White Hall School District Superintendent Dr. Larry Smith welcomed the news that Arkansas schools no longer must meet the No Child Left Behind regulations.
Rather than answer questions about meeting AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) under the 2001 George W. Bush-era law, Smith said educators now must focus on “closing the gap” between students at the low and high ends of the academic scale.
Smith, like many education administrators, has viewed No Child Left Behind with a bit of disdain. Under provisions of the law, every child was expected to be proficient in math and literacy by 2014.
“Not all children are alike and they don’t learn at the same pace,” he observed.
The U.S. Department of Education in late June granted Arkansas a waiver to be granted flexibility in meeting NCLB requirements. Twenty-six states have been granted exemptions from NCLB and 10 more states and Washington D.C. have pending waiver applications.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Smith said White Hall and Redfield schools still will have rigorous standards, but they’ll be what he termed more realistic.
States granted waivers must develop plans to improve and evaluate student performance, focusing on students in lower performing schools, the U.S. Department of Education said.
The White Hall district is the only Jefferson County district that has not had a school placed on the state departments initial lists of lower performing schools.
The state has taken over the Dollarway School District and removed the superintendent and school board. Dollarway High School, Robert F. Morehead Middle School and Altheimer’s Martin Elementary School are among 48 schools the state designated as among the lowest performing schools in Arkansas.
Pine Bluff High School, Jack Robey Junior High School, Belair Middle School and Oak Park and Greenville elementary schools were also among the lowest performing schools on the state list.
Watson Chapel High School was one of 109 schools identified as “Needs Improvement Focus Schools.”
“We plan on doing the best job possible on educating children in this district and reducing the gap between our best achieving students and the lowest achieving students,” Smith said, based on performance, growth and graduation rate.
Instead of a target year of 2014, it is now 2017, Smith added.
“It’ll take six months to figure it out,” he observed, noting five performance classifications are involved. Superintendents are scheduled to receive a briefing July 16 on the requirements.
“There are some real positives to it,” Smith said during an interview with The Progress in his office. “It’s not a set percentage for gains, but closing that gap – your own schools’ gap – not everyone’s.”
In addition to a new evaluation system, White Hall administrators will be occupied during the start of the 2012-13 school year on Aug. 20 implementing changes in all district schools.
Junior high schools in White Hall and Redfield will convert to the middle school concept, with sixth-graders moving from elementary schools to the middle schools. Ninth-graders will shift to White Hall High School, which was expanded by a 17 classroom addition.
“We will be a bit busier than normal with the start of this school year with all the changes involved,” Smith noted.