Needy Students Closing Test Gap Under 'No Child'

The data show that testing changes can result in peaks and valleys in scores. This year, Virginia for the first time rated thousands of English learners, many of them from immigrant families, through samples of schoolwork instead of a regular test. That led scores to jump. The District's pass rates plummeted when new tests were introduced in 2006, but they have bumped up.

As Congress considers reauthorizing the law, it is unclear what the next incarnation of No Child Left Behind will look like. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) support the law's aim, but each says he would push for change if elected president. A recent Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll found that a quarter of those surveyed said the law is helping schools. Twenty-two percent said it is hurting.

"There is a belief among parents that there is an obsession with assessments now, and that school systems, individual schools, spend all their time teaching to the test," said Montgomery County school board member Patricia O'Neill (Bethesda-Chevy Chase).

Under the law, struggling schools may be required to offer private tutoring, to allow students to transfer or even to reorganize. But in practice, experts say, the most powerful lever for change is the stigma of being perceived as a failing school.

Noyes Elementary School in Northeast Washington, where more than three-quarters of students live in poverty, was receiving good marks until the D.C. testing change in 2006. Principal Wayne Ryan said the new test was harder. The school's reading pass rate dropped from 77 percent to 24 percent; the math pass rate, from 63 percent to 10 percent.

Teachers were stung. "We redoubled our efforts to make sure that this didn't happen again," Ryan said.

The school focused on material covered in the test, and in 2007, the share of students with a passing grade jumped 25 points in math and 22 in reading. Scores climbed again last spring. Noyes Elementary touted its success in a flier that compared its scores to those of nearby charter schools.

The onus of failure also sparked a shakeup at Shady Grove Middle School in Montgomery County. Three years ago, the school missed a test-score target. If just one more student from a low-income family had passed in reading, the school would have made adequate yearly progress, the label of success.

"We were stopped dead in our tracks," Principal Lance Dempsey said. "It was very crushing. And it was by one kid."

Dempsey launched a schoolwide literacy plan. She pushed teachers to learn techniques to integrate reading into every subject and gave them weekly training in reading instruction. Teachers started meeting regularly to identify students who were falling behind and to make plans to help them. Educators across the region are taking similar steps. Physical education and art teachers often weave math and literacy lessons into games and projects.

The result, Dempsey said, is a better school. "I think it gave us an opportunity to say, 'Whoa, we are leaving a few kids behind.' " In 2005, only two-fifths of students in poverty passed in reading. This year, almost three-fourths passed.

At Bailey's Elementary School, where more than 50 percent of students are from poverty, scores for such students missed state targets for reading and math in 2007. This year, the school, in the Falls Church area of Fairfax, cleared the bar in reading but fell just short in math. Now, teams of teachers meet once a week to strategize on reading and a second time to better math instruction. In the past, Principal Jay McClain said, such meetings were less focused, and teachers discussed things such as field trips.

In the law's early years, McClain said, schools concentrated on students who needed a small boost to pass. Now, they are seeking to improve teaching for all.

"When you're at risk of failing, it provides the incentive to say we have to do this," McClain said. "Before it would have been nice to do such-and-such a thing, but it's gotten to be an imperative."