Atomic City Talk

ORHS joins the ranks of 139 other TN schools (some 8%) with a "high priority" AYP status.

http://www.state.tn.us/education/nclb/ay...UG2007.pdf

I've read some of the logic behind why NCLB is unfair. I can't say that I necessarily disagree with it; but, does that mean there's nothing to be concerned about? Afterall, 92% of TN schools made the mark.

We made the list due to missing the mark on graduation rate. Unfortunately, the system used isn't a very accurate reflection of how many students do graduate. In this case, we're on the high priority list because of ONE STUDENT who transferred in (on paper), but never actually attended class before being sent off to a correctional institution.

We appealed the graduation rate finding, but the State hasn't changed it. So, we're charged with a dropout for a student who never actually graced the doorway of any class at ORHS.

Unfortunately, that's a big part of the problem. Students transfer from one school system to another during high school, and it may be difficult to figure out where the blame should really lie... but if they transfer in here, we take the hit on our graduation rate, regardless of how bad off they are when they first get to us.
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That said, we must do a better job, and we've already begun doing some things differently to address known problems. One of those is an online credit recovery program during the summer, where students can repeat only the portion of a course that they failed, rather than repeating the whole thing. The program used helps focus intensely on the areas where the student struggles most, moving on through the parts that they've mastered to minimize boredom and time-wasting repetition. This really will make a difference, and the feedback we've received from students who used it this past summer was very good.

Does this mean that we had X number of dropouts plus the one that did us in? That is unfortunate, but at face value sounds like it was a matter of bad luck - which would seem to discredit all of the schools who weren't on the list as just having good luck.

Good effort - I would assume that having to only re-take the portions where deficiencies are known meets all necessary criteria for course completion state wide. More fortunate for them than the kids I went to school with.

It means that we had X number (plus one) of students who did not graduate in precisely four years plus one summer. For NCLB purposes, the state counts a student who repeats a year, or even needs an extra semester, as a DROPOUT.

Oddly though, that same student may well qualify for a lottery scholarship, go on to college, and be considered a successful graduate by the rest of the world.

Yes, the credit recovery program has been vetted and meets the state's requirements.

Fascinating exchange.

Clearly, NCLB is having its intended effect; to burden public schools with bookkeeping and gaming to stay ahead of the phony standards that are only superficially related to student achievement.

I look forward to the end of the Bush Administration and a time when the federal government can move from *punishing* public schools to *helping* them do a better job.

Forgive me Doc, if I'm a little wary of the federal government's "help." In my experience, it has always been grossly unbalanced, with arbitrary regulations far outweighing (on an order of magnitude) the associated funding.

"Forgive me Doc, if I'm a little wary of the federal government's "help." "

Sounds like you have a somewhat narrow idea of ways in which the federal government can help. WRT public schools, one way that the federal government could help is to link any mandates for meeting standards of academic achievement (a type of meddling you don't seem to mind) with funding capable of supporting the implementation of such standards and of helping schools who don't meet the standards improve.

Like everything in life, federal government "help" is not an unmixed proposition, but forgive me if I feel like a little history provides more of a guide than political theory.

As for ways the federal government can "help," you might spend a little time looking up the history of school desegregation in this country.

When you get done learning about how the government has "helped" African Americans get a decent education in the face of local school board resistance, you might start reading about poverty among the elderly before and after social security, and how the federal government has "helped" retirees live without fear of poverty. Then, there's federal government "help" in the construction of interstate highways, public health and the prevention of infectious disease, the FBI and the fight against organized crime, etc.

Finally, you might look around you. Oak Ridge would not exist but for the "help" the federal government, and Oak Ridge public schools would look a lot more like Anderson Co. Schools but for federal government "help."

Sometimes it helps to read history without ideological blinders.

An excellent post ORHS 73. The feds usually stay out of it unless the state and local goverments aren't doing what should be done to insure fair play.

I say, 3 cheers for NCLB. No, it isn't perfect but it will force Oak Ridge, among other things, to focus more on their graduation rate instead of putting the lion's share of their efforts on the gifted and high achiever students. The other students deserve a decent education too.

When Ken Green came on board as asst. director I clearly recall that he commented that OR needed to improve the graduation rate. I took that to mean equal focus on ALL students. I hope that is true. We can do better than we are now without making excuses about transfer students causing the problem. That is a copout.

KR, refer to my first response above with respect to new initiatives to address the grad rate (credit recovery). We know we can do better, at least with kids we have long enough to make a difference with.

We also know we can't do much with a kid who has never set foot on campus, or who is too far behind when he first shows up to ever meet the 4-year standard.

We're also looking at other things, like how to make alternative school truly an alternative -- not what it has been (what we used to call "reform school"). We recognize that some kids don't thrive at ORHS; maybe they need a smaller environment, different hours, closer supervision, whatever... but we're looking for ways to make that serve the students at risk of dropping out, better.

The fact remains though, that were it not for the "cop-out" of transfer students, we wouldn't be on the list. And we've been working toward these graduation-rate improvement strategies since before we were on the list.

Doc, if the mandates come with the funding truly required to implement them, and don't obstruct our core mission, I wouldn't object. Unfortunately, that seldom happens. As an example, IDEA has never been funded at even the minimum levels promised when it was passed. Of course it's a noble goal, but fully-implemented requirements with minimally-implemented funding simply results in taking away from programs for all other students.

" . . . but fully-implemented requirements with minimally-implemented funding simply results in taking away from programs for all other students."

D'accord.

This is how you know NCLB was just an attempt to undermine public schools.