No easy way off federal watch list

When state test scores go up, when a school is removed from a federal watch list of potentially failing schools, everyone wants to know: How did they do it, what magical wand did they wave?

''There's no magic," explained Pamela Simpkins, principal of the S. Christa McAuliffe Elementary School in Lowell, ''just hard work."

The state Department of Education last week removed McAuliffe Elementary School from a list of schools statewide that are failing to improve state test scores enough to comply with the No Child Left Behind Act, a sweeping education reform effort initiated by President Bush. McAuliffe Elementary School landed on the list, which deems schools ''in need of improvement," because overall test scores in math fell short of state expectations for two consecutive years.

Getting placed on the list for overall scores is considered the worst offense because it could indicate that the fundamental way the school is teaching is wrong. Schools also can be placed on the list for scores of specific groups of students, such as those with learning disabilities or those who are minorities, poor, or speak English as a second language. This year, the list contains 409 Massachusetts schools, with 48 in the suburbs north and west of Boston. Last year, there were 373 schools, including 46 locally.

But McAuliffe did what many of the others on the list would like to do: It got off it. The school was able to push up its math scores two years in a row -- the minimum time frame of improvement that gets a school off the list. Statewide, 10 schools cited for deficient overall test scores, including James F. Leonard School in Lawrence, came off the list -- a sign, state education officials said, that the federal law is getting schools to improve.

''The jury is still out if we can turn around every school, but I'm very hopeful," said the state's education commissioner, David Driscoll, during a press briefing at the Department of Education's headquarters last Tuesday afternoon. ''It's getting tough, but we knew it would be getting tough."

The federal law requires all students to score at the two highest levels on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System by 2014. Each school must meet state performance goals, which are different depending on how low their test scores were at the start. Schools must show incremental improvement or face consequences.

Supporters of the federal law believe the watch lists and the consequences are their magic wands to spark school improvement.

The consequences of staying on the federal watch list for several years can be severe. Those in the earliest stages -- schools or districts that fail to make progress for two consecutive years -- must offer low-income students a choice to attend another school, provided the school accepts federal grants for those children. In the worst-case scenario, after five years of no improvement, the state could force a school to change principals and staff, though state officials say they prefer to work as a partner. School systems, meanwhile, could be taken over by the state.

At McAuliffe, Simpkins said a variety of factors probably contributed to the school's improved math scores. The school started a new math program three years ago. Administrators and teachers continually dissect school and state test results to come up with the best remedies to fix student weaknesses. And, she noted, last year's fourth-graders had largely spent all their schooling at McAuliffe, which serves a large population of students that move from one city to another. Students who switch schools often tend not to perform as well on state tests as those students who remain at the same school.

But Simpkins is humble about the school's success in getting off the list.

''It's a nice boost for people," she said, ''but we really aren't doing anything different than other schools in Lowell."

Lowell has 17 of its 23 schools on the list, and the district as a whole appears on a separate list of 156 school districts that have failed to meet state expectations on state tests. That latter list, which includes 18 other districts in suburbs north and west of Boston, is longer than last year's list of 129.

''Urban systems get beat up so much," Simpkins said. ''It's not the schools. It's society letting kids down. The lack of good nutrition, health care, and affordable housing. . . . We have them for only a certain number of hours in a square classroom. We try to give them as much as we can."

But even suburban schools and districts are popping up on the list and some educators worry about whether putting the spotlight on schools that need improvement is harmful to students.

''If a student is in a group that's identified as a group underperforming, what does that do to a student's self-esteem?" asked Maureen LaCroix, superintendent of Bedford schools.

The Bedford School District landed on the list this year because of the math scores of 66 middle school students with special needs and 57 low-income students systemwide didn't meet state expectations. Although LaCroix doesn't like the list, she said she likes the data on student performance that is generated under the federal law.

''It forces you to look at the achievement gap, and zero in on subgroups," LaCroix said. ''It's not the list that is helpful to schools as they look to improve, it's the data. What can we do collectively to change that story and data so it's a better story in four or five years?"

The district, she said, will focus more energy, staff time, and instruction on students who are underperforming.

At Wood Hill Middle School in Andover, placement on the federal watch list last year for test scores of special education students stung staff, parents, and teachers. It prompted a lot of soul searching about the school's approach to teaching, but ultimately principal Patrick Bucco said it didn't influence school improvement plans. The school continued on a course of placing greater emphasis on projects and writing. Test scores improved last spring, and the school is one step away from getting off the list.

Bucco chalks up the school's placement on the list as growing pains for a school that is only four years old and is still trying to establish its identity and beliefs in how students should be taught.

''We know as a school we are on the right track," said Bucco, adding that he finds the federal label ''in need of improvement" ironic.

''I don't know a school that doesn't need improvement," he said. ''The world changes, and you have to change the way you educate children."