Utah school reform list is revised

Five schools that the state identified as needing improvement and facing sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind Act are now off the list, but three other schools have been added.

State Title I director Karl Wilson apologized for the mistakes, and is sending out letters to principals and superintendents acknowledging schools were misidentified, which the schools "can use however they like to communicate with their public."

The designations are a big deal. If a school is on the list two consecutive years, parents have different options — mainly, transferring their children to a better-performing school on the district's dime or accessing tutoring services for their children. Being on school improvement also affects staff morale, and possibly, community perception about the school.

So misidentifying schools can create confusion and hard feelings.

"I think we need to apologize (for) a misunderstanding that caused (schools) both embarrassment and concern that was unnecessary," Wilson said.

"We take it very seriously. We want to make sure we follow through on our role in administering the Title I program that we're helping districts and schools as they take a look at how to help schools achieve, and misidentifying schools is a distraction in terms of what we're trying to accomplish."

The revised report was expected to be posted online Friday.

In the Davis School District, Vae View and Doxey elementaries, in Layton and Sunset, were removed for the revised list.

"Good for the two," Davis School District spokesman Chris Williams said. "We still have more faith in our numbers than the state's numbers. We understand they have millions of data cells to look at. Just this week, for instance, we got updated U-PASS numbers (the state's standardized test scores) that took Fairfield Junior High School from a no to a yes."

Three new schools were added to improvement list, mainly, because they were missed in the first run of the data, Wilson said.

The others were taken off the report largely because of a misunderstanding about whether those who made adequate yearly progress the year before on appeal actually made it, or if their status was to be frozen for a year, with the effect of a neutral ruling, said Wilson, who transferred to the post this year after leading the special-education department.

The original report was not forwarded to the federal government, so no corrections are required at that level, Wilson said.

The state initially identified Santaquin Elementary as needing improvement. The state removed it from the list after finding a clerical error.

"We're glad that they got the problem fixed," said Seth Sorensen, the Nebo School District's assessment director.