Jackie Wilson

Last week’s cover story about MEMS’s failure to meet AYP, has compelled me to provide a more complete picture of the complex state and federal accountability issues facing public schools.  MEMS is not a failing school; it is an excellent school, that continues to demonstrate strong student performance. While I’m sure the headline grabbed reader attention, it did not accurately, nor completely, tell the story.

A requirement of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), is Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Vermont uses the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP), as its primary indicator of academic performance, and this data is then used to determine AYP. Not only must schools meet AYP for their population as a whole, they must all also meet AYP in various student population sub-categories – free and reduced lunch, disability, and English language learners. Schools only need to report out on sub-category performance if they have 40 or more students in a sub-category.  Hence, small schools, with sub-category populations under 40, do not need to publicly report out on the progress of these students.  The decision to not hold small schools to the same reporting standard exists to protect the identity of students – I believe this is an appropriate measure. The goal of NCLB is for all students, 100%, to meet “the standards” by the year 2014.

In general, I believe that NCLB, and its focus on student performance, has had a positive impact on Vermont schools.  I also believe that schools should be accountable for the performance of all students.  However, the current system has many flaws and is unrealistic in its expectations.  Here are my concerns:

Test Difficulty & Standard Expectations vary from state to state.  Meeting the standards in Texas, doesn’t translate to meeting the standards in Vermont.  On an annual basis, the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center produces a report on public education in the U.S. called “Quality Counts.”  This year, Vermont ranked 3^rd nationally in academic performance.  This high level of performance as a whole is important to consider when contemplating Vermont public school education.  So what does it mean if a school doesn’t meet AYP in Vermont, but does in Texas – not a whole lot.

The contention that all students will meet the standard is unrealistic. All students can realize growth, but it is impossible for 100% of the students to meet the standard.  Educators know that economic situations, special, medical and emotional needs impact a student’s ability to learn. As a school, we are working hard to develop programming to meet the specific needs of these populations, and we’re seeing many successes, but we still don’t have all the answers.  It is unrealistic to believe that public schools can solve all of society’s ills.  Can we make an impact – absolutely.   Can we have a success rate of 100% - absolutely not. Over the next few years, more and more schools will be deemed “failing” even though their test scores are improving, their standards are high. and students in sub-categories are improving. 

MEMS’s NECAP scores demonstrate that our students continue to perform significantly above the state average. The goal of MEMS’s Strategic Plan is for 85% of our students to  meet the standards by the year 2011.  Currently, 80% of our students meet the standards in reading, 73% in math, and 63% in writing. We were especially pleased with our growth in writing this year – an area of concern for us.  Last year, our students performed at the state average – 49%.  This year, as a result of some very concentrated efforts around writing, we saw a significant performance jump; we expect to see this trend continue. 

Two of our subcategories did not meet the standards this year, thus missing the AYP target. Our children with disabilities failed to make AYP in math and reading.  Our children of poverty didn’t make AYP in math.

MEMS offers some excellent special education programs serving to draw a significant number of tuition students.  We offer the LYNKS program  (an alternative approach to learning), a Life Skills program, and a Social Thinking program.  These programs benefit the students of Manchester, but they also benefit students throughout the BRSU and in neighboring communities. The tuition monies we receive, from non-residents, make funding these alternative programs possible. It is important to realize, that if we didn’t offer this programming, we would fall below the 40+ students required for sub-category reporting.  It is also important to note that most of the these students enter MEMS as 7^th graders, so we only have one year to work with them before they are counted for the accountability requirement.  We believe that offering these opportunities for at-risk students is the right thing to do; hence, we will continue to run the risk of hitting the 40+ threshold.

We do have concerns about the lack of progress for our children of poverty.  This is currently an area of intense focus for us.  We know that rich, early education experiences are vital to long-lasting academic success as a school; we are investigating the possibility of instituting a 4-year-old pre-school program, benefiting all Manchester students.  The research supports spending money on young learners as a means of avoiding costly education interventions at the secondary level.   In addition to investigating early education interventions, next fall we are launching a community-mentoring program for our at-risk learners.  We know that adult relationships and community connections build resiliency in learners.  The issues around poverty, and at-risk students, need to be recognized and embraced by the entire community, not just the public school.

It is important to remember that state and federal testing is just one measure of a school. Our students are frequently recognized for their accomplishments in math, science, writing, spelling, art, athletics, and music. Our students perform extremely well at the secondary level.  MEMS is committed to excellence in education for all types of learners – rich, poor, bright and handicapped. We will continue to strive for equal opportunity, progress, and excellence for all.