Howell to appeal failing grade
Officials say larger schools with special needs kids shouldn't separate MEAP scores.
By Linda Theil and John M. Galloway, Special to The Detroit News, 11/15/04

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Howell: A group of middle school math and special education teachers met last week to conduct an analysis of all the MEAP objectives. "The more we make everyone aware of how these objectives are tested - not only to learn the skill but how to apply it - the more everyone will benefit," said Sue Pethoud, the head of the Three Fires Middle School Math Department.

Brighton: The Brighton Area Schools are developing an Instructional Consultation Team program based on a model used with great success in Northville schools.

Hartland Township: Kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers will look at the district's core curriculum in math, science, social studies and language arts from the standpoint of special needs students. "We want to make our special education students better with the core curriculum, teach them state standards and benchmarks in a way they can understand so they'll be more successful with the MEAP," said Laurie Mayes, assistant superintendent for curriculum.

Information: Michigan school report cards, searchable by school

HOWELL - Howell Public Schools administrators say they will appeal the state's assessment that the district failed to make "adequate yearly progress" as outlined in the federal No Child Left Behind legislation.

The district has until Thursday to appeal the results of the district report card.

In September, the district appealed the results of the Howell High School assessment, published by the state last week. State school officials have not responded to that appeal. Both appeals are based on the same concern - why the district was given a failing grade.

The high school failed because a group of special education students failed to pass the 11th-grade MEAP math test, said Jeanne Farina, assistant superintendent for curriculum in the Howell Public Schools. Brighton High School and Hartland High School also failed for that reason.

The three Livingston County high schools are among 30 of the 937 Michigan high schools that did not make adequate yearly progress solely because of the failing performance of the special education group.

If the special education students' scores had been considered with all other school district students' scores, Farina said the schools would have made adequate yearly progress. But Michigan requires any group of 30 or more students in a subgroup, such as special education students, to be graded separately.

Failure of the subgroup causes failure for the school and the district.

Howell's appeal to the state is based on two objections - one statistical, one legal.

The statistical objection relates to defining a subgroup as having 30 students. Howell administrators would like the subgroup to be based on a percentage of students rather than a specific number.

A specific number penalizes large high schools, such as Howell, with 547 11th-graders taking the MEAP test, said Farina. Since 12 percent to 14 percent of Howell students receive special education services, it is more likely that a large school will have more than 30 students in a subgroup that must be graded separately.

Hartland High School's failure to make adequate progress was based on the failure of 31 students in a special education subgroup, said Laurie Mayes, assistant superintendent for curriculum in the Hartland Consolidated Schools. Without that subgroup scrutiny, Mayes said the high school would not have failed. Hartland does not intend to appeal the assessment.

Martin Ackley, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Education, said the state has no plans to change the 30-member subgroup rule, although the federal regulations allow states to set their own subgroup rules. Most states have a 50-student subgroup or a percentage rule.

The second basis for the Howell appeal refers to the state's requirement that 1 percent of the special education student population may report the results from alternative tests toward the school district's assessment.

Alternative testing for special education students includes a specialized form of the MEAP test or one of two forms of a test for severely disabled students called MI-ACCESS.

The 1 percent rule leaves a great number of special-education students unassessed, said Farina.

She said there is a conflict between the federal legislation requiring students to be assessed according to their needs and the No Child Left Behind legislation that allows 1 percent of a specific grade-level population to apply MI-ACCESS passing grades to the adequate yearly progress results.

Sally Vaughn, superintendent for the Livingston Educational Service Agency (LESA), said the 1 percent rule is an anomaly in the law because 3 percent to 4 percent of newborns will be severely disabled.

Brighton Special Education Director Ron Misiak said his district will not appeal its No Adequate Yearly Progress assessment, but the school district will work with LESA administrators to draft a letter to state legislative representatives asking for clarification on the 1 percent issue.

"Our position is we're going to let the students' Individual Education Plan (a learning guide created for each special education student) dictate who takes the MI-ACCESS assessment," Misiak said. "We're not going to ask students to take the MEAP when they need to take the MI-ACCESS."

But even the MI-ACCESS will not address the needs of many students who fall between the MI-ACCESS and MEAP extremes, said Farina.

"It's extremely unfair to special education students to expect them to perform at grade level when we know in fact they're not at grade level," Farina said.

Ackley said the state has no plans to address this issue.

"According to the federal law, only 1 percent of the MI-ACCESS tests can be used as being proficient," Ackley said. "It's a federal requirement that states don't have the option of adjusting."


Linda Theil is a Metro Detroit free-lance writer.