Article

Newark educators labored to lift their school from subpar performance under No Child Left Behind

Friday, August 17, 2007 • BY JOHN MOONEY • Star-Ledger Staff

Each year, the staff of Burnet Street School in Newark anxiously awaited the latest list of New Jersey schools that had failed to make the grade under a tough federal statute.

Working in one of Newark's tougher neighborhoods, the teachers and administrators at the century-old school had much on their plate, and the test scores tended to show it.

For five straight years, they failed to meet standards set by the No Child Left Behind act. Nevertheless, they plugged along. They submitted to endless scrutiny by district and state officials, listened to suggestions and analyzed the latest scores to see where they had come up short.

"It does give me a little more fire to do better, to prove them wrong," said third-grade teacher Fatara Hutchins.

This year, the hard work finally paid off.

When state officials released the list yesterday, Burnet Street wasn't one of the 863 schools facing sanctions under the controversial federal law.

Although Burnet still faces big challenges and some subpar scores, the school came off the list by showing enough improvement in some grades and, in other cases, actually passing the tests outright.

This was no small feat in a school that includes much of Newark's homeless schoolchildren, many living in the nearby YMCA on Broad Street. But administrators and teachers said focusing on those children's potential was among the strategies helping to boost the school toward success.

"No matter their background, all children have the ability to excel," said Kathy Duke-Jackson, principal for the last five years and credited in large part for the school's progress.

"We can't focus on where the kids come from," she added. "We just try to keep the end in mind."

The school is in rare company, one of just 56 statewide to fall off the sanction list this year and one of a handful of those that had edged near the severest penalties. Schools that fail six years running -- there are currently 49 in New Jersey -- must "restructure," a broadly defined mandate that prompts everything from an administrative shakeup to closure.

"Now hopefully, we can stay off," Duke-Jackson said.

The law demands every school match certain achievement levels in reading and math among all segments of students, including low-income and special education.

Those coming off the list need two successive years of matching what is called "adequate yearly progress."

Overall, nearly three-quarters of the state's public schools met the standards last year, a slight increase from the year before and continued improvement since the law was enacted in 2002.

"We continue to see improvement in the number of schools meeting AYP, and we're obviously happy to see that," said state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy, in making the annual announcement required under the law.

"But on the other hand, there is still much work to be done if we are to adequately prepare all students for the 21st century work force," she said.

Critics argue the law is overly reaching, forcing dramatic change even if a school fails to secure passing grades for even one category of students.

There also are problems with its sanctions. Schools that perennially appear on the list are obliged to offer their students free tutoring or transfers out. In 2005-06, just 2,000 out of more than 150,000 eligible students in New Jersey sought to transfer to higher-performing schools in their district, state officials said. Of those, only 600 ultimately transferred.

The number of sanctioned schools is also sure to grow as the law's requirements stiffen in the coming school year. For instance, 82 percent of an elementary school population will need to pass the language arts test next spring, up from 75 percent in the last school year. Seventy-three percent will need to pass in math, a big jump from the 62 percent demanded last year.

"It is hard to predict what that will mean," Davy said. "Some of (the increases) are sizable."

At the Burnet Street School, the shifting standards are just one obstacle Duke-Jackson and her staff of 63 need to think about when their 400 students return next month.

The principal doesn't downplay the challenges. One child placed in third grade last year had never been to school in her life. Many of the children come from impoverished homes.

Still, she said, attention to each child's specific needs has paid dividends.

"We are always working and looking at the data to see where we need to go with children individually," she said.

After years of heavy staff turnover, a core teaching staff has begun to gel and several of its members predicted new energy will come from being removed from the list.

"We didn't know what would happen," said second grade teacher Darla Salerno. "Maybe they would close us down, I didn't know. It's definitely a load off my mind."

Not that coming off the list signals perfection. Only about half the students passed the state tests overall, and in some grades the percentage was even less than that. Still, enough improvement was shown two years running to make it off.

"It's all in the numbers; it is a game," Duke-Jackson said. "But it's where we have to focus, and we know we still have a great challenge ahead of us."

Added Salerno: "But now when you hear Burnet Street, it's a positive thing. I feel good for the kids."

From failure to fulfillment

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