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10 Schools Run Out of Time to Catch Up

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Times Staff Writers

The federal No Child Left Behind education law gave schools seven years to meet achievement goals, laying out increasingly dire consequences -- including the removal of school staff -- for those that fell short.

But now, 10 schools have exceeded that seven-year timetable, leaving them in undefined territory and spawning renewed criticism by education officials about the fairness of the law.

The California Department of Education on Tuesday identified those schools and hundreds of others that have failed to meet testing targets and are at varying stages of the federal timeline for improvement.

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In all, 1,772 California public schools -- or about 20% of the state’s 9,000 campuses -- were declared in need of improvement.

Many of the schools fell short of their performance goals because too few of their students reached the proficient level in English or math on standardized tests last year.

But it was the nine Los Angeles schools and one in Visalia that found themselves navigating uncertain terrain.

“We’re beyond the law. In a way, it’s laughable and sad at the same time,” said science teacher Kevin Bryan of Wilson High School, one of the nine Los Angeles campuses. “We’ve been on this list for a long time. We’ve done so much to get off it, but we can’t.”

Federal education department officials said they were not concerned about the schools entering their eighth year of needing improvement, saying campus reforms take time.

In an effort to boost achievement at schools serving low-income children, No Child Left Behind established a system of prods and punishments.

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These so-called Title I schools are required to meet annual testing targets in English and math for their campuses overall as well as for subgroups that include races, special education students and children from poor families.

The schools also have to test at least 95% of their students each year.

Campuses that fall short of the goals are placed on a watch list for two years.

Those that continue to miss their targets enter a five-year period during which they face “corrective actions” and increasingly severe sanctions.

Initially, the schools have to offer their students transfers to higher-performing campuses and free tutoring.

In cases where schools still falter, their districts are required to develop “restructuring” plans that can include state takeovers or the removal of staff.

The plans are implemented in the seventh and final year of the No Child Left Behind timetable.

Federal education officials said that schools exceeding the seven-year timetable are not in limbo but will remain in the restructuring phase until they can meet their testing targets for two consecutive years.

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“If the school needs a couple of extra years for the reforms to take hold, that’s OK, as long as students are learning,” said Darla Marburger, a deputy assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Education.

“The idea is to recognize that there is a problem and then come up with a solution to that problem. We would be guilty ... if we recognized there was a problem and then turned our heads the other way and didn’t do anything about it.”

But state education officials criticized the No Child Left Behind law, saying it was wrong to assign what amounts to a perpetual failure label on schools that are making progress.

The officials were particularly frustrated because the federal testing benchmarks rose for the first time this year, leaving many schools unable to meet the higher expectations and escape the “in need of improvement” tag -- even though many of the campuses did, in fact, improve. Even some of the schools considered among the best in Los Angeles found themselves on the improvement list, including Taft High School in Woodland Hills and Eagle Rock High School.

“It’s going to be exceedingly difficult to jettison out of the abyss,” said Jack O’Connell, state superintendent of public instruction. “We need to move our schools in a rational and reasonable way.”

Los Angeles schools Supt. Roy Romer echoed O’Connell’s sentiments, angrily criticizing No Child Left Behind as an inaccurate gauge that judges schools by unyielding standards.

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Romer and O’Connell said they trust the state’s own accountability system, the Academic Performance Index, as a more realistic measure of progress because it rewards schools for their incremental gains.

Many of the schools throughout the state that did not meet the federal targets, posted significant gains on the state index this year.

“We’re not sitting here checking at the end of the day, ‘Did we comply with the federal law?’ ” Romer said. “We’re sitting here saying, ‘Do we have a strategy ... to ensure that we are moving over time to really help all kids learn?’ ”

Still, Romer said the district has taken forceful steps to improve instruction and learning on the nine campuses. The changes on those campuses were prompted largely by state audits four years ago that identified shortcomings in teaching and management.

