eventually denied the request but laid out the process for states to apply for a waiver starting in November.

Brenda Cassellius, Minnesota’s education commissioner, has already said the state would apply—a decision Hopkins Public Schools supports.

“Minnesota is directed by state law to release AYP data this year - however we are hopeful that positive changes in how we measure, support, and report school improvement are on the way,” Cassellius said in a news release. “Labeling schools as ‘failures’ or imposing one-size-fits-all mandates is a flawed way to address the unique challenges facing some of our schools.”

Hopkins schools that didn't make adequate yearly progress

Reading (special education),

Math (Hispanic, black, special education, free/reduced lunch)

Reading (special education),

Math (limited English proficiency)

SOURCE: Minnesota Department of Education

*Because of the No Child Left Behind law's scoring system, schools can fail to make adequate yearly progress even if all of their subgroups meet targets—as happened with Alice Smith.