Roederer says waiver denial will have little impact here

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Recent denial of Iowa?s waiver request from certain provisions of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation will have little impact on the Mt. Pleasant Community School District, Superintendent Dr. John Roederer said Thursday.

?It shouldn?t impact us in any negative way,? he remarked. ?While I am a little surprised that the state?s waiver was denied, I am not surprised.?

Mt. Pleasant was one of 30 Iowa school districts on the 2011-12 districts in need of assistance for failing to meet NCLB annual measurable objectives (AMO) in math. In addition, four local attendance centers (high school, Wisdom Quest Education Center, middle school and Van Allen Elementary School) were identified as schools in need of assistance due to not meeting AMOs in either math or reading.

Iowa?s waiver request was denied, as Roederer understands it, due to the fact that its teacher evaluation procedure did not meet federal guidelines.

?Iowa needs to look more at student growth and performance in evaluation of teachers and administrators,? the superintendent said. ?We have to come up with a better evaluation model to be approved for the waiver.?

Since the denial of Iowa?s waiver request, Iowa Department of Education Director Jason Glass has requested a one-year freeze of the state target increases that schools are held to under the federal education law.

The targets vary by grade level and subject, but in most cases, they are set at about 80 percent and will increase by about 7 percent for the 2012-13 school year unless the one-year freeze is put in place.

While noting that goals are paramount, Roderer said that it will be impossible for state schools to meet some of the NCLB AMOs. For example, he noted that by the 2014, the AMO for student proficiency in math and reading is 100 percent.

?If (director) Glass? request is not granted, more (Iowa) schools will be identified as schools in need of assistance,? Roederer predicted.

Glass described his request for one-year relief from state target increases as a temporary and stop-gap measure while the state continues to see permanent relief from No Child Left Behind?s unrealistic accountability measures.

?We?re disappointed that Iowa did not receive a No Child Left Behind waiver, which would have allowed us to develop a rigorous accountability system that makes sense for Iowa and emphasizes student growth and progress in addition to proficiency on tests,? Glass said. ?We are hopeful that through this new request we can temporarily halt the ratcheting up of unrealistic targets that are included in the ?blame-and-shame? policies of No Child Left Behind.?

The federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires public schools and districts to meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) targets for the overall population and for demographic subgroups in grades 3-8 and grade 11. These subgroups include socio-economic status, limited English proficiency, race/ethnicity and special education.

Schools must meet all targets in every student group to meet AYP and must test 95 percent of students in each group. As prescribed under law, the U.S. Department of Education has put in place regular target increases to ensure schools meet certain standards in reading and mathematics.

President Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Anne Duncan last August invited states to apply for a waiver from the No Child Left Behind law in exchange for rigorous