Superintendent Defends School, Rails Against NCLB
- on 04.22.07
- Fund The Child, General
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I read this letter to the editor in the Daily Herald and just had to repsond to it.
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Don’t believe hype; Warren is doing well This letter comes as a response to citizen questions regarding the 2006 Illinois State Report Card. It is critical for the public to understand that the playing field is not level when it comes to measuring adequate yearly progress through the report. The results come down to the types and numbers of students taking the test as required under the No Child Left Behind law created in 2001. Adequate yearly progress, also referred to as AYP, represents annual performance targets in reading and math that the state, school districts and schools must reach as set out in the federal law. The 2006 report card reflects the Prairie State Achievement Exam taken in the spring of 2005. At Warren, if approximately a dozen more students would have scored slightly higher, the school and district would have made adequate yearly progress under the federal rules. Just two of the 29 categories at Lake County’s second largest high school did not meet the standard. Some students were previously identified as having academic difficulties in elementary and middle school. Warren appreciates the opportunity to be measured, but we are disappointed in the way it is done. If any one category of students does not meet the standard, the entire school does not meet the standard under the No Child Left Behind rules. The magic number for the 2006 report card was 45. If a school did not have at least 45 students with disabilities, or at least 45 economically disadvantaged students, or at least 45 students of various ethnicities, there were no standards to be met for the No Child Left Behind law. The reality is Lake County’s second largest high school is achieving academic success with a greater diversity of students as defined by criteria in the federal law. To be exact, students in 27 of the 29 categories — which includes Hispanic, black, white and Asian/Pacific Islander 11th graders tested in math and reading — are meeting standards. Any perception generated by the public that Warren is under serving its student body simply is not true. Statewide, the nearest diversity comparison to Warren is a high school district with a building of more than 3,000 students in which 25 of 29 categories must be met. Warren, with approximately 4,000 students, continues to improve in academic achievement, despite the criteria in No Child Left Behind. We heartily embrace the challenge of serving a diverse student population. We only ask our high school community to understand the comparisons, the criteria, the challenges and the conclusions of the data. Dr. Philip L. Sobocinski |
Mr. Sobocinski goes to great lengths to try and defend the school. He wants to blame NCLB and the diversity of the school for making the school look bad. He asks for understanding from the community instead of blaming anyone at the school.
I ask why should the community be so understanding? The tests were dumbed down and the results normed up and yet the school could not pass.
Remember everyone, if the schools had not been performing so miserably, NCLB would have never become law. There would have been no reason for it. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a support of NCLB. I believe it is another step toward the nationalization of our public schools.
We need less nationalization, not more. We need control to be returned to the local level. Unfortunately, the State has already eroded local control to the point school board members have very little control and thus the community has almost no control at all anymore.
We can reverse this trend however, with a very simple solution, Fund the Child. Fund each and every child equally and stop funding the governmental bureaucracy that has taken over our schools. Abolish the State and Federal mandates returning control back to the parents. This is the only way to have local control and stop the nationalization of our public schools.
