AYP results will determine Pearl Sample's future

This summer, Culpeper County Public School officials will learn whether they’ll need to implement a newly approved restructuring plan this fall at Pearl Sample Elementary.

In April, the Culpeper County School Board approved an alternate governance strategy for the estimated 540-student school just in case it doesn’t meet the required 29 benchmarks based on spring test results for Adequate Yearly Progress. AYP is a government measurement of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which determines how schools across the nation are achieving academically.

As part of the plan, the school division’s alternate governance committee would assist Pearl Sample administrators in the hiring process, placement of teachers, conduct studies to evaluate the use of instructional time, review administrators’ evaluations of staff, determine if more staff is required and verify that staff members have the highly qualified designation, according to Rob Hauman, director of curriculum, instruction and technology for CCPS.

Since Pearl Sample is a Title I school in its fourth year of school improvement under NCLB, school officials were required by law to develop a restructuring plan for year five to improve academic achievement.

However, Pearl Sample isn’t the first school in the country to face these strict sanctions.

According to the Virginia Department of Education, 10 Title I schools in the state are required to implement or continue restructuring or alternate governance plans, while they continue to offer tutoring and choice because they’ve repeatedly missed AYP targets.

The Virginia schools affected are: Jefferson-Houston Elementary in Alexandria; Hoffman-Boston Elementary and Randolph Elementary in Arlington County; Essex Intermediate and Tappahannock Elementary in Essex County; Vernon Johns Junior High, Peabody Middle and J.E.B. Stuart Elementary in Petersburg; Thomas C. Boushall Middle in Richmond; and Sussex Central Middle in Sussex County.

Pearl Sample, however, is one of five schools in the state forced to develop an alternate governance plan while offering transfers, tutoring and continuing to implement corrective action.

The other four schools are: Dogwood Elementary in Fairfax County, L.F. Palmer Elementary in Newport News, Orange Elementary in Orange County and Hurt Park Elementary in Roanoke.

In order to make the yearly goal under NCLB, schools must meet all 29 objectives. Missing one benchmark could result in a school not making AYP and possibly being forced to implement improvement plans.

Since Title I schools receive federal money for programs geared toward helping low-income students, they face tougher penalties when it comes to meeting AYP objectives.

Pearl Sample has nearly 30 classroom teachers, 19 specialists (reading, special education, guidance, art, music, etc.), 31 classified employees (office, teacher’s aides, custodians, etc.)

and two administrators.

VDOE typically release AYP results to school divisions in July and to the public in August.

CCPS officials also submitted a questionnaire to the VDOE in April, providing a detailed restructuring plan for Pearl Sample in case the school doesn’t make AYP this year.

“I have been encouraged by the fact that our VDOE liaison has been impressed with the work at Pearl Sample and the support given by the central office instruction department,” said Superintendent Bobbi Johnson. “It is always good to have a fresh pair of expert eyes validate that we are following best practice.”

Taking action

Joining forces with other public school officials across the nation, the Culpeper County School Board adopted a resolution on June 13 requesting regulatory relief from NCLB, otherwise known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, for the 2011-12 school year and encouraging Congress to “rescind or modify current regulations and alleviate undue pressure on the nation’s schools.”

NCLB, proposed under the George W. Bush administration, requires that all children be 100 percent proficient in reading and math by 2014.

Board member Bob Houck said he recently read an article that stated Arne Duncan, U.S. secretary of education, is talking about making changes to the law.

“I’m not sure if I read it right, but his changes were precisely what we want,” Houck shared with his fellow board members.

The newly adopted resolution requests the Department of Education immediately relieve school divisions from the “constraints of current statutes, keeping schools from being held hostage while Congress moves forward with complete reauthorization…We specifically support suspension of additional sanctions under current AYP requirements, effective for the 2011-12 school year. Schools currently facing sanctions would remain frozen; no new schools would be labeled as ‘In need of improvement’ or subject to new or additional sanctions.”

Johnson said school officials had been unsuccessful in getting Duncan’s attention until now.

Board member Leanne Malulani called NCLB “one of the poorest pieces of legislation to come down the pike.”

“I believe that it’s grossly unfair and extremely detrimental for our schools to have this the way it is with no review of it,” Malulani declared.

Board member Bob Beard added his support for the resolution, too.

“The intention of this law is laudable … but subjecting students to an endless barrage of tests to measure arbitrarily designated targets, which keeps getting revised every year, is not about helping children succeed, it’s about making sure public education is embarrassed, forcing students to reach impossible standards.”

“I have no problem supporting this resolution, I hope that it’ll do some good,” Beard added.

Duncan’s take on NCLB

Expired and up for reauthorization in September 2007, Congress elected to continue NCLB on a yearly basis.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration has promised to offer a NCLB “flexibility” package if Congress refuses to act on reauthorization, according to a June 13 U.S. DOE press release.

“I remain hopeful and confident that Congress will soon take action to strengthen and upgrade the nation’s education law. But while Congress works, state and local school districts are buckling under the law’s goals and mandates,” Duncan said. “Despite our shared sentiment for reform and our long-standing proposal to reshape NCLB, the law remains in place, four years after it was due for reauthorization. Our children get only one shot at an education and they cannot wait any longer for reform. We must fix NCLB, not in Washington time, but in real people time.”

According to a section of the law, the secretary of education has the power to modify certain elements of NCLB.