Transient students pose challenge to schools

When educators explain away low scores on proficiency tests as a result of having too many transient pupils, they are acknowledging one of the great difficulties faced by children who do not have the luxury of remaining in the same school district for their entire academic careers. However, while transiency may explain the results, it neither justifies them nor excuses them. It is incumbent on every school district to evaluate newcomers to their schools and to begin immediately to address any deficiencies they may have. As President Bush has said repeatedly, "No child should be left behind."
On average in Ohio, 9.2 percent of students are in any given school for less than half the year. The number goes up in districts with a higher population of low-income and minority families.
"High-flying" schools: But as the research of the national Education Trust has found, last year 4,577 "high-fkying" schools -- those whose percentage of low-income students was at least 50 percent and/or the percentage of black and Latino students was at least 50 percent -- scored in the top third among all schools in the state in the same grade level. Ninety-two Ohio Schools were so identified, including Alden Elementary and East Middle School in the Warren City Schools, Garfield Elementary in Niles and Garfield Elementary in Wellsville. None from Mahoning County was on the list.
The cooperative project of the Education Trust and the Council of Chief State School Officers identified qualities shared by the "high-flying" schools.
Eighty percent of the high-performing, high-poverty schools reported using standards to design instruction and to assess student work and evaluate teachers. A 78 percent majority of the high-achieving schools provided extended learning time -- primarily in reading and math time for their students.
They devoted a larger proportion of funds to support professional development focused on changing instructional practice, and they implemented comprehensive systems to monitor individual student progress and provide extra support to students as soon as it's needed. Four out of five of the top performing, high poverty schools had systematic ways to identify and provide early support to students in danger of falling behind in their instruction.
And as The Vindicator has called for repeatedly, the schools that perform better than other schools with similar demographics for race and poverty use state or district accountability systems that have real consequences for adults in the schools. Nearly half of the principals in these schools were subject to some kind of sanctions if their students fail to show measurable academic improvement.
The aim of the trust's report, "Dispelling the Myth" is to dispel the myth that children of poverty or minority children cannot achieve high levels of learning. Those schools whose children are failing could learn how to make their students successful -- if they really wanted to.