It's one of the lists required as part of the "No Child Left Behind" Act (NCLB) . Whether you agree with NCLB or disagree...it is part of the rules by which schools must play.
This is certainly not a red alert...but it's definitely time to sound some sort of alarm and take some sort of corrective action. Where SPHS "failed" was in the category of "Adequate Yearly Progress", or AYP. The subject area affected was Reading. Recent media reports have indicated that SPHS's first appearance on the list is a result of the reading scores of special education students.
District Administrator Tim Culver is quoted as follows regarding this announcement:
"By no means do I think this is a failing school..."
"It's sad to put the 'F' word on a school when there's a lot more to it than the one test score."
"This is an issue we have to face up to and own."
Culver noted that the high school's overall scores were well above the state's minimum standard and honors are flowing in for the school's jazz bands, academic decathlon team and cheerleading squads.
SP-EYE: Does anyone ever get tired of the re-direction that comes with spin doctoring bad news? Does anyone ever wonder how our students are ever going to face adversity when they see leaders continually focusing away from a problem and highlighting only the good things?
What Culver really said was, "never mind the bad scores...we're working on that. Instead , focus on the successes of the music program, the academic decathlon students, and the cheer team." That philosophy flies in the face of the school board and district's own vision statement which states,
Our Vision: Working together to provide the best education for every student by building a community of learners.
Our #1 priority goal is to "improve reading achievement". Since SPHS has never been on "the list" before, that mean we're not improving....we're falling behind the pace. To simply remark that the failure is due to our special education students is not only insulting, it's borderline discriminatory. Let's not place blame at all. Instead why don't we buck up and make some changes to effect the necessary improvements. All of these kids are OUR kids, and singling out one group or another as the reason for not achieving goals is not unlike blaming and humiliating the child who strikes out at the plate in the 9th inning with the two outs , the bases loaded, and a one-run deficit.
There is no intent here of taking away from any of the students or programs that did meet with success during the year. But we also can't negate a real problem just because we have successes elsewhere.
Finally, we can't just thumb our noses at the NCLB requirements; because they ARE requirements. Certainly, these issues need to be revisited at the national level, but the rules are what they are. Do we want our kids to ignore rules just because they don't like or agree with them? How is THAT attitude affecting student achievement?
Read the Wisconsin State Journal article
Check out the list from the DPI website.
Select 2007-08 for school year and then "Only Districts and Schools that Missed AYP "
Read the news article online
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