Thousands of parents will have option to move students

In the next few weeks, thousands of parents in New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties will receive a letter giving them the choice to transfer their children to other schools in their districts.

The sanction comes under the federal No Child Left Behind law, which punishes schools that both receive Title I money - federal funds for economically disadvantaged students - and have failed to make adequate yearly progress for at least two years.

It's a sanction that's growing as more schools fail to meet steadily rising test targets. And it can result in crowded classrooms and long bus rides for some children.

In the upcoming school year, children may be transferred out of 11 schools in New Hanover County, six in Brunswick and one in Pender. Though some of these Title I schools made adequate yearly progress this year, they must make it for another year to get rid of the sanction and the designation as a "school of improvement."

Students may be transferred to designated schools that have made adequate yearly progress consistently, which means meeting the minimum required proficiency rate in end-of-year test scores. A school will fail if even one of its student subgroups misses the mark, which goes up every three years until 100 percent of students are expected to pass the state tests in 2013-14.

To pass the exams, students must score within a level 3 or higher, regardless of their academic or language impairments. The more diversity a school has, the more challenging it is to meet those goals, educators say.

"Schools with highly variable demographics have more subgroups, which means more target goals," Valita Quattlebaum, spokeswoman for New Hanover County Schools, said in an e-mail message. "In addition to meeting the target goals for all of the subgroups in both reading and math, each school must show progress as a whole subgroup."

No Child Left Behind raised the proficiency rate requirement for schools in the 2007-08 school year, and both New Hanover and Pender counties saw fewer schools make adequate yearly progress. Brunswick County's number remained the same.

In all three counties, fewer than half the schools made the mark.

"I truly think No Child Left Behind has caused us to look at better education for every child," said Faye Nelson, Brunswick County Schools' executive director for accountability. "But the expectation to meet every student subgroup simultaneously seems unrealistic. It puts the same timeline on every student to reach the goal."

The transfer burden

Districts having "schools of improvement" must pay to transport the students being transferred and adjust their bus routes. Brunswick County, a large county where schools are spread out, already has encountered problems with crowded schools and long bus rides for students because of the transfers.

Last year, 133 students transferred out of the county's "schools of improvement," Nelson said. Extra classes had to be added to Southport, Union and Virginia Williamson elementary schools, the ones that had made adequate yearly progress and were designated to receive the students. Union received 55 transfer students and Southport about 45, which was a problem because the schools were already at capacity, Nelson said.

Once again this year, these schools might have to accommodate transfer students from the same schools as last year: Belville, Bolivia, Jessie Mae Monroe, Lincoln and Supply elementary schools and Waccamaw, a K-8 school.

Tutoring instead?

For Lincoln and Waccamaw, the county school system is seeking a waiver from the state to allow them to offer tutoring services to students rather than transfers, said Pam Collins, the schools' director of Title I funding. Students leaving those schools would have to spend a lot of time in yellow buses going to their chosen school, Collins said.

"I do not feel adequate yearly progress truly measures what we're doing in our schools," said Brunswick County Schools' Superintendent Katie McGee. "It's unfair to the schools. It's unfair to the employees. It's unfair to the students."

Still, McGee pointed out, Brunswick - with 7 out of 17, or 41.2 percent, of schools having made adequate yearly progress - did better than both New Hanover and Pender counties in 2007-08.

For 2007-08, 77.2 percent of students in grades 3 through 8 were required to pass the end-of-grade math test, compared with 65.8 percent for 2006-07.

Many stay put

Some schools were unable to make the almost 12-point increase, said Joyce Keith, spokeswoman for Pender County Schools. In her county, five of 15 schools, or 33.3 percent, made adequate yearly progress for 2007-08, a dramatic drop from the 71.4 percent the year before.

But like last year, only one school in the county will have to give parents the choice to transfer their children, and that's Cape Fear Middle School, Keith said. Only four students transferred out of the school last year, she added.

"A lot of parents choose to keep their children in the same school, because they realize it's a good school," said Quattlebaum, of New Hanover County.

Last year, 86 New Hanover students transferred out of "schools of improvement."

Of 38 schools in New Hanover County, 11, or 28.9 percent, made the grade. That's down from the 2006-07 rate of 40 percent.

The number of schools in the county that did not make adequate yearly progress for at least two years and must offer transfers also increased, from five to the following 11: College Park, Freeman, Gregory, Murrayville, Snipes, Sunset Park, Williams and Wrightsboro elementary schools and Virgo, Murray and Williston middle schools.

School districts have yet to release individual subgroups' scores. The current results for adequate yearly progress are based on schools' math scores and high school reading scores. The reading scores for grades 3 through 8 won't be released until November, as a new, and likely higher, pass score is being set.

Ana Ribeiro: 343-2327

ana.ribeiro@starnewsonline.com