Yep, it's a duplication of effort!
If your feeder school fails to make AYP for two consequetive years, your child is eligible to transfer to a higher performing school under NCLB. The DOE has removed the AYP rankings from the school profiles. Parents are now unable to look up their feeder school on DOE's website to learn whether or not it made AYP for 2009-10 school years. AYP for the 2010-11 school year is being withheld from the public and boards until Friday, August 26th. School starts Monday, August 29th.
How will you know if your child is eligible for a transfer? Will your child start school in a failing school year? When DOE finally spills the beans, will districts be able to accommodate your request before schools start? Should you want to exercise your right to transfer, will your child be forced through two transitions - one to the school that is failing and one to the higher performing one after the school year has already begun. What about the games being played by DOE is student-centered, child-first, pro-education? What a messy circle.
Should we get our "panties in a bunch" over the negligence purported by DOE with regards to parents rights? I think that depends on how much you covet your democratic rights under federal and state law. Should we report it to the feds? That depends on whether you believe the feds will support the law. Should we chalk this up to an eschool outage? That depends on whether Eschool directly feeds to that little indicator on the school profile pages (99% sure it does not, as the indicator would likely be blank, not missing.) Should we be upset that DOE sends its online presence on vacation in July and August? Only if you give a hoot about your tax dollars. Circle, Circle, Circle.
Don't worry, I bet the DOE folks are already circling to craft their reasonable excuse for their latest failure.
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5 comments:
Maybe I am wrong, but I do not believe this is true. From what I have found, this is only true for Title 1 schools. It is also only true if there is a higher achieving school in the same district.
"When are children eligible for school choice?
Children are eligible for school choice when the Title I school they attend has not made adequate yearly progress in improving student achievement--- as defined by the state--for two consecutive years or longer and is therefore identified as needing improvement, corrective action or restructuring. Any child attending such a school must be offered the option of transferring to a public school in the district--including a public charter school--not identified for school improvement, unless such an option is prohibited by state law. No Child Left Behind requires that priority in providing school choice be given to the lowest achieving children from low-income families. As of the 2002-03 school year, school choice is available to students enrolled in schools that have been identified as needing improvement under the ESEA as the statute existed prior to the enactment of No Child Left Behind."
How will you know if your child is eligible for a transfer?
"How do parents know if their child is eligible for school choice?
Under No Child Left Behind, school districts are required to notify parents if their child is eligible for school choice because his or her school has been identified as needing improvement, corrective action or restructuring. They must notify parents no later than the first day of the school year following the year for which their school has been identified for improvement."
A sample of this kind of notification can be found on the NCCVT webpages.
http://www.nccvthighschools.com/HOWARD/admin/pdf_bin/HHST_Options_Memo_2010.pdf
http://www.nccvthighschools.com/HOWARD/admin/pdf_bin/Choice_School_Info.pdf
http://www.nccvthighschools.com/HOWARD/admin/pdf_bin/Howard_ESEA_Letter.pdf
I am sure that the schools in CSD know their ratings and where they stand with regard to having to offer this type of choice. The schools that have to do this (again, only Title 1, and only if there is a passign alternative school in that same district) will all meet the deadline in the law, because it is thefirst day of school. They may just hand the letters out to teh the students at school and see if they bring them home to parents. Notice the law does not say how they must be distributed?
What happens if, like in Christina's situation, all of the high schools are Title 1 schools and are failing?
"Do public school options include only schools in the same district?
There may be situations where children in Title I schools have school options outside their own district. For instance, a school district may choose to enter into a cooperative agreement with another district that would allow their students to transfer into the other district's schools. In fact, the law requires that a district try "to the extent practicable" to establish such an agreement in the event that all of its schools have been identified as needing improvement, corrective action or restructuring."
Has the Christina BOE st up an sagreement with a neighboring district that has a passing high school?
Anonymous,
I appreciate your comments. I'm going for concise here, please do not misinterpret for tone.
1. In 2010-11 all Christina schools were Title I. First criteria met.
2. Superintendents and Building Principals have AYP status's for the purpose of vetting them. DOE has explicitly in writing informed these parties that they CAN NOT share this information with members of the public. There is at least a verbal mandate that it cannot be shared with boards.
3. In succession under the facts state in #2, it subverts not only parental rights but local control as it relates to your question regarding the Christina BOE setting up an agreement with a neighboring district. Christina had one school completing restart last year (Bayard, meaning it's AYP was calculated and counted for the first time last year.) That school would likely have been identified as the higher performing school for students to choice to as far as middle school. That makes its AYP status for the 2010-11 school year even more critical.
As far as high schools, none of my three traditional high schools scored higher than 2 stars in 2009-10. However, Christiana High made tremendous gains in 09-10. If those gains were sustained, it may be enough to re-rank Christiana as far as AYP as the higher performing high school in my district.
4) To my knowledge, there is no agreement with a neighboring district. During my tenure, the board has not negotiated one. If it was in place before I joined the board, it has not been referenced in my presence. That said, if a parent wanted to facilitate an inter-district transfer to a higher performing school, I believe my board and admin would do everything in our power to make that request a reality. It's a good question and one that bears discussion once the rankings are released. It's my hope that Christiana has continued to gain and such a pact won't be necessary.
5) The saddest story here is that while DOE may be "compliant" regarding NCLB in making the rankings public before the first day of school, a disproportionate number of high povery students are the children who are deeply affected by failing status in my district. Parents should not have to wait until the first day of school to make educated decisions about where their child will attend. This policy of waiting to do or die day should be for the exception, not the year after year reality. It is surely not student-centered or pro-parent to wait until the last possible moment. The debate then turns to Compliance vs. Fidelity. I take fidelity over compliance any day.
How does it benefit the student and parents to be told the first day of school? What hard ships does waiting place on the losing and gaining schools? What impact does waiting have on bus schedules?
Just a couple of questions, I am sure their are many many more, remember the saying; "Haste makes waste." Another saying: "Good leadership prevents problems, poor leadership creates problems."
I'm with you on this one Jack. My issue with withholding AYP rankings and then their pesky disappearance from the School Profiles is that during the summer months, parents could be planning their child's transition. If ranking was released as late as July or early August, parents still have time to focus on researching their options and enrolling children at higher performing schools. Districts would have time to work out where a child fits within the new school and arranging transportation for those who qualify.
This is an issue of empowering parents to utilize the lawa as much as it is an issue for DOE to facilitate an important process in a timely manner.
Right now, everyone loses!
Another example that DDOE employees do not care about the consequences their decisions have on our children,parents,school boards and our districts/charter schools.
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