Utah eases NCLB rules for districts

District superintendents can broadly interpret rules for letting schools pass No Child Left Behind — they'll just have to back up their actions in the event of a federal audit.

That's the latest from the State Office of Education following three months of questions over whether school districts can apply certain rules that would give more schools a passing grade under the controversial federal law.

"Were not saying blow off the law," state Superintendent of Public Instruction Patti Harrington told the Deseret Morning News Friday. "Our expectation is they have sound reason (for granting appeals). It will be theirs to justify when the auditors come."

While local district superintendents praise part of the stance — federal law gives them ultimate say, anyway — at least two fear a broad interpretation for granting appeals opens the door to inconsistency at best. It also puts the state in a position to provide lax oversight, for which it was chastised in its most recent federal audit.

"I'm not sure what the reports are going to mean other than one district has the resources to appeal it ... and use different calculations until you arrive at one that allows you to classify schools how you want to classify them," Box Elder Superintendent Martell Menlove said. "I think there need to be additional guidelines."

No Child Left Behind expects all students to be able to read and do math well by 2014. States issue reports measuring "adequate yearly progress," or AYP, toward the goal. Every student group, based on race, income, disability and limited English skills, has to make progress on tests or the school fails.

Last spring, 256 Utah schools failed to make AYP, the state education office reported this fall. Schools can appeal for calculation errors or extreme circumstances affecting test-taking. Sixty-one schools in that fall state report made the mark on appeal — the highest number since the year of the law's debut.

The number since has increased by at least 25 Granite District schools, assistant superintendent Linda Mariotti said.

Here's why.

A handful of large school districts, notably, Davis, averaged seven schools' test scores over three years, as federal law allows when the district is uncertain of AYP, district director of research and assessment Christine Wahlquist said.

"We ensured we were following a reasonable, rational methodology ... and the methodology did not change school-to-school," Wahlquist said.