A few hundred Minnesota school districts are facing a dilemma: Do they ignore federal No Child Left Behind requirements, knowing that those rules will likely be changed by Congress or set aside by administrative waivers? Or should they follow the letter of the current law?
Scores of districts are in this position. The recently released annual adequate yearly progress (AYP) report revealed that 1,056 of 2,255 Minnesota schools failed to make the grade, based on statewide student test scores. Several hundred of those schools are required to take action as outlined in existing law.
However, the safest bet for districts is to make as few changes as possible unless they would have made the moves without NCLB. One metro-area superintendent wisely said he planned to do the ''bare minimum'' to comply with NCLB.
Because there was so much controversy about the 2001 federal law, Congress is expected to make a major revision. Educators, parents and students rightly objected to overly optimistic provisions such as the requirement that all students be proficient in math and reading by 2014.
The annual AYP list also came under attack. The list labels many schools as "failing'' even if the majority of their students are doing well. Based on test scores and attendance of a few students in some categories, a school could land on the list.
As a result, there is nearly universal agreement that some specifics within the law should be changed (while its spirit is maintained). NCLB put a needed spotlight on learning disparities between different groups of students, and the nation's schools must make progress on that troubling achievement gap.
Minnesota is no exception. The number of state schools that failed to make AYP grew slightly over last year, according to the Minnesota Department of Education.
Of the 1,056 schools on the list, 368 are in one of five phases of taking required action for underperforming schools.
In the first phase, or first year on the AYP list, students must be allowed to transfer, and their home district must provide transportation for that move. The second phase requires districts to provide special services such as tutoring. After five years on the AYP failure list, a school must be restructured -- meaning it must make major changes in staff and leadership or shut down altogether.
Many of the required actions would cost districts money they don't have in their budgets.
The NCLB dilemma for schools in Minnesota and throughout the nation underscores the need for Congress to get moving. The reauthorization of NCLB is four years overdue, and the Obama administration is starting to issue waivers.
Lack of federal action put schools in this position, and it's up to Congress to revise the law in ways that will fix the problem and improve education.
One positive step would be to provide full funding for special-education programs that are required under federal law. That, more than any other federal action, would bring financial relief to school districts while helping their neediest students.
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