Fears rising that U-PASS won't pass fed scrutiny

For all the state talk on how U-PASS — the Utah Performance Assessment System for Students — is better for schoolchildren and should be used to meet federal No Child Left Behind goals, there is no formal proposal hammering out how it would all work.

The state has given only a draft paper to the U.S. Department of Education on how its school accountability system — which doesn't yet exist for practical purposes — would meet NCLB requirements.

The draft, reportedly in federal hands since March, is likely to change amid negotiations with the Department of Education.

And Utah's direction could shift in the aftermath of the Legislature's special session this week, during which debate will challenge NCLB's reach.

The flux leaves some to wonder what the future holds for Utah children: Will all kids be counted, or could some fade into the background — or fall through the cracks?

"In all fairness to the state board, in all fairness to the state superintendent, we don't know what U-PASS will entail . . . (or) how U-PASS is going to work, especially for members of the minority community," said Jim Martin, a Salt Lake fourth-grade teacher and member of the Utah Achievement Gap Coalition, which is staging a Monday rally.

'Myths and stereotypes'

No Child Left Behind requires all children, regardless of race, income or disability, to read and do math proficiently by 2014. It largely aims to force states to attend to long-standing achievement gaps.

Last year, 81 percent of all white students were proficient on Utah's language arts Criterion Referenced Tests — status earned by about half of Hispanics and American Indians. In math, three-fourths of whites, but fewer than half of Hispanics, blacks and American Indians, scored "proficient."

"We've got to pay a lot more attention" to minority student group performance," State Board of Education Chairman Kim Burningham said. "Our high (achievers are) very high, so it makes a bigger gap. But whatever it is, we've got to pay attention. I want to make sure that we do."

But how to go about the task is central to the debate.

Many educators and policymakers gripe that NCLB tags a school as substandard if a single group of kids doesn't meet the mark, or if fewer than 95 percent take tests. Last year, 16 percent of schools were so identified, down from 28 percent the year before.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Patti Harrington calls NCLB's approach ridiculous and morale-crushing. She cites conversations with parents afraid their children are being blamed.