Seven local schools targeted
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In garnering the dubious distinction, the local schools are not alone: 47 percent of all Tennessee schools were deemed insufficient in at least one category and placed on the target list.
There are no sanctions placed on target schools, though they will receive technical assistance from the state to bring their scores up. If improvements are not made in coming years, however, these schools could face a number of penalties which could ultimately result in state takeover of the schools.
While admitting the school system still has improvements to make, system director of testing, ESOL and equity Dianna Zadeh was critical of the reporting methods employed by the federal act, calling them incomplete and unfair.
“To get a complete picture I think you have to look at our total scores, which are above the state’s in many subgroups,” said Zadeh. “I think it’s unfair to take one group and if you don’t make it, turn your school into a targeted school. It’s especially unfair when you consider special education and limited English students are included in the results.”
The goal of No Child Left Behind is to ensure all students are proficient in math, reading and language arts by 2014. To that end, every school must show every year that a greater percentage of its students meet these proficiency standards.
Beginning this year, federal education officials are establishing benchmarks against which to measure future progress. Schools falling below these benchmarks in this first year are called target schools.
To be named a target school, a school had to fail to reach a math, writing and language arts benchmark in at least one of nine tested subgroups, which include blacks students, Hispanic students, economically disadvantaged students, students with disabilities, and student with limited English proficiency.
This year’s results were taken from the TCAP achievement scores of all students in grades three, five and eight, from the English and algebra Gateway exams results, and TCAP writing assessment scores at the high school level.
Saving the three county schools that did not make the target school list — Bobby Ray Elementary, Centertown Elementary and Morrison Elementary — was the fact they had less than 45 students in many of the subgroups. If a school tested less than 45 black students, for example, those results are not counted as they are not statistically valid.
Bobby Ray principal Bonnie Collier said she was pleased her school was not included on the list, but added the fact that it was completely due to chance.
“I’m happy we met our annual yearly progress,” Collier said. “I’d love to say it was something special we were doing, but it wasn’t. I think No Child Left Behind has really fundamental problems and I’m concerned about the testing frenzy across the nation.”
Warren County schools
identified as target schools by the federal government
• Warren County High School
• Warren County Middle School
• Dibrell Elementary
• Irving College Elementary
• Eastside Elementary
• West Elementary
• Hickory Creek Elementary