At the 3,000-student Wilson High in El Sereno, the district replaced the principal and made other administrative moves. It also increased funding for teacher training and required Saturday classes for low-performing ninth-graders.

At Mount Vernon Middle School in the Mid-City area, nearly all of the administrators were replaced and more positions added. The school now has eight assistant principals who preside over four “houses” of students that help make the 1,850-student school more manageable.

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“There’s a sense of urgency,” said Assistant Principal Carol Wise. “But it’s not a sense of doom and impossibility.”

Others on the list of schools beyond the law’s limits are Locke, Fremont, Jefferson and Roosevelt high schools, and Mann, Gompers and Sun Valley middle schools. Houston Elementary in Visalia also was on the list.

More than 200 schools throughout the state could join them next year if they fail to meet the federal expectations.

But officials who oversee these campuses said they were working to remove their schools from the needs-to- improve list.

In the Santa Ana Unified School District, where six schools have entered the final year of the improvement program, officials are introducing smaller, more personalized clusters of classes in high schools and increasing the focus on kindergarten, among other things.

“Our scores are improving ... but we have work to do,” said Helen Stainer, the district’s assistant superintendent. “Our students have to be where they can compete with other students so they can be successful when they leave us.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

No Child Left Behind

The number of California schools failing to meet federal proficiency standards increased again this year despite overall improvements on standardized tests. The annual “Program Improvement” list, released Tuesday, had fewer schools added this year, but rising proficiency standards under the No Child Left Behind Law made it harder for schools to get off the list.

Los Angeles County School Districts

*--* Schools Needing % of schools School Districts improvement in district Wilsona Elementary 3 75% Lancaster Elementary 14 74 Compton Unified 27 68 Palmdale Elementary 17 63 Centinela Valley Union 3 60 High Los Angeles Co. Office of Education 8 53 Azusa Unified 9 50 Keppel Union Elementary 3 50 Paramount Unified 8 42 Mountain View Elementary 5 42 Montebello Unified 12 41 Eastside Union Elementary 2 40 Antelope Valley Union High 5 38 Pomona Unified 15 35 Lennox Elementary 3 33 Los Angeles Unified 226 31 El Monte City Elementary 5 26 Bassett Unified 2 25 Duarte Unified 2 25 Gorman Elementary 1 25 Hawthorne Elementary 3 25 Inglewood Unified 5 25 Los Nietos Elementary 1 25 Whittier City Elementary 3 25 Pasadena Unified 8 24 Lynwood Unified 3 21 Baldwin Park Unified 4 18 ABC Unified 5 17 Hacienda La Puente Unified 6 15 El Monte Union High 1 14 Lawndale Elementary 1 13 South Whittier Elementary 1 13 Long Beach Unified 11 12 San Gabriel Unified 1 11 East Whittier City 1 8 Elementary West Covina Unified 1 8 Norwalk-La Mirada Unified 2 7 El Rancho Unified 1 6 Alhambra Unified 1 5 Covina Valley Unified 1 5 Rowland Unified 1 5

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Orange County School Districts

*--* Schools Needing % of schools School Districts improvement in district Santa Ana Unified 32 57% Newport-Mesa Unified 8 26 Orange Co. Office of Ed. 1 25 Fullerton Elementary 4 20 Anaheim Union High 4 19 Orange Unified 8 19 Anaheim Elementary 4 17 Westminster Elementary 2 13 La Habra City Elementary 1 11 Placentia-Yorba Linda 3 10 Unified Capistrano Unified 3 5 Tustin Unified 1 4 Garden Grove Unified 2 3

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Riverside County School Disricts

