NBCPS MEETS FEDERAL STANDARDS
North Bend Central Public Schools has met all federal school accountability requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) as it has each year since the national requirements began in 2003. The results for performance in the 2006-07 school year were released November 19 by the Nebraska Department of Education in a supplement to its annual State of the Schools Report. The full report can be viewed on the NDE website: www.nde.state.ne.us.
According to NBCPS Superintendent Jim Havelka, school districts and individual schools in Nebraska are being held accountable for student achievement under both requirements set by the State Board of Education and federal standards for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) contained in NCLB. In Nebraska overall, 79 percent of school districts meet all of the AYP standards.
"Our students and teachers work hard to meet both state and national proficiency standards in basic subjects," Havelka said. "They deserve recognition for their efforts."
The state requirements focus on student performance against state standards in math, reading, and writing in Grades 4, 8, and 11, and on assessment quality. State accountability results were released in early November. A detailed report can be viewed on the school district's website at www.nbtigers.org.
The federal requirements look at annual progress in student
proficiency in reading, math, writing, and high school graduation
rates for school districts and for each individual school, Havelka
said. For larger school districts, they also consider the
performance of various subgroups (such as students in poverty and
English Language Learners) within the school population.
Schools and districts must demonstrated "Adequate Yearly Progress"
on each performance indicator. Schools that do not meet AYP
standards in the same subject area and grade span for two
consecutive years are considered “in need of improvement” and may
be subject to federal sanctions such as the requirement to provide
tutoring, he said.
While state accountability focuses on students in Grades 4, 8, and 11, federal standards were applied in 2006-07 to all students in Grades 3-8, and 11. The federal accountability requirements for Nebraska schools are:
(1) Assessment Quality. Local assessments in Grades 4,8, and 11 in reading and mathematics must be rated as "Good", "Very Good", or "Exemplary" by the Nebraska Department of Education. NBCPS had "Exemplary" ratings in Reading in Elementary and Junior High grades and "Very Good" in High School. All three levels had "Exemplary" assessments in Math.
(2) Reading/Math
Participation and Performance. At least 95 percent of
students in Grades 3-8, and 11 must take the assessments in reading
and math and the percent of students judged proficient must meet
the state minimum requirements.
In Reading, the minimum proficiency levels are 72 percent of for Elementary (Gr. 3-6), 71 percent for Junior High (Gr. 7-8), and 75 percent for High School (Gr. 11). For NBCPS, 98 percent of Elementary, 96 percent of Junior High, and 89 percent of Eleventh Graders were rated proficient.
In Math, the state minimum proficiency levels are 74 percent for Elementary, 69 percent for Junior High, and 72 percent for Eleventh Graders. For NBCPS, 94 percent of Elementary, 94 percent of Junior High, and 100 percent of Eleventh Graders were rated proficient.
(3) Writing Proficiency. The percentage of students judged proficient in Grades 4 and 8 on the 2007 Statewide Writing Examination must meet the state minimums of 62 percent and 61 percent respectively. For NBCPS, 89 percent of Fourth Graders and 98 percent of Eighth Graders were rated proficient.
(4) Graduation Rate. The graduation rate, based on a four-year completion method of calculating, must be 83.97 percent or greater. NBC High School had a 95.8% rate for the period measured.
(5) Highly Qualified Teachers. A final federal accountability standard requires schools to employ "highly qualified teachers" in most subject areas. For Nebraska teachers this means a certificate endorsement in the subjects they teach or meeting an alternative state standard. For Nebraska as a whole, 97.1% of teachers in the required subject areas met the federal standards; at NBCPS, 100% of teachers met them.
