2 Schools Deemed Underperforming; State faults ALL
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Staff
February 25, 2005
The Accelerated Learning Laboratory and Worcester East Middle School are underperforming and will need to submit a workable school improvement plan to the state Department of Education within the next six months, state officials said.
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In both cases, the review team concluded that the schools did not have an effective plan for improving pupil performance and that they lacked the capacity to implement needed changes to their programs and practices.
Once a school is deemed underperforming, it has two years to improve student achievement. Failure to do so could result in the school being labeled chronically underperforming, a designation that could trigger state receivership.
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The fact-finding review helps the schools identify their strengths and
weaknesses, helps guide the development of their improvement plan, and provides
other assistance,
including $25,000 in funding.
School Superintendent James A. Caradonio said that unlike the initial panel
reviews, the fact-finding process was "well-organized and clearly focused on improving
student instruction."
"All we are seeking is fairness from the Department of Education," he said. "Where we are not doing well, tell us. Where we need to improve, tell us, and we will work to address those areas."
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Since 2000, the state has conducted panel reviews of more than 70 schools, and determined that about half of them were underperforming. The number of schools reviewed, however, is less than 20 percent of the schools the state has identified as struggling.
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Because additional state resources and technical assistance are not
made available to struggling schools until they have undergone a panel
review, observers
such
as S. Paul Reville, executive director of the Rennie Center for Education Research
and Policy at MassINC, said it is incumbent on the state to move as fast as
possible to conduct these reviews.
The state, however, according to Mr. Reville, lacks the capacity to mount the
level of intervention that is needed.
"The most prominent issue for resolution today is what do we do with underperforming schools and districts," Mr. Reville said.
"We have developed the capacity to identify schools and districts that are struggling, but we have not developed the capacity to help them. A program that identifies failing schools, but does nothing to turn them around, is not a very strong one."
After spending $2 million on school and district intervention the past couple of years, the Department of Education is asking the state to raise that budget line item to $5.6 million in fiscal 2006.
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