news release
news release
New Jersey School Boards Association, 413 West State Street, P.O. Box 909, Trenton, NJ 08605-0909
Telephone: (609) 278-5202 ● Fax: (609) 695-0413 ● Web site: www.njsba.org/PI
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Frank Belluscio
(fbelluscio@njsba.org)
Mike Yaple (myaple@njsba.org)
(609) 278-5202
TRENTON, September 17, 2003—The New Jersey School Boards Association, as part of a statewide coalition of education organizations, will lobby Congress for changes to the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The changes would encourage more accurate reporting of academic progress and help public schools to focus on the goals of the federal law, according to the organization’s executive director, Edwina M. Lee.
Lee’s statement followed the state Department of Education’s release today of information that a large number of New Jersey schools did not meet the federal law’s academic progress targets, based on standardized test scores at certain grade levels. If a school’s population as a whole—or any one of a number of subgroups within the school—did not meet these targets in mathematics and language arts literacy, the school will be designated as not making Adequate Yearly Progress.
“New Jersey parents should be aware that the Adequate Yearly Progress reports, as now structured, are only a fragment of the whole picture,” she said. “They do not reflect the actual progress in our schools, the quality of a community’s education program, or the potential of its students.
“NCLB can give us an opportunity to look at the academic progress of students of various subgroups, such as the economically disadvantaged, and assess the effectiveness of programs that are designed to close gaps in achievement. Unfortunately, flaws in the reporting process may distract from that effort.
“The public deserves accountability about school performance, but that information must provide an accurate picture,” she continued. “The reporting process under No Child Left Behind can lead to misperceptions and can cast too many schools in a negative light where they do not belong.”
Lee noted that a large number of schools may be designated as not making adequate progress because of the test scores of children in one of the subgroups.
“It is conceivable that an entire school could be labeled as not making adequate progress if only six students within one of the subgroups did not pass the state test,” she noted.
The subgroups include students with learning disabilities and students of limited English proficiency—children who are placed in specialized programs because of their specific educational needs.
“No Child Left Behind has required schools to give nearly all of these students the same test that is administered to the general school population,” she explained. “It then uses the test results to brand many schools as not making progress. That’s neither fair nor accurate.”
According to Lee, the state’s education community is developing several proposed changes to the law that it will recommend to the state’s Congressional delegation. Changes under consideration address how to best assess special education and limited English proficient students.
“Student mobility is also a factor that can affect Adequate Yearly Progress,” she noted. “Many New Jersey schools have high student turnover, often due to families’ financial problems. These schools do not have sufficient time before the student moves on to another district—nor adequate information about the students education background—to provide the necessary assistance for the student.”
Lee pointed to the proposed NJ-Smart tracking system, which will be implemented partly in response to No Child Left Behind’s requirement to measure statewide graduation rates.
“NJ-Smart will give educators a method to chart the academic progress of students who frequently move across school district lines,” she explained. “It will enable us to address the educational needs of these students, many of whom come from impoverished families. Right now, that’s not always possible.”
According to Lee, NJSBA supports the broad goals of No Child Left Behind:
· Ensuring that all children can read and do computation at grade level;
· Having properly certified teachers in every classroom; and
· Providing safe schools.
“NJSBA will seek changes in the law, rather than its repeal, because No Child Left Behind has the potential to improve education of all children” said Lee.
The New Jersey School Boards Association’s efforts will take place through a statewide group, Leadership for Educational Excellence. This coalition of New Jersey’s major education organizations will present the proposed changes to No Child Left Behind to the state’s Congressional delegation within the next month.