No Child Left Behind report shows increased test performance

The percentages of students proficient last school year on the Iowa Assessments ticked up slightly in most categories, a new report says.

Despite that, more Iowa schools and districts were deemed 'in need of assistance” under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

The Iowa Department of Education on Thursday published its state report on No Child Left Behind, which was designed to ensure students reach certain education benchmarks.

Top state education leaders said they believe the reporting process under that law is faulty.

Iowa schools were expected, under the law, to have 100 percent of students proficient in reading and math last school year. School administrators have said that target is unrealistic.

Between 75 percent and 85 percent of fourth-, eighth- and 11th-grade students statewide were proficient in reading and math last school year, according to the report. Proficiency rates in most cases increased slightly compared with the 2013-14 school year.

But the increases weren't fast enough, according to the No Child Left Behind benchmarks, said Val Dolezal, the Cedar Rapids Community School District's executive director of prekindergarten through eighth grade.

'We're moving in the right direction, but it's not at the trajectory rate that was set in this law,” Dolezal said.

Department director Ryan Wise, in a conference call with reporters, criticized the law's evaluation and remediation processes.

'Today's report is based on a law that is fundamentally flawed, a law that does not drive improvement in schools,” Wise said.

During the 2014-2015 school year, more than 4 out of every 5 Iowa schools failed to meet the federal benchmarks.

'Do we really feel that 82 percent of Iowa schools are failing?” asked Jay Pennington, chief of the department's Bureau of Information and Analysis. The report 'does not tell you the whole picture of performance of Iowa schools and districts. It simply tells you whether a school or district has met a proficiency benchmark each year.”

The federal government is attempting to restructure and renew the No Child Left Behind law. Wise said he hopes for a revamped law that provides states with more authority.

The federal report concluded 874 of Iowa's 1,336 public schools - 65.4 percent - are in need of assistance after not meeting benchmarks in consecutive years. That is an increase of 11 percent over the previous school year.

The report also identified 50 of 338 school districts - 14.8 percent - as in need of assistance, an increase of roughly 2 percent.

Some schools with such designations face sanctions, which can require districts to change instructional materials, close the schools, reassign staff members or offer more support. Schools receive federal funding to implement the sanctions.

In the Cedar Rapids district, all schools now have some sort of 'in need of assistance” designation. For some of those schools, the district has implemented a turnaround program based on increased data monitoring and feedback for teachers.

Some figures in the report are cause for concern, Pennington said.

He noted as an example the fact that 77 percent of Iowa's third-grade students are proficient readers.

'But that means 23 percent of students are still not meeting that basic reading level,” Pennington said.

He also noted data that showed only roughly half of black students are proficient in math and reading. Pennington called those figures 'alarming” and 'not acceptable.”

'We should not stop focusing on closing the achievement gap,” he said.