Progress of pupils should earn rewards for schools, educator says

The educator says annual growth is a better measure of pupil learning.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Dr. Carlos Diaz isn't opposed to some standard of measurement for pupil performance, but he thinks our education system should also reward schools for progress their pupils make.
As state standardized tests and federal No Child Left Behind regulations now stand, there is no accounting for a child's background in the testing process.
Everyone is held to the same standard, whether they entered school knowing how to speak English or not, said Diaz.
Schools don't all have an equal challenge, he said.
Those filled with children from affluent communities and who have a background in the English language do well on those standardized tests, while schools, particularly urban schools, with a large population of poor children or children who are immigrants have a difficult time measuring up, he said.
Life experience is an important factor, but unless you grew up in this country, your life experiences likely won't help you on America's standardized tests, he said.
What this is about
Diaz, a professor of education at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Fla., is regarded as an expert on bilingual education and came to Youngstown State University on Tuesday to talk about the impact of No Child Left Behind and other public policies on nonwhite pupils and those in lower socioeconomic status and language minorities.
Those standardized tests need to test things the kids have been taught, and they need to give schools credit for progress achieved by their pupils, Diaz said.
The best measurement is not how a child measures up to a arbitrary standard, but how that child has progressed during the school year, he said.
In Youngstown city schools
It's an argument also voiced in the past by Dr. Wendy Webb, superintendent of the Youngstown city schools, which moved from academic emergency to academic watch on this year's Ohio local report card.
The step up in ratings doesn't truly reflect the amount of improvement children have achieved, Webb has said, pointing out that the state keeps advancing the standard that schools must meet and schools get no credit unless they meet those increasing goals.
If all children are to be held to a single standard, then efforts must be made to give all children the same level of academic performance, both in school and after school, Diaz said.
There are four imperatives that must be met to provide an equitable education to all children, he said. They are: access to high-quality teachers; an evaluation system focusing on what is being taught; pupil access to positive school and classroom environments; and an effective curriculum looking at life from various perspectives.
Unfunded mandate
No Child Left Behind was implemented without any funding to help schools meet its demands, Diaz said, noting that the program will soon come up for federal reauthorization.
He anticipates some extensive revamping of the program, including a push for funding that will enable schools to attract and keep highly qualified teachers in the classroom.
Urban schools, more often than their counterparts in affluent suburban areas, sometimes have difficulty in attracting highly qualified teachers in all subject areas, Diaz said. They sometimes have to assign teachers in areas where they aren't certified, he said.
That can be overcome by designating those schools to get bonuses to be paid to highly qualified teachers to come to their district and stay, he said.
Making it more lucrative to teach in the more challenging schools could be an effective way to improve the teaching corps in those buildings, he said.
Diaz would also like to see an effort to have No Child Left Behind consider the socioeconomic differences that affect children when assessing a school's ability to meet average yearly progress goals, he said.
gwin@vindy.com