Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Students at more than 230 Indiana schools could be eligible to transfer to another public school in their district this fall or demand extra attention, such as free tutoring.
A list of 236 schools released Wednesday by the Indiana Department of Education includes elementary, middle and high schools that received federal funding for at-risk children but failed to show academic improvement by low-income students.
Under a new federal law, students in schools where standardized test scores do not improve over two years could transfer to another public school, with most of their transportation costs paid. After three years, students could be eligible for federally funded tutoring.
In the Kosciusko County area, Mentone and Burket elementaries were named as schools that showed no improvement for three years. Schools showing no improvement by low-income students for two consecutive years were Triton, Leesburg, Jefferson, Lincoln and North Webster elementaries, and Whitko Middle School.
Dennis Duncan, principal at Jefferson Elementary, Winona Lake, said the government classifies low-income students as those who qualify for free or reduced school lunches. At Jefferson, that is 44 percent of the approximately 280 students.
"Research shows that low-income kids are not scoring as well on achievement tests as middle- and higher-income students," Duncan said.
There is a multitude of reasons why that is the case, Duncan said, including families that move frequently, troubled homes and students who do not speak English (24 percent of Jefferson's students are English Language Learners).
To counter the problem, Duncan said, Jefferson relies in part on the Reading Recovery program, which uses trained tutors in a one-on-one process of helping first- and second-graders improve their reading skills.
Burket Elementary also uses Reading Recovery, said principal Mary Ann Irwin. Irwin also is the curriculum director for Tippecanoe Valley Schools.
"We feel it does work," she said, "but we don't get to some kids that probably need help."
Irwin said they try to concentrate remediation programs during the school day because some students have trouble arranging after-school transportation.
Other factors enter into the situation, she said.
"One of the things we're finding is that kids aren't really disciplined in their homework and don't want to finish it or bring things back," she said.
Irwin and Duncan emphasized the need for parental involvement, especially concerning at-risk students.
"There's no way to force people to send their children to a summer program," Irwin said, "so we aren't getting (help) to all the kids who need it."
In Indiana, students at 83 schools could be eligible to transfer or receive free tutoring because their schools failed to show improvement for at least three years on ISTEP-Plus test scores, the state Department of Education said.
Twenty of those schools also must take 'administrative corrective action' because they did not improve for four consecutive years, the department said.
Students at another 153 schools could be eligible to transfer because those schools failed to improve for two consecutive years.
School districts have been told which schools are on the list and are responsible for notifying parents of their options, said Mary Tiede Wilhelmus, spokeswoman for the Indiana Department of Education.
She also noted that some schools on the list may have shown improvement last year or in 2000, but are required to improve for two consecutive years to be removed from the list.
Catherine Miller, principal of Mentone Elementary, said the problem with the two- and three-year criteria is how students are measured.
"They do not show one group of students over three years of progress," she said. "They show three years of students."
Some of the mandates under the new law, such as paid transportation to another school or free tutoring, remain uncertain because the federal government has not yet answered funding questions, Tiede Wilhelmus said.
'We're going to need a lot of help with mom and dad on this one,' she said. 'A school cannot do it all. But the recent laws have said that we have the children in K-through-12, so let's get them ready and let's get them proficient, because that's the only time we will have them.'
The U.S. Department of Education on Wednesday revised earlier estimates of the number of 'failing' schools nationally to 7,200 public schools, up from 3,000 to 5,000 schools last month.
