Childhood Hunger
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- August 6
Students in poverty falling behind August 6, 2008
Mike Longaecker
The Republican EagleRED WING, Minnesota — Red Wing school officials will take aim at bolstering achievement among economically disadvantaged students in light of state report card results.
For the second-straight year, students eligible for free and reduced-price lunches failed to meet state benchmarks in both math and reading.
“Poverty remains the stubborn issue in our schools and community,” Supt. Stan Slessor said. “We’ve got to begin different strategies.”
This week, the Department of Education released results of whether schools were making annual yearly progress toward federal No Child Left Behind standards.
Progress is gauged by how certain groups within school populations fared on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment II tests.
Statewide results show the number of schools meeting AYP has slipped significantly since 2006. According to the data, 983 schools reached the benchmark this year, while 937 did not.
Red Wing’s districtwide data showed six of the eight defined groups were not proficient at reading.
Those groups were: American Indian, Hispanic, black, limited English proficiency, special education and students eligible for free and reduced price lunches.
In prior years, some of those subgroups have not met the 40-student threshold for statistical eligibility.
“As our community becomes more diverse, the more it affects our AYP status,” said Cathy Radmer, the district’s curriculum director.
Special education students at Red Wing High School and those eligible for free lunches districtwide were not proficient at math, according to the data.
The results mean that for the second consecutive year, the state is forcing Red Wing to take corrective action. That means submitting an improvement plan to the state and setting aside 12 percent of Title I funds — money dedicated to elementary-level math and reading improvement — for general school improvement efforts.
While state report card results identify specific areas for improvement, Slessor said he’s not frustrated; aggregate data paint a more positive picture, he noted.
“What heartens me was overall performance in Red Wing as a whole was up at a faster rate than the state average,” Slessor said.
Other improvements were seen at the district’s alternative learning programs, where Tower View school and the Red Wing midlevel Alternative Learning Center both reached AYP benchmarks after being flagged in 2007.
Meanwhile, Red Wing school officials are mapping out how they plan to turn subpar scores around.
Intervention programs, like those introduced in 2007, will play a major role, Radmer and Slessor said.
“Last year was a breakthrough for us,” Slessor said of intervention programs, which involve devoting intensified math and reading instruction to struggling students.
School officials have praised interventions for math score increases among some grades in 2008 tests.
Radmer said other fixes will include continuing to align curriculum to the state tests and outreach directly into households. She said results mailed to parents include options for online help that are specific to each student.
Another boost could come from the state, Radmer noted. The Department of Education deployed resources last year to Red Wing for math assistance.
“I’m hoping that in light of the state data, we’ll see some of those reading resources come to us as well,” Radmer said.
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