Wednesday, September 16, 2009

School test results bring confusion


School test results bring confusion:

"State and local education officials are calling for revisions to the No Child Left Behind law in the next few years to help address what they say are untenable benchmarks in the federal system. Schools that receive federal Title I funding and fail to reach those benchmarks for two years are put on a watch list called Program Improvement. Nearly 2,800 schools are now on the list statewide, 1,558 new to it this year.

Five years on that list means local education officials are expected to take drastic steps to turn the school around, which could include a reconstituted staff, new principal, conversion to a charter school or closure. A decision not to participate in the federal program could result in the loss of Title I funding for low-income students, which pays for a range of programs including staff and materials."