PA. SCHOOLS Flexibility to meet standards is sought

At issue is how federal standards apply to special-needs and other pupil subgroups.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- The federal government recently eased some provisions of an education law that places broad mandates on states to improve math and reading test scores. But Gov. Ed Rendell and state Education Secretary Vicki Phillips say Pennsylvania schools need more flexibility -- and federal funding -- to implement the law.
Rendell and Phillips released a position paper last week outlining the state's concerns about the No Child Left Behind Act signed by President Bush in 2002, as well as suggestions intended to alleviate school districts' frustration with its provisions.
State officials support the law's general goal of requiring all children to perform at grade level on standardized math and reading tests by 2014, Rendell said.
At issue
But they argue that among other things, schools are unfairly penalized by applying the overall performance levels expected of all pupils to certain subgroups -- such as special education pupils and those learning English as a second language.
Schools that fail to improve pupil performance for two or more consecutive years face a wide range of sanctions, including the loss of federal funding.
"In Pennsylvania, we're caught between dual challenges," Phillips said. "On the one hand, our special-needs students fall much farther from our performance targets than is the case in many other states. ... On the other hand, we believe that to classify a school as failing or as needing serious consequences based on just the special-education subgroup alone is not a fair picture of a school's performance."
More than 60 of the state's schools have been classified as not making "adequate yearly progress" based solely on performance of special-education pupils, she said. Adequate progress is currently defined as having at least 35 percent of pupils at grade level in math and 45 percent at grade level in reading,
The state is asking the federal government to give those schools in which only special education pupils are struggling two years to help them improve before imposing sanctions.
Schools should also be given credit for improving the scores of their most underachieving pupils, even if those pupils are still performing below grade level, Phillips said.
"We think that it's only fair to allow those schools that move significant numbers of students from below-basic into basic to be counted as improving and not subject to consequences," she said.
Aside from those concerns, Rendell said, he generally supports the law's overall goal.
"This is not a case where we should throw the baby out with the bath water," Rendell said. "Yearly testing is a good thing."
Previous criticism
In March, 138 school superintendents in eastern Pennsylvania formally criticized the federal law, saying it forces unrealistic and unfunded requirements on schools.
In recent months, U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige has eased rules affecting test participation rates, highly qualified teachers, severely disabled children and pupils with limited English ability.
But even before then, states had considerable flexibility to determine how they would comply with the federal law, said Ron Tomalis, an aide to Paige.
The recommendations are included in a revised school accountability plan the state recently sent to the U.S. Department of Education; the federal government has until April 30 to respond.