*--* Schools Needing % of schools School Districts improvement in district Romoland Elementary 2 100% Perris Elementary 5 71 Coachella Valley Unified 14 70 Palo Verde Unified 4 67 Palm Springs Unified 11 46 Banning Unified 4 40 Jurupa Unified 9 38 San Jacinto Unified 4 33 Desert Sands Unified 9 32 Moreno Valley Unified 11 31 Perris Union High 2 29 Alvord Unified 4 21 Beaumont Unified 2 18 Riverside Unified 8 17 Hemet Unified 4 15 Lake Elsinore Unified 3 14 Corona-Norco Unified 1 2

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San Bernardino County School Districts

*--* Schools Needing % of schools School Districts improvement in district San Bernardino City 45 67% Unified Ontario-Montclair 20 59 Elementary Rialto Unified 12 43 Adelanto Elementary 4 40 Colton Joint Unified 9 32 Fontana Unified 13 32 Barstow Unified 3 25 Apple Valley Unified 3 19 Chaffey Joint Union High 2 18 Victor Valley Union High 2 18 Morongo Unified 3 18 Lucerne Valley Unified 1 17 Needles Unified 1 14 Victor Elementary 2 13 Chino Valley Unified 4 11 Redlands Unified 2 10 Snowline Joint Unified 1 9 Hesperia Unified 2 8

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Ventura County School Districts

*--* Schools Needing % of schools School Districts improvement in district Oxnard Elementary 15 71% Rio Elementary 5 71 Santa Paula Elementary 4 57 Somis Union Elementary 1 50 Hueneme Elementary 5 45 Fillmore Unified 2 33 Ocean View Elementary 1 25 Ojai Unified 1 11 Ventura Unified 3 10 Moorpark Unified 1 9

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Changes in L.A. Unified School District

Schools on the needs-to-improve list for first time

Addams Continuation

Angel’s Gate Continuation

Avalon Continuation

Banneker Special Ed.

Boyle Heights Continuation

Braddock Drive Elementary

Central Continuation

Community Charter Middle

Corona Avenue Elementary

Eagle Rock Junior-Senior High

Eagle Tree Continuation

Earhart Continuation

Einstein Continuation

Ellington High Continuation

Evergreen Continuation

First Street Elementary

Glassell Park Elementary

Grey Continuation

Hillside Elementary

Independence Continuation

Kennedy Elementary

Lankershim Elementary

Lanterman, Frank D.

Leichman Special Ed.

Lewis Continuation

London Continuation

Lowman Special Ed.

Magnolia Avenue Elementary

Marianna Avenue Elementary

Miller High

Moneta Continuation

Mt. Lukens Continuation

Newmark Continuation

Northridge Middle

Norwood Street Elementary

Odyssey Continuation

Owensmouth Continuation

Patton Continuation

Rodia Continuation

Rogers Continuation

San Antonio Continuation

State Street Elementary

Stoner Avenue Elementary

Stoney Point Continuation

Taft Senior High

Twentieth Street Elementary

Twenty-Fourth Street Elementary

Union Avenue Elementary

University Senior High

West Valley Special Ed.

Widney High

Willenberg Special Ed.

Schools getting off the needs-to-improve list this year

Cimarron Avenue Elementary

Marshall Senior High

Richland Avenue Elementary

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Kinds of schools statewide

Elementary: 59%

Middle/Junior High: 26%

Senior HIgh: 7%

Continuing Opportunity/Community Day: 6%

Alternative/K-12/Special Education: 2%

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Schools on list, last 3 years

Statewide

2003

First-year*: 644

Total: 1,202

2004

First-year*: 648

Total: 1,600

2005

First-year*: 414

Total: 1,772

L.A. Unified School District

2003

First-year*: 22

Total: 112

2004

First-year*: 74

Total: 178

2005

First-year*: 55

Total: 226

* Includes schools listed as first-year two consecutive years.

Note: The “Program Improvement” list includes only schools that receive federal Title I funds for impoverished students.

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Source: California Department of Education. Data analysis by Doug Smith and Sandra Poindexter

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Times staff writers Seema Mehta and Doug Smith and Times data analyst Sandra Poindexter contributed to this report.

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