Lists ranking schools in new categories were announced Monday by the Arkansas Department of Education.
Six Bentonville and 12 Rogers schools were listed as achieving, the second-highest ranking under the new system.
Local schools
See a sortable table of local schools' statuses at nwaonline.com/schoolstatus
The new system can put high achieving schools in an needs improvement category.
“Arkansas has some very high performing schools,” said Tom Kimbrell, Arkansas education commissioner during a web conference Monday. “Their targets are high and they have to stretch themselves.”
Parents should focus on test scores, not a state rating, when evaluating their child’s school, said Gary Ritter, director of education policy at the University of Arkansas.
While it makes sense for districts to have a high goal, small fluctuations after 90 percent are not something to worry about, Ritter said.
“When you’re up that high it's almost a statistical blip,” he said.
While literacy and math scores hit 90 percent overall, Bentonville High School Principal Kim Garrett said subpopulations of English Language Learners and students with disabilities did not meet targets set by the state.
"The fact that our school is in the 90th percentile shows that we have a good curriculum," Garrett said. "It shows we have supports in place. It is just about getting these other subpopulations."
The school has been working on literacy, Garret said.
"Now we need to come back and take that lesson learned and do the same thing in math."
Several Rogers schools landed on the needs improvement list through math scores.
The higher you are the more challenging it is to get to that next level,” said Phil Eickstaedt, Rogers executive director of secondary curriculum and instruction.
Three years ago Rogers started using math techniques that ask students to reason out problems instead of using formulas. As more teachers are trained in the technique it will help learning, Eickstaedt said.
“It's a focus on thinking like a mathematician,” Eickstaedt said.
The top 19 exemplary schools were announced earlier this year, as were the approximately 150 focus and priority schools. Those categories are required by Arkansas’ waiver from No Child Left Behind requirements under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Kimbrell.
At A Glance
Needs Improvement Schools
Schools classified as needs improvement missed one or more state targets, which can include raising test scores from subgroups.
Bentonville
Apple Glen Elementary, literacy
Centerton Gamble Elementary, literacy
Sugar Creek Elementary, literacy
Thomas Jefferson Elementary, math
Mary Mae Jones Elementary, math
R.E. Baker Elementary, literacy, math
Ardis Ann Middle School, math
Old High Middle School, math
Bentonville High School, math
Rogers
Northside Elementary School, math
Tucker Elementary School, math
Westside Elementary School, math
Kirksey Middle School, math
Oakdale Middle School, math
Source: Arkansas Department of Education
Under No Child Left Behind more than 80 percent of the state's schools were listed as in need of improvement, earning them increased state oversight, Kimbrell said. Now state oversight will be directed at focus and priority schools. The old system is gone and meaning of the label has changed, Kimbrell said.
“It means that the school missed a target,” Kimbrell said.
Targets include goals for all students and separate goals for children learning English, enrolled in special education classes or from low income families. No Child Left Behind rules expected every child to test at either proficient or advanced levels by 2014.
Now each school has individualized goals asking them to get halfway to 100 percent from their 2011 tests scores.
“This is better in that it looks at where you start,” Ritter said.
Web Watch
2012 School Status
To see how Benton County schools did, go to nwaonline.com/schoolstatus