Number of Schools in Restructuring under No Child Left Behind Increases by More than Half

The Center on Education Policy (CEP) released its most comprehensive report to date on how states and school districts implement school restructuring, the ultimate sanction for chronically low-performing schools under the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

The report finds that the number of Title I schools in restructuring during last school year, 2007-08, increased by 56 percent to an estimated 3,599 schools, or about 7 percent of all Title I schools in the nation.

This total is up from the 2,302 schools, or 4 percent in 2006-07.

The report, A Call to Restructure Restructuring: Lessons from the No Child Left Behind Act in Five States, is a culmination of CEP’s study of NCLB restructuring in California, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, and Ohio, and reviews other state and national data.

These five states were chosen because they have relatively large numbers of schools in restructuring and well-established accountability systems, and represent a variety of geographic areas. To gather data for the study, CEP conducted interviews with state officials and district and school staff in 19 districts and 42 restructuring schools within these states.

The report finds that many schools have remained in restructuring for multiple years, with little guidance from the federal government on what to do about persistently struggling schools. In the five states studied, only 19 percent of the schools implementing restructuring made adequate yearly progress based on 2006-07 tests.

Most restructuring schools in the five states (86 to 96 percent) used the “any-other” restructuring option in the NCLB law, which allows schools and districts to take any major action, aside from the four more specific options, to change school governance.

However, state interpretations of this option varied widely. Michigan and Ohio encouraged schools to employ “turnaround” specialists, while Maryland has barred schools entering restructuring after 2006-07 from choosing a turnaround specialist.

Many schools that missed AYP targets solely because of the performance of student subgroups still directed considerable resources to all students. Principals and teachers at schools that have raised student achievement enough to exit restructuring remained concerned about maintaining progress, particularly as AYP targets will keep rising until they reach the ultimate goal of 100 percent proficiency.

Meanwhile, some principals at schools that replaced staff reported unintended negative consequences, such as being unable to fill positions with qualified teachers and having little time to plan for the new school year after spending the summer hiring.

To view the entire report, click here.
Source: The Center on Education Policy

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