Accountability Progress Report puts focus on NCLB, achievement gap summit

California’s 2007 Accountability Progress Report has put even greater emphasis on continuing developments at the state and national levels while underscoring the importance of ongoing efforts at school districts and county offices of education and in classrooms everywhere to boost academic achievement among all students.

California’s 2007 Accountability Progress Report has put even greater emphasis on continuing developments at the state and national levels while underscoring the importance of ongoing efforts at school districts and county offices of education and in classrooms everywhere to boost academic achievement among all students.

“California has a tradition of very high education standards and accountability,” said CSBA Executive Director Scott P. Plotkin. “Educators and governance teams working at the local level have shown enormous dedication in working to meet those standards. It’s crucial that we continue to adhere to those goals while we also strive to ensure that the measurements of our progress toward those goals are realistic, reliable and effective.”

In releasing the 2007 APR Aug. 31, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell pointed out that tougher reporting requirements at the state level and ever-tighter standards at the federal level factored into the results. California’s Department of Education calculates the APR from the state’s own Academic Performance Index and two key benchmarks tied to the federal No Child Left Behind Act: 1) adequate yearly progress by all student subgroups toward state-determined proficiency levels in reading and math, and 2) schools, districts and county offices determined to be in need of Program Improvement because they missed proficiency targets for two consecutive years.

Gains were recorded in some areas, but other trends were flat or even downward. The median school API score, for example, rose from 745 in 2006 to 751 this year. Sixty-six percent of schools met AYP requirements, unchanged from last year, but the rate of districts and county offices making AYP fell from 64 percent in 2006 to 53 percent in 2007, the report indicates.

Proficiency pressures mount

The increase in median school APIs came despite stricter requirements for student subgroups representing racial and ethnic categories along with English learners, students with disabilities with those from low-income families. For the first time this year, each of the 10 subgroups was required to post a 5-point or 5 percent gain in API; while all subgroups showed growth, the number and percentage of schools meeting the newer subgroup targets declined.

“It is important that we not lose sight of the significant gains that our students and our schools have made, nor should we misinterpret these current data as a decline in overall student or school performance. These results reflect significant achievement gains by our lowest-performing students, and significant gains by African American, Hispanic, and English learner subgroups,” O’Connell said.

“However, it is clear that we will need to redouble our efforts if we are to attain our goal to prepare all students for success in the rapidly changing global economy. We should also use this data to bolster our efforts to address the achievement gap that exists between students who are African American or Latino and their peers who are white or Asian.”

O’Connell, who pushed for the stiffer requirements to focus greater attention on narrowing the gaps in academic achievement between groups, will host an Achievement Gap Summit in Sacramento Nov. 13-14.

NCLB drives much of the state’s accountability report. The federal law’s measurement of adequate yearly progress requires increasing percentages of all students each year to advance toward state-determined levels of proficiency in reading and math, so that all students are rated proficient by 2014.

CSBA is among a broad range of groups that are pushing for fundamental changes to the law, which in effect penalizes California and other states that have the highest academic standards. NCLB expires this year, but U.S. Rep. George Miller, a California Democrat who co-sponsored the 2001 legislation and chairs the House Education and Labor Committee, began hearings on reauthorization in September. The legislative process presents important opportunities for urgently needed change. NCLB currently requires all schools and local education agencies to make “adequate yearly progress” toward bringing every student to proficiency in math and English by 2014.

More districts and county offices in PI

As O’Connell noted in releasing the APR, schools, districts and county offices that receive federal Title I funds and do not make proficiency targets for two consecutive years are subject to Program Improvement status, which entails increasing levels of mandatory corrective action.

“Thirty-six more districts were identified as ‘in need of improvement,’ bringing the total number of Program Improvement districts to 192—over 18 percent of our membership,” pointed out Dan Walden, director of CSBA’s Single District Governance Services. Just two districts exited from PI.

“CSBA offers assistance to governance teams to help them understand the requirements their districts face when designated as PI, and we have consulting services to help focus district priorities and resources where the need is greatest,” Walden added. “A good starting point is for county school boards associations or county offices to arrange for a short regional ‘awareness’ program so that boards are clear on the requirements and their role in helping their districts succeed.”