The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) accountability plan is based on the premise that all students can and must achieve proficient status based on the assessments at each grade level. This plan places the school as the unit that is responsible for performance of students continuously enrolled in that school each year. In the early interpretations of the mathematics assessments and performance requirements at the middle and senior high school levels, Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) staff presented the option of student performance scores in Algebra I and Geometry, when taken as part of a middle or junior high, also being included into the computation of mathematics performance at the senior high school.
During this year as performance levels have been determined, it has become increasingly clear that this option should not be allowed for the following reasons.
1. Program advisors from outside the ADE have indicated that such policy is contrary to the intent of NCLB which holds each school accountable for the students that are continuously enrolled in that school for the current year. If senior high schools were allowed to count such scores, those schools would not have been responsible for any of the instruction of those students. Staff from the U.S. Department of Education has also advised that such practice is inconsistent with guidelines for the program.
2. There is a logistical problem with aligning a single student with two different schools. For example, a student whose school code is with the junior high cannot also have a high school code. Essentially, a student cannot be registered in two schools simultaneously.
For these reasons Arkansas’ Accountability Plan will not allow a student’s scores to be counted in two different schools. Thus students who take Algebra I and/or Geometry End-of-Course tests will have those scores counted only in the school in which those students are enrolled.
Direct inquiries or clarifying questions about this policy to Ms. Janinne Riggs 501-682-4219 – jriggs@arkedu.k12.ar.us or to Dr. Charles D. Watson 501-682-4474 – cwatson@arkedu.k12.ar.us.