Some Highly Touted Schools Land on Failure List

The D.C. school system's list of 118 schools that failed to meet academic goals on a new standardized test includes 12 that had a reputation for being high-performing.

Ross Elementary in Northwest Washington, Watkins Elementary in Southeast and Whittier Elementary in Northwest, among others, had consistently shown "adequate yearly progress" on the old Stanford 9 exam. The news that the 12 schools did not pass last year's more rigorous exam caught many parents by surprise.

Some experts say the results of the new test, which is supposed to more accurately gauge performance, show that achievement levels are worse than previously known. The 118 schools account for more than 80 percent of the 146 schools in the system last year.

Barbara Wilson, who has a son at Whittier, said she was surprised that the school had failed to meet academic goals in math, although it did meet the reading standard.

"Whittier was voted a blue-ribbon school, which means it's a high-performing school," said Wilson, president of its PTA. "It disappoints me to think we would be on this list. We've always worked hard at being a high-performing school."

The number of schools failing to meet academic benchmarks rose dramatically since the previous test: from 81 to 118. School officials attribute that to tougher academic standards introduced last year and the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System, the new exam.

Maureen Diner, who has two sons at Ross, said she thinks the results will spur the school's principal, teachers and parents to make a good program better.

At the same time, nine schools that previously failed to meet academic targets came off the list, said Mary Levy, director of the Public Education Reform Project at the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, who studies the school system. The schools include Tyler Elementary in Southeast, Walker-Jones Elementary in Northwest and Bell Multicultural High in Northwest.

Leslie Levy, president of Tyler's PTA, noted the school's new literacy coaches and emphasis on writing.

"We had reading specialists, a new reading program, and we introduced a literary magazine and all the older children were required to submit essays. We are extremely proud to come off the list."