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Center On Education Policy:
California educators face an uphill battle to improve schools in restructuring -- the No Child Left Behind Act's ultimate sanction for struggling schools according to a new study from the Washington, D.C. based Center on Education Policy.
The number of California schools in NCLB restructuring nearly doubled in the last year, increasing from 401 schools in 2005-06 to 701 in 2006-07, or roughly 8% of California schools.
Schools are placed in restructuring when they missed adequate yearly progress (AYP) targets for five or more consecutive years must undertake reform strategies intended to boost their performance.
Contrary to the assumption behind the U.S. Department of Education's recent call for disallowing "minor" restructuring strategies in favor of replacing staff or reconstituting the school's governance structure, CEP's study finds that California schools that replaced staff were no more likely to increase the percentages of proficient students on state tests than restructuring schools in general.
Instead, officials at schools that improved student achievement attributed their success to analyzing school data and tailoring interventions to the needs of the particular school.
The report also finds that few California schools in restructuring converted into charter schools (2 percent) or turned their operation over to an outside entity (10 percent).
The case studies show that all the participating schools have implemented teacher team planning time, added teacher or principal coaches and changed their schedules to allow more time for special instruction for struggling students.
Posted on March 12, 2007 08:34 PM
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