Idaho asks feds for “do over” on accountability standards
Idaho's State Board of Education wants a fresh start for hundreds of public schools facing sanctions under a tough federal education accountability mandate. The board has asked the U.S. Department of Education to wipe away the student progress measurements between 2002 and 2006 under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) on which the sanctions are based. In its place, the board wants the feds to restart the NCLB clock, which sets the deadline for schools to meet minimum proficiency standards. The board's rationale: Idaho had poorly written education standards and statewide exams not aligned to what instructors were expected to teach. If the feds agree—and some Idaho educators are doubtful—hundreds of schools could be out from under immediate requirements that they provide outside tutoring or allow children to go to schools that are more successful than the ones they attend. But John Goedde, state Senate Education Committee chair, opposes a do-over because it defeats the purpose of accountability. Mike Rush, State Board executive director, wrote the feds asking to reset the NCLB clock for Idaho beginning with spring 2007 statewide exam results, after the state made improvements to its testing system. The clock, however, would start again and schools that don't measure up would face a new round of sanctions if student performance doesn't improve. "It is unreasonable to label schools and districts based on student achievement data that was measured with an invalid and unreliable tool," Rush wrote in a letter to the U.S. Department of Education dated Tuesday. U.S. Department of Education officials say they have received the letter and are reviewing it. Idaho was fined $103,000 in 2005 after the feds said the state did not have an adequate testing system in place. The board is now using the feds' own argument against them. If the previous system was poor, the board argues, schools shouldn't be held accountable under it. "How can you say that a school didn't make progress if your initial measurement was not valid?" Rush said Wednesday.
Source: Idaho Statesman, 5/29/08, By Bill Roberts
[Editor’s Note: For more on this story as well as the distant outlook for reauthorization of NCLB, see NSBA’s blog, BoardBuzz, below. The national outlook as to school districts facing NCLB sanctions is discussed in a USA Today article excerpted at the second link.]
BoardBuzz on Idaho and NCLB
NSBA School Law pages on NCLB accountability standards