PVCC Puma Press: April 2006

Palomino Elementary School 1 (K-3rd grade) located on 29th Street between Greenway and Bell Road is rated “Performing Plus” by Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards. However, the No Child Left Behind Act interprets the school’s AIMS scores to mean it is failing to make “adequate yearly progress.”

How can this be?

The federal government allows states to use their own tests for the NCLB evaluations. In Arizona, that test is AIMS, which grades schools as follows:

• Excelling,

• Highly Performing,

• Performing Plus,

• Performing,

• Underperforming

• Failing to Meet Academic Standards.

AIMS is given at several different grade levels; passing it is a requirement to receive a high school diploma. In elementary school, English Language Learners enrolled for three years or less take the AIMS test, but their scores are not counted in calculations of the school’s performance.

Therein lies the crux of the conflict. No Child Left Behind does not ignore English Language Learners’ scores as does AIMS. If the state may be considered lenient because it does not count English Language Learners’ scores in the early years, the federal government—NCLB—may be considered stringent because it does count their scores, regardless of the pupils’ inability to read and comprehend at grade level.

University of Texas San Antonio professor, Wayne E. Wright, says in the “Bilingual Research Journal” 2005, ‘English Language Learners Left Behind in Arizona,’ that NCLB is the first federal government education program attempting to ensure no child is left trapped in a public school in which he or she fails to make adequate yearly progress.

In accordance with NCLB, state and local education agencies establish baseline data and set yearly achievable objectives that must be met if a school is to show progress over the previous year. The federal government has set a goal of every child reading and doing math at grade level by the year 2014.

“There are six subgroups, which prior to NCLB, were generally ignored by public schools,” says Wright in the “Bilingual Research Journal.”

The subgroups include these:

• gender,

• racial and ethnic,

• migrant status,

• students with disabilities,

• students with limited English proficiency,

• economically disadvantaged students.

“At least 95 percent of the students in a subgroup must be tested each year,” Wright says. “If a subgroup does not reach its benchmark (achievable objectives) or if the subgroup is represented by fewer than 95 percent of its population, NCLB grades the entire school as failing to make adequate yearly progress.”

A school failing to meet its benchmark for five successive years is in danger of a state takeover.

Dr. Ana Ramos-Pell, Palomino principal says, “We had a state rating of underperforming when I took over three-and-a-half years ago.” She added that the school has earned a state rating of “Performing Plus” for the past three years, not counting the scores of English Language Learner students who have had less than three years of English instruction. In the latest AIMS test—April 2006—Palomino 1 scored the following percentages: Reading 63, Math 61 and Writing 61.

“We have a lot to be proud of,” says Ramos-Pell. The scores are displayed on her desk for every visitor to see.

Ramos-Pell says that Palomino’s 630 Hispanic pupils make up approximately 96 percent of the school’s population. Almost all of the pupils at Palomino live at the poverty level and are English language learners. Thus, the bulk of Palomino’s population meets three measurable subgroups of NCLB. The most important is English language learners. No Child Left Behind does not accept Arizona’s three-year grace period for learning English as a reason to exempt English language learner’s scores when they measure a school’s performance.

Ramos-Pell says that the school is in a high poverty and a high crime area.

“Families will move to another school location as soon as they can afford an apartment in another area—they watch for apartment specials,” says Ramos-Pell. Consequently, there is a high turnover rate in the school population

“With this kind of evaluation, we’ll never make adequate yearly progress,” says Ramos-Pell. “That’s why Tom Horne (Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction) is suing the federal government—to try and correct this situation.”

Horne has filed suit against the U.S. Department of Education over how Arizona schools are being assessed. His lawsuit asks a federal judge to allow Arizona to measure its students’ academic progress while exempting test scores of those with less than three years of English instruction.

Ramos-Pell says that the current situation places stress on pupils, parents and teachers. All our teachers are highly qualified—a requirement of NCLB.

“Teachers in K-6 have to be ‘English language learner’ endorsed or certified. They have to take more courses to learn strategies to teach English as a second language. The extra training does not include more money. Consequently, there is a 20 percent teacher turnover rate every year. I’m having trouble filling two openings from last year. There are 32 classrooms and two are being taught by substitutes,” says Ramos-Pell.

Ramos-Pell says that Palomino offers free tutoring to its pupils after school from 4:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. "A lot of parents take advantage of this opportunity and bring their children in for tutoring. Some don’t,” says Ramos-Pell. Parents also take advantage of this time to learn English.

The money for the “free” tutoring comes from the school’s Title I funds.

“For Title I schools, which are typically overcrowded, underfunded, understaffed, and overwhelmed with meeting the needs of English Language Learner students, the loss of any funds can be devastating. The threat of state take over is absolutely demoralizing, especially when teachers are doing their absolute best for their students within the constraints of state and federal policies,” says Wright