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Local officials say testing is flawed By AMBER FOSSEN Ashland Daily Tidings Schools throughout Oregon failed to meet requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act, but local school officials question the federal assessment program's merits. Juli Di Chiro, Ashland superintendent of schools, says the assessment model is statistically flawed. "I don't want to shy away from accountability or to make sure we're working with all students," Di Chiro said. "I just don't think this model is the right way." Di Chiro raised her concerns despite the success of Ashland schools. The school district was one of a select few that met initial progress requirements. Di Chiro said NCLB's preliminary progress report fails to address some complications. For instance, certain subgroups such as Limited English Proficient and students with disabilities are unable to meet grade level standards. These subgroups could work against districts trying to meet yearly progress goals. "Just by definition, if a student doesn't speak English they're not going to make grade level," Di Chiro said. "To stay in that subgroup, they have to perform below grade level." Schools and districts that do not meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) face no penalties in the first year. However, sanctions begin at the end of the second year for economically disadvantaged or Title I schools, which includes Walker, Helman and Lincoln elementaries, and become increasingly severe for failing to meet AYP. All ASD schools met the standard for AYP. However, Ashland High School's results reflected the school did not meet the 95 percent participation target. Di Chiro says this is nothing more than a clerical error. District officials have until Oct. 15 for data review prior to final designations of AYP on Nov. 7. The NCLB Act, signed into law in January 2002 by President George Bush, requires state schools to meet AYP standards based on student achievement data. Each state defines its grade level goals, which are to be raised yearly until 2014, when it is expected that 100 percent of all students will have met achievement goals. Statewide, Oregon schools must get 40 percent of students in each subgroup - ranging from economically disadvantaged to multi-racial to students with disabilities - to meet state reading benchmarks and 39 percent of students in each subgroup to meet math benchmarks. For the AYP to count, districts must test a minimum 95 percent of students. While Di Chiro said she supports the idea of looking at subgroups of students rather than the student population as a whole, she counters that the assessments would prove more useful if the same group of students were tracked for progress. "To me, a strong statistical model would look at the same students over time," she said. "I would rather see a growth target. Each year, are those students doing better?" Di Chiro, who spent a number of years working in urban school settings, said the assessment system will be difficult for some schools to meet and could further hinder struggling public schools. "You're dealing with conditions that make it very, very challenging," Di Chiro said, later adding, "I know urban schools. This is not a system that will help them grow." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -