'Failing' schools to lose students under new law

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

Hawai'i's system for letting students transfer to schools outside their neighborhoods would change radically this fall under a timetable announced yesterday for implementation of a new federal law.

Under provisions of the No Child Left Behind law, low-income students from 85 high-poverty, low-performing schools in Hawai'i will be given top priority for transfers to higher-performing schools.

That will likely undo the state's current system of geographic exceptions, which relies on lotteries to determine who will get transfers if more students apply than can be accommodated in their requested schools.

State education officials were aware of provisions of the new law, which President Bush signed in January, but learned of the timetable only yesterday, when a federal report announced that as many as 3.5 million students in roughly 8,600 failing public schools nationwide will have the right to transfer in the fall.

Those numbers, based on reports submitted by states to the federal Department of Education, reflect the schools that have failed to meet state academic standards for at least two consecutive years. Comparisons among the states are difficult because each sets its own standards for what students must know and how much progress they must make each year.

Hawai'i is requesting a delay in implementation of the law while state Department of Education officials await federal government direction on what data should be used to identify failing schools.

That is because the Hawai'i list of 85 struggling, high-poverty — or Title I — schools is based on data from two years ago.

Hawai'i students did not take standardized tests in April 2001 because of a statewide teachers strike that lasted nearly a month. Results from this year's test, taken in April, won't be back from the testing company, Harcourt Brace, until August at the earliest.

"Parents should not jump to the conclusion that their school is failing," said Paul Ban, Title I specialist at the DOE. "If we have to count all 85 schools then it needs to be explained to the public that we had no recourse than to use data from two years ago. The list has nothing to do with reality."

Hawai'i wants to wait at least a year before starting the program to give the DOE time to use the more recent test scores to determine which schools meet state standards.

The No Child Left Behind law forces schools that have failed to meet standards for two years in a row to let students transfer to better public schools within the district. Schools that fail for three consecutive years also must pay for extra academic help, such as tutoring.

Michigan identified more than 1,500 schools as chronically failing — more than any other state. That accounts for about one-third of the state's public schools, but state officials said the high number reflects the rigor of Michigan's standards and tests. California identified 1,009 schools and New York identified 529.

Two states — Arkansas and Wyoming — said they had no schools that failed to meet standards for two consecutive years.

"We need to know in America whether or not our children can read and write and add and subtract," Bush told a crowd of supporters in Cleveland yesterday. "And if we find they can't, something else has to happen. We cannot allow our children to be trapped in schools that won't teach and won't change."

The 3.5 million students in failing schools account for about 7 percent of the public school population. All attend Title I schools.

If Hawai'i had to implement the school-choice program this fall, it is unclear how many spaces would be available to students wanting to transfer.

Geographic exceptions have already been handed out for the coming school year. Parents could apply to send their child to another campus from January through March.

Under current rules, campuses must accept students if they have the room; if a campus has more applicants than spaces, a lottery is held in April.

"The G.E. law would pretty much say that at least for now we won't be able to implement the school-choice policy because the schools will be full," Ban said. "Federal law doesn't require you to create space. I would imagine that Hawai'i and other states will run into the problem that they are at capacity at the beginning of school. You can't create more space than what you have."

The Board of Education will likely have to change the geographic exception rules, which have the force of law, to comply with No Child Left Behind.

Poverty is a major risk factor for poor performance in school.

Schools are considered to be Title I if at least 45 percent of their students qualify for the federal free- and reduced-lunch program. The Title I designation gives them more federal money to use for special programs and curriculum, but also requires them to make "adequate yearly progress."

More than $20 million a year is divided among so-called "poverty schools" in Hawai'i. Schools must show they are putting that money to good use by demonstrating progress in math, reading and writing scores on the Hawai'i-based standardized test.

But that progress has proved elusive, and Hawai'i's poverty schools still are the state's underachievers.

In the 1999-2000 school year, the most recent for which data is available, 85 Title I schools were identified as needing improvement.

In the 1998-1999 school year, 95 schools fell short of the mark for two years running.

Principals and teachers at Title I schools often face uphill battles in trying to improve test scores because of family problems that range from hunger to violence or a lack of school clothes.

The state's number of poverty schools is also increasing.

In 1995, Hawai'i had 95 poverty schools; now it has 142.

Gannett News Service contributed to this report.

Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.