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Red Bank Elementary and The School Report Card

November 16th, 2007 by mwatson

The annual school report cards were released on Thursday, November 15, by the South Carolina State Department of Education.  There are many factors that impact the results of school report cards that are unknown to the general public.  The report cards are based on Federal legislation of No Child Left Behind.  Though the goals of No Child Left Behind are honorable, they are not realistic.  There are many inconsistencies in the results when comparing one state to another state.  Because South Carolina developed standards and set criteria for the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test (PACT) of Advanced, Proficient, Basic, and Below Basic before No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation was written, the odds of South Carolina School Districts ranking an excellent status are increasingly dim.  This year, no school district in South Carolina attained the excellent rating.  When SC developed the state test for students, the accepted criteria for meeting the standards for a grade level on the PACT was a score of Basic.  The Proficient level is much higher and not easily attained.  Most other states developed criteria for state tests after the development of NCLB and the attainment of Proficient is not as rigorous as in SC. 

 Red Bank Elementary, specifically, has other factors that impact our rating on the school report card.  The primary factor impacting our results is the fact that our school houses three self-contained classes for students with mental disabilities.  Our school is a site where the district houses these programs and we are proud to serve these special needs students.  In many school districts, special education students must move from school to school and, in our situation, the students are allowed to remain in one location for their elementary school education.  Though a few of these students attend Red Bank as their home school, most of them are attending our school because it is a district site with the services these special children need. 

 Our self-contained special education students have the same expectations as students in the regular education program.  They are expected to attain a score of proficient on grade level tests.  While the curriculum for these students is individualized, it is typically not the grade level work that their age-level peers are able to do in regular education classes.  Because approximately 30 children in our school, who have significant mental disabilities, are expected to perform at high levels on grade standards, we do not have impressive results on our Annual School Report Card.  While we do not use that as an excuse, it is a factor that should be considered when looking at the results for Red Bank Elementary.  Because students with disabilities are not distinguished as Educably Mentally Disabled, Learning Disabled, or Emotionally Disabled, when we are compared to schools “like us” the results are also skewed.  A student with a learning disability is different from a student with a mental disability.  They are categorized the same.

 There are so many factors that enter into this data that volumes could be written about the inconsistencies of NCLB legislation.  As U.S. citizens, we should all take the responsiblity of looking deeply at what appears on the surface to be the solution for education in America.  As political hopefuls make their speeches in the coming months, we need to listen for the answers they propose for revising the legislation in NCLB. 

An article in The State Newspaper, from November

http://www.thestate.com/opinion/story/227472.html

Posted in Adequate Yearly Progress, School Report Card | | | 0 Comments

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