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Politics & Government

NCLB is Left Behind in Minnesota Schools

Inver Grove Heights Schools, and all schools in the state, will no longer be held to the No Child Left Behind standards as the result of a waiver granted by President Barak Obama.

Minnesota is one of ten states to be granted a waiver by President Barack Obama for No Child Left Behind (NCLB.)

NCLB was a federal law requiring all students in the nation test at 100 percent proficient by 2014 and sanctions were imposed for "failing" schools.

As of Feb. 9, , along with all other schools in Minnesota and nine other states, will no longer be held to the NCLB standard. The waiver, and approved changes, will go into effect next school year.

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Which is good news for IGH schools. Since 2003, when NCLB was instituted, Inver Grove Heights Community Schools only made the grade twice – in 2003 and 2005 every other year the district has failed to make the grade.

As of 2011 under NCLB, District 199 was in the corrective action phase. The "failing" label came despite 61 percent of district students testing proficient in math and 76 percent in reading.

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District officials did not return calls asking about the impacts of the changes.

Instead of labeling schools as failing and dedicating money to improvement programs, Minnesota will aim to reduce the achievement gap by 50 percent in six years.

"The new accountability system Minnesota proposes in its waiver will provide a better, fairer way to measure how our schools are doing," according to a release from the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE.) "Even more important, it will allow the Minnesota Department of Education to partner with school districts, teachers and parents on research-based local solutions with schools that are identified as most in need of additional help."

Rather than a pass/fail system, Minnesota’s "bold" changes include a three-tier designation: reward, priority and focus schools

Reward Schools are the top 15 percent based on four performance measures and will be publicly recognized.

Priority Schools are the ones in the bottom 5 percent of schools and will work with the state to develop and implement a plan that will dramatically change the way the school operates.

Focus Schools are the top ten percent of schools which contribute to state gaps. Officials from those schools will work with their districts to utilize MDE technical assistance, develop and implement an improvement plan to directly address specific needs students in the low- performing subgroups.

A new ruler has been set and will measure:

  • Did the school meet its target for Adequate Yearly Progress?
  • Did each student grow and by how much?
  • Did all subgroups grow and how fast was that growth?
  • Did graduation rates improve for all students?

In a press release, Obama said NCLB is five years overdue for a rewrite and "is driving the wrong behaviors, from teaching to the test to federally determined, one-size-fits-all interventions."

"We’re giving 10 states the green light to continue making reforms that are best for them. Because if we’re serious about helping our children reach their potential, the best ideas aren’t going to come from Washington alone," Obama said in the release. "Our job is to harness those ideas, and to hold states and schools accountable for making them work."

 

 

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