Evanston Township High School faces major structural changes next year after again failing to meet standards of the controversial No Child Left Behind Act.
The school, which houses nearly 3,000 students in grades 9-12, has failed to meet the law’s Adequate Yearly Progress standards for five years in a row. The law mandates that the school must now develop a restructuring plan and has four options: reopen as a public charter school, replace all or most of its staff, contract with an outside entity to run the school or “other major restructuring,” according to Board minutes
The administration is required to submit its plan for restructuring to the state by February.
To meet the requirements this year, 55 percent of juniors had to pass reading and math tests. In addition, subgroups within the junior class – whites, blacks, Hispanics, those with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students – had to have a 55 percent pass rate for both subjects.
Overall, 67 percent of students at ETHS met either the math or English standards. More than 90 percent of white students met standards in both reading and math.
But blacks and Hispanics earned pass rates of 36 percent or less for both reading and math. Students with disabilities met standards for reading, but not for math; economically disadvantaged students failed to meet requirements for either category.
“It’s all or nothing,” said Judith Levinson, director of research, evaluation and assessment at ETHS. “There’s ethnic groups plus low income and special ed kids and each of those groups in reading and math, so you have maybe 12 chances to fail, because if you fail in any one of those groups, you fail.”
ETHS was not alone in failing to meet standards. Almost 900 Illinois public schools, about 24 percent of such schools in the state, failed this year, according to the Chicago Tribune. That number marks a 30 percent increase from the year before, the first time since the law was implemented in 2002 that the number of failing schools has increased. In Illinois, 266 schools are currently in the “restructuring” category.
The number of failing schools will likely continue to increase, as pass rate standards are set to rise by 7.5 percent every year until 2013-14, when 100 percent of students in the country will be required to pass the tests.
Members of ETHS’ school board said they believe the law is flawed. In response, they’re drafting a resolution to encourage the state legislature to change the way the No Child Left Behind Act is enforced, said District 202 School Board Vice President Rachel Hayman.
“With a very large school with many subgroups, the way No Child is currently implemented is very erroneous,” Hayman said.
Levinson said the law is useful in increasing accountability, especially for traditionally under-served students, such as those who are economically disadvantaged. Still, she said, the law is nonsensical.
“The way the law is structured, there are many difficult and controversial pieces that really aren’t based on research and science,” she said. “It just doesn’t make sense for schools.”
A sample resolution was presented to the board at a private meeting Monday and will be voted on at a public meeting Nov. 19.
Although ETHS did not meet progress standards, its progress report showed several positive indicators this year. Attendance increased, graduation rates were three percent above the state average and students had a composite ACT score of 22.6 compared to the state average of 20.3.
In addition, the school overall and many subgroups improved on the state tests, just not enough to meet the law’s standards.
ETHS administrators said the standards are simply too difficult to achieve.
“Education measurement experts will tell you that no district or school has ever shown the kind of trajectory that (the law) is asking all schools to do,” Levinson said.
The administration has implemented several programs in recent years in hopes of increasing student achievement.
This year, it began the System of Supports program, which requires students in danger of failing classes to come early to school to receive extra help. The program has had clear positive impacts, Levinson said.
One student said he thinks the school’s test scores are the result of poor teaching..
“The teachers are garbage,” junior Drew Bryant said. “Out of all the teachers I’ve had in this school, I’ve had four good ones.”
School officials are unsure if the state-enforced restructuring will have any positive effect.
“I can’t say whether the structure of restructuring is helpful to schools,” Levinson said. “I think that we’re going to continue to try to improve and set up our own initiatives for that, but I just don’t know if the restructuring framework will help us with that or not.”
Bryant said they didn’t think restructuring would be a good idea for the school. Instead of restructuring, he said teachers should “show the students more respect.”
“They give up way too easily,” he said.
Sophomore Conor Petersen suggested there be “higher education requirements for teachers, and even staff and management faculty.”
Regardless, administrators said they are dedicated to meeting the standards and stood behind faculty.
“What I can say with certainty is that we have wonderful educators who are putting all their attention behind meeting the goals,” Hayman said.
Reach Brian Rosenthal at [email protected].
