BonnerSprings.com

The Bonner Springs-Edwardsville School District is one of 31 in Kansas that didn't make the state's adequate yearly progress benchmarks on state assessments.

The No Child Left Behind Act requires states to determine whether schools and districts are making adequate progress to get all students proficient in reading and mathematics by 2014.

The state AYP benchmark for reading was for 75.6 percent of students in each elementary and middle school to be proficient and 72 percent of students in each high school. The AYP benchmark for math was of 73.4 percent of elementary and middle school students to be proficient and 64.6 percent of high school students. The district's scores have not been released.

Although the district's numbers of children classified as having English for a second language and as special-needs students have not grown, Superintendent Robert Van Maren said, federal law has changed so that the numbers of students in such subgroups are measured across the district and not simply by school.

The change came about because larger school districts had complained they were at a disadvantage with smaller districts by dint of having more students in each of these subgroups, Van Maren said. The NCLB act defines as a subgroup any demographic with 30 or more students in it.

Steve Cook, the principal of Clark Middle School, which is listed individually as a school that didn't make AYP, said, "We got close to a general bogey," but "we had one class of students that didn't quite get there."

Cook said the scores would not result in any new programs but rather "make us pay attention to details" and take steps specific to each student needing help.

Cook and the principals of the other two schools listed as not making AYP - Edwardsville Elementary and Bonner Springs Elementary - were reluctant to name the subgroups that didn't make AYP, which as a result caused their schools to not make the grade.

"We don't want anyone to feel bad because we didn't do well, (because they're) part of a subgroup," said Amy Riebel, Edwardsville principal.

"All of our students work so hard, and all of our teachers work so hard," Riebel said, "to say 'Wow, we didn't hit this mark."

BSE Principal Kim Mitchell echoed Riebel's comments.

"We just did not do a good job meeting the needs of Hispanic students," she said.

Mitchell said she and other district staff had recently attended a meeting in Salina sponsored by the Kansas Department of Education for schools on the "watch list."

"The state does a very good job of providing support for schools struggling," Mitchell said. "We got a lot of good ideas."

As for the effects of not making the AYP list, Mitchell said, "it means for our staff we've got to work harder so we'll be successful in the coming state assessments."

One change Mitchell cited to better prepare students was giving them more time to familiarize themselves with taking practice tests on computers. The assessments given last year, which determined this year's AYP ratings, were given via computer for the first time at the school.

"We kind of dropped the ball," Mitchell said, in making sure "kids were comfortable in that setting."

Riebel also said her staff was working to improve students' scores on state assessments in a number of ways, including having teachers meet at least once a week to confer on students needing help and using materials provided on the state's Department of Education Web sites.

Also, the school will continue to offer after-school tutoring as it did last year.

"We hope to do two to three days a week this year," Riebel said.

Bonner Springs Elementary also offers after-school tutoring three times a week.

Van Maren said he was hopeful the final results of the districts and schools making AYP might change locally.

That's because there's a "safe harbor" provision in the No Child Left Behind Act, which takes into account the how much schools improve and in what areas they improve. The final results are usually known by the end of September, he said.

As for the actual AYP standards, "nationwide, everyone agrees we want progress," Van Maren said, but "if a kid can't speak the language, it's not fair to expect them to learn at the same rate."

Research has shown it takes a new English speaker five to seven years to become fluent, he said, and the standards ought to reflect that fact.

Also, the subgroup standards are not equitable, Van Maren said, because those schools with populations with more ESL and special-needs students will always fare worse than those schools with few or no such students.

"I don't think that's the purpose of the law," Van Maren said, but rather that it should be "for every student to show growth."

That may change before long, he said.

"It looks like the feds are moving toward that model," Van Maren said, and "better understanding that 'one size fits all' is not true."

Comments

1. 

   bonnerdonner (anonymous) says…

   So it is the illegals fault?

   September 23, 2008 at 2:01 p.m.

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2. 

   travelinman (anonymous) says…

   You can bet it's someone else's fault. Most of the teaches I have dealt with in USD 204 have been very good and caring people. Mrs. Mitchell, in my opinion, it top notch. But there are those who just don't get it, those that will always blame the child and not even consider the posibility that it is them that are failing. I would submit that being one of 31 districts across the entire state of Kansas to fail, cries out the fact that this district needs new leadership. It seems very easy to blame certain groups for the districts own issues. It's the Hispanic kids, it's the special needs kids. Well sometimes it's the administration, sometimes it's the teacher that deserves that failing report card.

   September 25, 2008 at 9:08 p.m.

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