Events Calendar
In This Section
Progress reported at troubled landfill
Akron applies for more stimulus funds
Summit engineer schedules summer road projects
State senate passes second temporary budget
Wadsworth parish unsure how pastor got Legionnaires' disease
Clydesdales to parade into Akron area
Most Read Stories
Barbecue restaurant owner appeals mannequin's cover-up order
Suspect nabbed in child's death
Five years after attack, woman finds her way
Two men hurt in assaults in Kenmore
Hundreds in Canton for Tea Party
Promises look promising for Browns
New York congressman blasts Michael Jackson as 'pervert'
Blogs:
Pets:
Sunburn in canines and felines
The Heldenfiles:
Monday Notebook, New "90210" on DVD
Patrick McManamon:
Some Trevor Ariza tales
Akron Zips:
Opponent outlook: Northern Illinois
Browns Bulletin:
Single-game ticket sales begin July 11
Tribe Matters:
Marte is IL’s Batter of the Week
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth test showed marijuana
Kent State Sports:
Men's Basketball Scheduling update
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Free Agency Update: Frye in View?
All Da King's Men:
The Obligatory Palin Post
Blog of Mass Destruction:
The "Limbaugh Babies"
Akron Law Café:
The Veil and the Burqa – Constitutional to Ban or Restrict?
Varsity Letters:
Solon’s Baldwin could decide soon
See Jane Style:
Picnic Wear
Car Chase:
Where do We Go from Here?
Let's Talk Real Estate:
ID My Bug
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Jennifer inquires about a bus tour to Atlantic City
Sound Check:
Rundgren fans rejoice!: Second night of AWATS at The Civic added
HRLite House:
DDI One of Best Places to Work
Akron Gamer:
Hot link: Best of Nintendo at E3
Schools lagging No Child Left Behind Law levels will be eligible to receive special help from the state
By John Higgins
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Wednesday, Jul 02, 2008
The federal government is cutting Ohio and five other states some slack in how they reach the goals of the No Child Left Behind law.
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced on Tuesday that Ohio, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana and Maryland have been granted some flexibility in distinguishing between schools that are barely missing the mark and those that are way off the mark.
Under the No Child Left Behind law, districts and schools must show a certain level of student achievement each year, called adequate yearly progress, or AYP.
The law aims to have every student reading and doing math at or above grade level by 2014.
Missing this target on state-mandated reading or math tests brings increasing penalties, ranging from having to offer tutoring to losing a type of federal funding.
Currently, Ohio intervenes with extra help based on the number of years a district misses AYP.
Now the state will be able to designate the amount of intervention based on the percentage of students not showing progress — even if it's only the first year of the district not meeting AYP.
''We can designate a district in need of high support right off the bat and get them that support early,'' said Ohio Department of Education spokesman Scott Blake.
Last August, three-fourths of the Akron-Canton area's school districts failed to meet the tough requirement of adequate yearly progress on the state's annual report cards.
Forty-seven area districts missed the federal threshold, up four from the previous year. Of Ohio's more than 600 public school districts, 62.4 percent didn't make AYP — up from 60.6 percent the year before.
Districts must show improvement among all students and several subgroups, such as low-income students and minorities.
Most local districts that missed AYP last year did so because they failed to sufficiently improve the test results among special-education students. Akron, Barberton, Cuyahoga Falls, Brunswick and Streetsboro missed AYP for a fourth year in a row last year and undertook measures to improve.
The state's new flexibility doesn't change how students are measured and it won't trigger any new federal or state money, Blake said. But it will allow the state to identify problems with sophisticated data analysis and intervene sooner.
''A lot of these are tools that are already in place,'' Blake said. ''It's not like we're creating a new program.''
noweb
John Higgins can be reached at 330-996-3792 or jhiggins@thebeaconjournal.com.
The federal government is cutting Ohio and five other states some slack in how they reach the goals of the No Child Left Behind law.
Get the full article here.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
