Middle Schools statewide struggle to meet criteria; nearby counties' numbers better.

Wednesday, October 08, 2003 • By TERRENCE DOPP • The Express-Times

TRENTON -- Days after the state announced two-thirds of New Jersey high schools failed to meet requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the state's middle schools faced a similar fate, with 245 placed on an "early warning" list, the Department of Education said Tuesday.

But according to DOE statistics, most middle schools in Warren and Hunterdon counties fared well in the survey of the Grade Eight Proficiency Tests administered annually to middle school students.

One school, North Warren High School, was announced as one of 15 statewide to reach "safe harbor" status, meaning it had improved over last year to clear the NCLB's mandated levels of proficiency.

Flemington-Raritan Regional, Warren Hills Regional and Phillipsburg middle schools were the only ones in the two counties not to clear all hurdles of the federal law. Flemington-Raritan and Warren Hills both reached adequate performance levels in 38 out of 40 indicators used by the federal law to gauge student performance.

Phillipsburg, an Abbot, or financially struggling district, cleared 37 of the hurdles.

"We're on the right track and headed in the right direction," said Phillipsburg Superintendent Gordon Pethick. "We have a lot of things going on right now. It's just a matter of whenever they hit, everything's going to come to fruition."

John Toleno, superintendent of North Warren Regional School District, could not be reached due to a board of education meeting he was attending.

Under the federal law, schools are evaluated according to 40 criteria such as participation in language arts and math proficiency exams and yearly improvement on those tests. All scores are also judged against the schools' racial and economic characteristics.

Schools failing to show progress two consecutive years in the state-administered Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment are deemed "in need of improvement."

Pethick said he supports most of the No Child Left Behind guidelines, but said the act has been implemented too quickly to allow all schools to adjust. Procedures for reporting results need to be perfected, and some areas need fine-tuning, Pethick added.

But it has proven controversial in some education circles. Common complaints range from the act trying to shoehorn a federal education plan into districts where it doesn't fit, to claims that its provision mandating that under-performing schools lose money will siphon funding from the schools that need it most.

State Education Commissioner William Librera has criticized the law, which is the cornerstone of President Bush's education plan. Librera contends the results are not indicative of true school performance.

"These are not failing schools," Librera said, echoing statements he made last week. "The Department of Education continues to see these schools unfairly, and inaccurately, labeled as such. These are schools that are either in the 'needs improvement' category, or are in danger of being placed in the category next year."

Pethick said last week's revelation that 271 out of 371 public high schools in the state did not pass muster highlights the danger of rapid implementation of the NCLB.

"I get concerned when I see the number of schools that are not passing around the state," he said.

Along with the 245 early-warning schools, another 265 schools are on the list of schools that are deemed in need of improvement, a more serious classification. None locally were included on that list.

"This speaks to some of the problems we see with the implementation of this federal law," Librera said. "We think the goals of this legislation are admirable, but the implementation of this is fraught with many problems.

"Much of this information, coupled with the problems in implementation, creates unfair conclusions about these schools."

Under No Child Left Behind, schools deemed in need of improvement must offer students the choice of transferring to a more successful institution in the district. Repeated failures can put federal education funding in jeopardy.

The 40 indicators used in the rankings include a minimum of 95 percent participation rate in language arts literacy and math tests, along with meeting the Adequate Yearly Progress benchmark target in the same subject areas. The results are then examined by looking at 10 subgroups.

Those subgroups included: total school population, students with disabilities, limited English proficiency students, white, African-American, Asian/Pacific Islander, American Indian/Native American, Hispanic, other, and economically disadvantaged.