Principals will get chance to appeal

By Emily Richmond

Monday, Sept. 15, 2003 | 10:43 a.m.

Principals who believe their schools were unfairly designated as failing to show the "adequate yearly progress" will have a chance to appeal, Clark County School District officials said.

"This is a complex process, and there are going to be situations where the test data on the surface won't reflect the reality of the school," said Karlene McCormick-Lee, assistant superintendent of testing and accountability for the district. "Our job will be to meet with the principals, review the data and determine whether there's merit for an appeal."

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, school districts must identify campuses that fail to show yearly academic gains schoolwide and by student subgroups, including ethnicity, special education status, low income and non-native English speakers. Schools must show a 95 percent participation rate for each subgroup and hit benchmarks for proficiency.

Schools that fail to show progress for two consecutive years may be labeled as "needing improvement," a designation that could result in sanctions, including a loss of federal funds and increased state supervision.

The participation requirement has been a sticking point for district officials. High schools were judged on whether 95 percent of sophomores and juniors took the proficiency exam in the springs of 2002 and 2003 -- even though the participation requirement didn't become law until this year's Legislature ended.

"You can't penalize a school for not clearing a hurdle that wasn't in place when their students took the test," McCormick-Lee said.

While some elements of defining adequate yearly progress are still being ironed out at both the federal and state level, the intent of No Child Left Behind is laudable, said Joyce Haldeman, executive director of community and government relations for the district.

"This makes sure no principal, no teacher, no school administrator says 'Well, we don't have to worry about that group of students,' " said Joyce Haldeman, executive director of community and government relations for the district. "It really does focus on seeing every child achieve."

Title I campuses designated as needing improvement must offer students transfers to more successful schools at the district's expense. Title I schools receive extra federal funds based on the number of students coming from low-income homes.

The Nevada Department of Education released a preliminary list earlier this month identifying nine Clark County Title I schools on nine-month calendars as failing to show adequate yearly progress for at least a second consecutive year. Parents had until last week to return postcards to the district asking for transfers for their children.

As of this morning just 29 families had returned postcards so the deadline was extended to this Friday, district officials said.

Charlene Green, associate superintendent of student support services for the district, said even though the school year started nearly a month ago she anticipated about 100 families to take advantage of the transfers.

"The numbers aren't anywhere near what we were expecting," Green said.

The schools identified by the state are: Bracken, Carson, Kelly, McCall, Sunrise Acres and Wendell Williams elementary schools; and Bridger, Von Tobel and West middle schools.

The district plans to appeal just one of the nine schools designated -- Bracken, because it has since been converted to a magnet program, McCormick-Lee said.

A second "needing improvement" list, includingyear-round Title I schools and regular campuses, is due Sept. 30. The district will have to offer transfers to students at those Title I schools as well.

Beginning this year, the district has moved its testing schedule from the fall to the spring so that adequate yearly progress can be calculated before the start of the following academic year. That will give parents more time to decide whether they want their children transferred and will give the district more time to prepare.

The state also plans to give districts a "watch list" of campuses in their first year of not showing adequate yearly improvement. The Nevada Department of Education has issued guidelines for the appeals process, including a list of circumstances that might warrant a determination that a school did not fail to meet adequate yearly progress. The parameters for an appeal include:

To appeal the designation, the principal would write a letter to the region superintendent explaining the reasoning, McCormick-Lee said.