In Fort Smith, 92.68 percent of students tested last spring at Cavanaugh Elementary School showed they were on grade level in literacy, as did 89.43 percent of students in math.
At the city’s Albert Pike Elementary School, 73.73 percent of students made the grade on the state literacy testlast spring, as did 73.39 percent of students in math.
Cavanaugh Elementary School landed on the statewide list of schools needing improvement, while Albert Pike is considered an achieving school.
“The rules have changed,” Fort Smith Superintendent Benny Gooden said. “We take whatever system they give us and try to understand. ... Themore you get into it, the more confusing it gets.”
The Arkansas Department of Education on Monday released the first reports on the academic performance of schools under the state’s new accountability system.
The new system grades schools based on student achievement and growth on state tests, including the benchmark exams for gradesthree through eight and the end-of-course exams for grades nine through 12. High schools also are subject to graduate rates, according to the department.
The system classifies schools as exemplary, achieving, needs improvement, needs improvement “focus” or needs improvement “priority,” according to the department. Schools identifiedas needing improvement missed one or more goals set by the state, though other criteria affected the status of some campuses.
Each school is responsible to meet “annual measurable objectives,” or goals set for each campus and school district, based on state testing results from 2011. Goals are set for the performance andthe growth of all students on a campus and for any group that consists of students with disadvantages, including those with disabilities, those from low-income families and those whose native language is not English.
“They’re unique to each school because each school population is different,” said Phyllis Stewart, spokesman for the department. “You no longer compete with schools in your district or schools across the state.”
Only five schools in the state earned an “exemplary” label for high performance and high progress, according to the department. The only school in Northwest Arkansas in that category is the Haas Hall charter school in Fayetteville.
The four traditional campuses listed by state officials as needing the most attention in Fort Smith met their goals for student performance on state tests last spring and have the potential to exit the state’s school improvement program if they remain on track with this spring’s test results, said Kellie Cohen, Fort Smith director of student achievement and accountability.
Achieving schools met goals for performance set by the state, but missed a goal for growth either for all students or for the group of students with disadvantages. Needs improvement schools are those that did not meet performance, growth or graduation rate goals for all students and the group of studentswith disadvantages.
Campuses such as Cavanaugh should not worry too much about a “needs improvement label,” Cohen said.
The district wants those campuses to concentrate on helping students make progress in their learning and to decrease the numbers of students earning below-grade level scores on state tests.
Priority schools include campuses considered among the lowest 5 percent for student performance on state tests.
Trusty Elementary in Fort Smith is a priority school not because of student performance on the 2012 exams, but because the campus three years ago received a school improvement grant and three years ago was among the lowest 5 percent of schools for student performance, Cohen said.
“They have worked their tails off and have shown great achievement over these past three years, just as we hoped,” Cohen said. “We would say they do nothing different. It is resulting in a great deal of student success.”
After considering the lowest performing schools, state officials also analyzed the campuses for gaps in performance between all students and those with disadvantages, Cohen said. The state identified 10 percent of schools with the greatest gaps as “focus” schools.
One of the “focus” schools in Fort Smith was Harry C. Morrison Elementary School. On its accountability report, the campus met all state goals for student achievement andgrowth in literacy but missed its goals for growth in math.
After years of work, Morrison had exited the state’s school improvement program last year but is once again in the school improvement program with the new accountability system, Cohen said.
Cohen explained that the state compared that campus’s “all students” group not with the average performance of students with disadvantages from that campus, but with students with disadvantages from across the state to arrive at a growth target for the school.
State education officials developed the new accountability system in a proposal to receive some flexibility under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The No Child Left Behind Act aims for 100 percent of students to show they are performing on grade level on exams taken each spring by 2013-14.
However, the U.S. Department of Education has granted waivers from that requirement for 34 states, including Arkansas, and the District of Columbia.
Under No Child Left Behind, the department was responsible for providing close monitoring and assistance for an increasing number of schools, and Gooden said he understands the goals of the new accountability system forArkansas.
“They reduced the number of schools that the state is under obligation to work intensively with,” Gooden said.
The new accountability system directs attention and resources to the most needy schools, he said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 11/20/2012