Almost half of Massachusetts schools are expected to be added to the ‘needing improvement’ list due to the next part of President George Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act, which requires ratings based on subgroups within a school, according to Department of Education officials.
Under the state’s current methods of evaluations, only 200 of the state’s 1,900 schools are on the ‘needing improvement’ list. Once statistical information is based on the 35 subgroups, including race, special education and income, however, almost half of the schools will be added, according to Heidi Perlman, spokeswoman for the DOE.
Under the new law, if a school does not meet the standard in one subgroup, the entire school is put on the list, even if it is exemplary in all other areas.
‘Once we look into subgroups we’re looking at that number spiking considerably,’ Perlman said.
President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act in January, 2002 with the hopes of bringing every school in the country to proficiency by 2014. The act requires that every school in each state meet certain state standard. If they do not, then the school must take actions to make it meet the standard.
Massachusetts currently uses the results of MCAS tests to evaluate school proficiency. Each year, schools must make a plan of action for ‘adequate yearly progress’ toward all students being proficient in English Language Arts and mathematics by 2014.
Students at continually failing schools will be given the option to transfer to another school or receive money for supplemental education services, according to a DOE press release.
The current problem with the bill lies in the lack of sufficient funds for it, according to Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), who was present at the signing of the bill a year ago.
In a recent press release, Kennedy said Bush only increased the education budget by $1 billion, not the $7 billion he promised when signing the law.
‘He can find $36 billion a year in dividend tax cuts for the very wealthy, but he can’t find an additional $6 billion to fully fund education reform, help our neediest children get the education they deserve and open the doors of college for all Americans,’ Kennedy said in the release.
Without federal money, funding for the program falls into the hands of the states and cities.
Massachusetts House Speaker Tom Finneran has a great interest in education and maintaining programs, but allocating more state money to education is ‘going to be a very difficult task,’ according to his spokesman Charles Rasmussen.
‘We’re currently looking at a shortfall and a budget crisis,’ he said.
Massachusetts is one of the first states to have its accountability system approved under Bush’s act, and will be used as a national model for other states when creating their own system, federal education officials announced in a press release.
‘By having our plan accepted so soon, Massachusetts is in a key position to play a leadership role in the further reform of public education nationally,’ said David P. Driscoll, State Commissioner of Education in a recent press release.