No Child Left Behind shifting Utah's way

The federal government cracked open a door Friday that could quell some of Utah's gripes over No Child Left Behind.

U.S. Department of Education is going to let up to 10 states use students' academic growth to satisfy No Child Left Behind rules in a pilot program next school year.

Utah has been asking to use a growth model that awards schools points for bringing up struggling students, even if they're still below grade level.

"I'm thrilled with the announcement," state Superintendent of Public Instruction Patti Harrington said in a Friday interview from Richmond, Va. "I think this is another signal the department is trying to reach out with greater flexibility and honor for what states already are doing and have done in terms of accountability."

The department will take applications from states wanting to participate, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said in a Friday address to the Council of Chief State School Officers' annual policy forum in Richmond.

"Many educators and policymakers have asked me about the possibility of using growth models to recognize the progress schools are making toward this goal . . . to close the achievement gap and get every child to grade level or above by 2014," Spellings said, according to her speech released by the federal department.

"A growth model is not a way around accountability standards. It's a way for states that are already raising achievement and following the bright-line principles of the law to strengthen accountability."

Harrington said the State Board of Education ultimately will decide whether Utah will apply to be a pilot state. Utah meets initial criteria, including having two years of data (last year and the current year); a way to track students over time; and plans for a longitudinal growth-based model, which would track students from one year to the next, rather than this year's third-graders, for instance, versus next year's third-graders, Harrington said.

"I believe we have a jump-start on it," she said.

Superintendents soon will receive a letter detailing the proposal, Spellings said.

No Child Left Behind aims to have all children, regardless of race, income or disability, do well on reading and math tests by 2014. It measures states' progress toward that goal every year and singles out schools in which even one group of students is underperforming.

Some ethnic minority advocates in Utah have cheered the law. But some education officials hate its all-or-nothing approach, how it fails to measure a student's growth over time and other concerns. This year, the Utah Legislature decried the federal law as an encroachment on states' rights. It passed a law prioritizing state educational goals over federal mandates.

Since, Harrington has met with Spellings over Utah's concerns in attempts to promote understanding. Friday's announcement continued her good feelings.

"I'm encouraged," Harrington said. "I believe (Spellings) is doing everything she can . . . to make sense out of this very complicated law."

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