The Kansas Department of Education says 12 Wichita schools are "on improvement" for the 2010 - 2011 school year. The schools failed to meet standards under "No Child Left Behind."
Elementary Schools
- Spaght, Linwood, Franklin, Anderson, Gardiner, Lincoln, and Stanley.
- Curtis, Hamilton, Jardine, Pleasant Valley, and Truesdell.
Under "No Child Left Behind" schools must meet Adequate Yearly Progress (or AYP). AYP is based on improvement on state test scores each year. If students don't make their goal their school is placed "on improvement."
The 12 Wichita schools on this year's list is 3 more than last year. Spaght and Linwood Elementary Schools and Curtis Middle School met their AYP goal in 2010. But schools must meet AYP 2 consecutive years to be removed from the "on improvement" list.
More information on Wichita schools and AYP in USD 259
As teachers get their now empty classrooms ready for this school year, they learn about how they did last school year. 12 wichita schools learn Monday they need to improve because they didn't meet the standards set by the federal No Child Left Behind Program.
And while Wichita parents find out about their schools' test scores, parents in another Kansas school district say they want to get rid of standardized tests.
The rooms at Wichita's Spaught Elementary will not be quiet for much longer. Teachers have been working hard to get their rooms ready for the new school year. But months ago, they also worked hard, and succeeded, in bringing up student test scores.
"We were just ecstatic," said teacher Janelle Roland. "We worked so hard."
Spaught is one of several Wichita schools that has been on a State Improvement Watch list, because not enough of it's students passed state standardized tests. Its teachers say they focused on data to get test scores up.
"And not just grade data, but really breaking it down and looking at individual students," explained Roland. "What does this kid need? Where is the gap? What is he not getting, or what is she not getting, that I can maybe do a quick little lesson during my intervention time?"
But one school wants to do away with state standardized testing. McPherson would replace the state assessments with it's own assessments. And it would be the first in the state to do so.
That's something parent Robin Werth would like to see. "When I hear the teachers talk about something they need to cover that are on the assessments," the mother of two said, "I sit there and wonder if this is a waste of my tax dollars."
Werth doesn't want her fifth grader to take another standardized test, or her kindergartner to have to take one.
"Because life isn't about tests," she said. "Life is about being a citizen, and being ready for college and being ready to work. Life isn't about tests."
Those three things - citizenship, college, and career - are what McPherson wants to focus on.
But Wichita will continue to focus on yearly progress, and bringing test scores up.
