Why Is Your School On This List?

I get my satisfaction from the fact that we are growing and my teachers are working hard. There's frustration, but there's also improvement on the part of our kids. The states say that if you don't meet the standards, we can come in and take you over. But you just can't take over that many schools. We're doing the best we can, but if someone can do it better, let them show us how. Because we're all ears.

Oxon Hill Elementary School, Oxon Hill

The way I look at it, the No Child Left Behind law is very precise -- and not very flexible. And it's going to be a challenge for the school system and the state about what to do for schools that don't make AYP.

Schools have very different populations. We have a very large special education population. That's been a real challenge. For the last two years we have not been able to make the growth that's expected according to the law. Two years ago, we didn't meet it in one area of special ed -- math. And we didn't meet it in reading among our African American students. Last year we missed in four areas: both reading and math in special ed, African American reading and reading among our free and reduced meals kids.

Our special ed program has about 150 students [of a total student body of 408]. Some of my kids are mentally retarded, autistic, emotionally impaired. I have a blind child and some hearing-impaired children. If the kids are really not learning, we need to look at another placement for them. But most of our children are fine if we can modify the general education program to where they are instructionally. It's meeting them on grade level that's the problem. They get accommodations: We may read for them, or they may dictate to us. But they're still dealing with material that is much, much harder than what they're ready for. You look at modifying the curriculum, but it's hard. You want to teach them but you don't want to frustrate them.

Every year the bar gets higher. In 2003, every school was supposed to hit 46 percent proficiency in reading; last year, it was 58 percent and this year it's supposed to make 62 percent.

In the 2004 test, only 6.1 percent of my special ed kids were proficient. Last year, 20.5 percent were. So we're teaching our kids, but not enough to meet the state rate. You either hit the mark or you miss it. The same thing happened in math; we went from 3.0 percent proficient to 6.9 percent in the special ed category. They're moving and we're proud of it. And the state is seeing that special ed is where many, many schools are having difficulty, so it is going to modify the test for next year.

No Child Left Behind is not a bad law. Special ed is a long way from the days when we taught these kids to make cane chairs and brooms because we thought they couldn't learn. The law has lofty goals. It's a noble effort, but it does need to be modified.

I get my satisfaction from the fact that we are growing and my teachers are working hard. There's frustration, but there's also improvement on the part of our kids. The states say that if you don't meet the standards, we can come in and take you over. But you just can't take over that many schools. We're doing the best we can, but if someone can do it better, let them show us how. Because we're all ears.