Jan Mitchell, LWV Observer
Absent: Kari Nelson and Paul Hager
Board members expressed appreciation to the Northfield News for its coverage of the recent results of No Child Left Behind testing. This complex issue was well explained.
The Board unanimously approved renewal of the health and dental benefit plans. Tom Stringer noted that the dental plan has improved the family coverage without increasing the rates, and low claims for the health program has meant no increase in costs for the district or the employees this year.
The contract with Benjamin Bus for the next school year was also approved unanimously. Stringer noted that the safety and service Benjamin Bus provides are the “gold standard” of the industry, and that the increased costs for this contract were significantly less than expected.
Superintendent Chris Richardson explained the No Child Left Behind results, which rate the District as not making Adequate Yearly Progress. Problems occurred at the ALC in math, and at the Middle School in the Hispanic, Limited English Proficiency, Special Education, and Free or Reduced Lunch populations. The High School concerns surfaced with Special Education students in reading and math, and Free or Reduced Lunch students in math. Bridgewater had problems with the math results in the Limited English Proficiency group, and Greenvale Park results identified Special Education students not making AYP in reading and math. Sibley made AYP in all categories. The District is working to bring all students up to the standard, but the bar is being raised each year, so more and more districts will be not making AYP. One aspect of the testing is that as few as 20 students in one of the subsets (Special Ed, ELL, ethnic group, etc.) can fail to make the expectations, and there is overlap among these groups. (For instance, one child might be counted both in the Hispanic category and in the Free or Reduced Lunch group.) Bright spots include:
ALC showed improved scores in reading, and improved attendance.
Our results are better than state averages in almost all categories.
MAP tests, which measure individual progress, show our students at every grade level outscored the national averages in reading and math.
NHS seniors have outscored MN averages in reading and math on the ACT for the past 5 years.
Noel Stratmoen, who chaired the meeting in the absence of Kari Nelson, compared the AYP challenge to requiring a baseball team to put its entire roster at bat each inning, and then to find that the expectations get more demanding every year. (You had to be there – he did it well!)
One Comment
Jan:
Thank you for the concise summary of the NCLB test results. Noel Stratmoen’s analogy is accurate. Labeling entire districts for “not making Adequate Yearly Progress” based on low scores of students with special learning/language needs misleads the public and demeans the success of the district as a whole.