Shortfalls cited in educating disabled
Not meeting No Child Left Behind mandate national trend, education official says
By Cathy Hayden, chayden@clarionledger.com, November 7, 2004

LINK

Federal Standards

Mississippi has 880 public schools that must meet the No Child Left Behind standards. One of the academic indicators is that schools are expected to make progress in the percentages of students who score on grade level in reading and math tests.

Special education

133 schools statewide failed to meet the reading standard for special education students. Those in the metro-area include:
Canton: Canton Elementary, McNeal Elementary and Nichols Middle
Jackson: Blackburn Middle, Brinkley Middle, Hardy Middle, Northwest Jackson Middle, Peeples Middle, Powell Middle, Siwell Road Middle, Whitten Middle, Johnson Elementary and Key Elementary
Pearl: Pearl Upper Elementary
Hinds County: Byram Middle and Carver Middle
Rankin County: Brandon Elementary, Brandon Middle, Rouse Elementary, Florence Middle and Northwest Rankin Middle.

100 schools statewide failed to meet the math standard for special education students. Those in the metro-area include:
Jackson: Blackburn Middle, Brinkley Middle, Hardy Middle, Northwest Jackson Middle, Peeples Middle, Powell Middle, Rowan Middle, Siwell Road Middle and Whitten Middle in Jackson
Canton: Canton Elementary, McNeal Elementary and Nichols Middle
Hinds County: Byram Middle
Rankin County: Florence Middle and Northwest Rankin Middle.

Source: State Department of Education data; analysis by The Clarion-Ledger

Dozens of Mississippi schools failed to meet federal standards on educating students with disabilities, many of them falling short for the first time this year.

That was the top reason, but not the only one. Some Mississippi schools were put on notice for not meeting "adequate yearly progress" of the federally mandated No Child Left Behind Act. For high schools, another reason was not graduating enough students, according to a Clarion-Ledger analysis of state Department of Education data.

Schools learned in September if they didn't make adequate yearly progress.
If the schools fail to reach the federal benchmark again next year, they must offer parents the option of sending their child to another school. Those schools who missed it before already are offering school choice.

Mandy Rogers, a parent of two disabled sons who serves on a statewide special education advisory committee, is concerned schools that did not meet adequate yearly progress are blaming students and not accepting their responsibility.

"It's not the children; it's a lack of progress ... a lapse in instruction," said Rogers, whose sons are in Madison County schools, all of which met adequate yearly progress.

Schools must make adequate yearly progress in having more students testing proficient, or on grade level, each year in nine categories.

Rogers is concerned about pressure on federal officials to water down No Child Left Behind so the test scores of students with disabilities don't count the same as regular education students. "If that happens, who's next?" Rogers asked.

Melody Bounds, director of special education in the state Department of Education, said schools not meeting the mandate on educating students with disabilities is a national trend. "Children with disabilities have been off the radar screen so long, and the results are taking everybody by surprise," she said.

Mississippi schools had the most difficulty with the reading and math categories for students with disabilities and for students in poverty.

In the past, students with disabilities frequently did not take state tests or, if they did, were not included as part of accountability systems. That changed with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, which kicked in in fall 2003.

"We really believe that all kids can learn," Bounds said.

The state is increasing training with local school districts on some issues relating to why their students, particularly special education students, may not be making the expected progress.

One of the issues is ensuring all teachers understand the state curriculum and know how best to meet the needs of the "widest possible range of students," Bounds said.

Many special education students are included in regular education classes. "We want to make sure all teachers can teach all kids," she said.

"The biggest challenge are students who are several years behind ... maybe with mild disabilities (who have) fallen two, three or four years behind and now the district is faced with the challenge of bringing them up to grade level immediately or within a year," she said. "We are trying to get kids early and meet the needs early so we won't be faced with this down the road."

The special education categories were a problem for several Rankin County schools.

Mariella Simons, director of instruction for Rankin County schools, said the district as a whole did not meet the standard, either, because too many disabled students districtwide did not score proficient.

The district has 1,706 students among about 16,000 who receive special education services that could be as little as speech therapy, from pre-kindergarten through grade 12, said Pam Hopkins, director of special education in Rankin County.

Mississippi tests students in grades 2-3 on the Mississippi Curriculum Tests in reading, language and math. In Rankin County, 661 special education students were tested in reading and language and 661 were tested in math.

They are tested one of three ways: Some take the MCT for their age group, just like regular education students. Some take the MCT but are tested at the grade level they are working on rather than their age level. That could mean a 10-year-old who would normally be in fifth grade is actually being tested on a third-grade level.

And some students, such as trainable mentally retarded, could be tested based on the life skills they are expected to know.

Rankin County schools are stressing teachers coordinate more through workshops and meetings. The district also is putting more disabled students into regular classes so they can learn the regular curriculum they will be tested on in the spring, Simons said.

No Child Left Behind requires all students to show progress, and it requires students with disabilities to be tested unless their disability is too severe.

Simons said Rankin County schools prefer to see it as an opportunity to improve. "We're looking at it as a positive for our district," she said.

In addition to making adequate yearly progress in the numbers of students testing proficient, schools also must meet a category chosen by each state. Mississippi uses graduation rates for high schools and average daily attendance for all other schools.

Fourteen Mississippi high schools failed to meet the graduation standard, which requires at least 73 percent of the students who began there as ninth-graders go on to graduate. The schools also were cited if they failed to show they were making progress toward that goal.

Some of those schools - including Jackson's Forest Hill High and Wingfield High - have missed it for two years and are offering choice this year.

Susan Rucker, associate state superintendent of education, said high schools had some flexibility with graduation rates if they showed progress.

Because every public school student has an identification number, the state can track each to other schools or tell if a student received a high school equivalency certificate. "The data is accurate, but it's only as accurate as the school district puts in (the computer)," Rucker said.

However, graduation data is now calculated a year behind. This year's adequate yearly progress indicator used spring 2003 graduation rates.

Steven Broome, assistant superintendent for high schools in Jackson schools, said the district has put a lot of work into both increasing average daily attendance and stemming the dropout rate, but the results may not show up in data for several years.

Each middle and high school now has an attendance clerk who checks on missing students. The 38 elementary schools where attendance tends to be higher share three clerks.

"It's something we're working on, but it's going to take a lot of time and effort," Broome said.

Send this link to a friend.