Most schools in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City not meeting federal targets

IOWA CITY - More Iowa schools and school districts are falling short on test participation and math and reading proficiency targets under the No Child Left Behind law, according to the 2014 State Report Card released on Tuesday by the Iowa Department of Education.

Progress is being made on several fronts, though, but the model fails to recognize growth, some say. While No Child Left Behind has positive attributes, such as enhanced metrics, targets such as a new 100 percent proficiency are unrealistic and unfairly label schools as failing, they say.

'While I believe in accountability, No Child Left Behind is a law that has outlived its usefulness as a lever for improving student achievement in our country,” Brad Buck, Iowa Department of Education director, said in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday.

Iowa's performance is based on an annual test called Iowa Assessments, required of grades three through eight and eleven.

Two-thirds of Iowa's schools in the 2013-14 school year missed the required adequate yearly progress for test participation or proficiency in reading and math.

Schools and districts must meet proficiency targets with participation by 95 percent of the student body as whole, and several subgroups, such as based on race, income level and English language learners. If the school falls short in any one category they miss the adequate yearly progress target.

The math and reading proficiency target keeps climbing, and some say it's not realistic. It has climbed from 80 percent in 2011-12 to 100 percent in 2013-14.

'It's not a realistic expectation that 100 percent of all kids will reach proficiency,” said Pam Ehly, a curriculum director for the Iowa City school district.

The standard can be discouraging to teachers who are seeing gains with their students but the schools still receive a negative label for being unable to fulfill unreachable goals, she said.

'For most educators, that's pretty discouraging, you see achievement increases but you didn't hit unreachable targets,” Ehly said.

Some states received a waiver to some aspects of No Child Left Behind, but Iowa was denied a waiver. Buck said Iowa failed to meet the criteria because Iowa doesn't require teacher evaluations be tied to student achievement.

Districts and schools missing math and reading proficiency targets for two consecutive years are labeled 'in need of assistance.”

Cedar Rapids and Iowa City school districts are among 45 of the 345 public school districts, or 13 percent, identified as a district in need of assistance for the 2014-2015 school year, up from 41 districts in 2012-2013, according to the report.

Meanwhile, 16 percent more Iowa schools are in need of assistance than last, according to the report. Of the 1,356 Iowa public schools, 736 or 54.4 percent that provided services to K-12 students made the list, up from 47.2 percent in the 2012-2013 school year.

Cedar Rapids has 23 of 31 schools in need of assistance, and Iowa City has 18 of 25 school in need of assistance.

In Cedar Rapids, the focus is on elementary schools receiving federal funding through Title 1, a program that supports educational initiatives, because the school can face sanctions for not hitting targets.

Sanctions can include having to allow students to transfer to a different school, providing tutoring for low income students as well as developing a corrective action plan or restructuring.

Val Dolezal, executive director of prekindergarten through 8th grade in Cedar Rapids, said additional resources that come with sanctions have helped the district.

A piece of restructuring in Cedar Rapids included hiring outside consultants to help elementary schools turnaround. The model includes weekly classroom observations of teachers and specific kids. The observer offers a formative assessment, recommendations based on data and observations, and next steps for instruction.

'The work is pretty powerful,” Dolezal said. 'The turn around support is making a difference for buildings and teachers. The amount of support is equal to 20 years of support in one year.”

She said four of eight schools were moved from 'in need of assistance” to 'delay,” which is a sign of progress.

Dolezal also said seven elementary schools have seen scores improve for math and 13 have improved in reading. Six school met the adequate yearly progress for reading and three achieved the designation for math.

Still, the law is complex and the labels can be hard to follow.

A school can have 70 or 80 percent proficiency in reading and math and still be labeled in need of assistance, while another school may have a similar score but meet the federal target because it showed adequate progress from the previous year, she said. The number of years a school fails to meet targets are also a factor, she said.

Buck applauds accountability and metric enhancements that have come through the law. He said Congress should reauthorize No Child Left Behind, but law provide more flexibility for school districts to develop their own restructuring plan and have a better system for recognizing progress.