More Washington schools added to federal "needs improvement" list

The number of Washington schools and districts on the federal "needs improvement" list rose sharply again this year, a pattern critics predicted when Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act back in 2001.

The list has grown in all but one of the past six years, and now includes 628 schools and 57 districts, according to preliminary results released Thursday. That's up from 280 schools and 30 districts last year.

Sixty-four schools have been on the list long enough that their districts, under the law, are supposed to "restructure" them. In Seattle, the African American Academy and Aki Kurose are on that list. In Highline, it includes Cascade and Chinook middle schools.

One big factor in this year's jump: The test-score targets that schools and districts were required to meet went up after staying steady for three years. Last year, for example, elementary schools were judged as making "adequate" progress in reading if 64.2 percent of their students passed that subject on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). This year, it rose to 76.1 percent.

The goal of No Child Left Behind is that all students will score "proficient" on their state tests in reading and math by 2014.

Critics have long said that timetable is too ambitious, and that the law is too heavy on punishment and too short on assistance to help schools reach its goals.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson, who supports the goals of the law, said Thursday that the flaws of its accountability system have gone too far.

No Child Left Behind actually is the nickname for the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It covers everything from teacher qualifications to school safety. But its centerpiece was a requirement that schools and school districts ensure that all students are proficient in reading and math by 2014.

Washington schools and districts are judged by how students do on the WASL. Other states use their own tests.

To reach the goal, schools and districts are expected to hit annual test-score targets for all students and for eight subgroups of students: five ethnic groups, plus students who are learning English, those in special education programs, and those who live in poverty.

They also are evaluated on how many students take the test, as well as student absentee and dropout rates. In all, schools must meet up to 37 targets. For districts, it's a maximum of 111.

In general, schools or districts must hit all the targets each year to stay off the needs-improvement list, or reduce the number of nonproficient students by 10 percent.

If they miss even one target twice in a row, they are added to the list. Those schools can face sanctions that start with notifying their students that they have the right to transfer to higher performing schools. To get off the list, schools must meet all targets for two years in a row. Four schools in Washington did so this year, including Scriber Lake High in Edmonds.

The regulations include many complicated twists and turns. Schools with fewer than 30 students in a subgroup, for example, don't have to count that subgroup.

And schools can fall short even if their test scores rise.

That's what happened to Chief Sealth High School in Seattle this year. On Tuesday, Sealth Principal John Boyd and several of his students stood proud as Bergeson lauded Sealth's WASL improvement. But Thursday, the school's name appeared on the "needs improvement" list.

The sanctions apply only to schools and districts that receive money from the federal Title I program — usually those with a high percentage of low-income students. For schools that don't receive Title I dollars, the not-enough-progress label is nothing more than a label.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com