Elrod and Lakeside elementary schools were recently nominated for the 2010 National Blue Ribbon School Award. If either – or both – wins, it will mark only the second time since the award’s inception in 1982 that a Flathead County school has been selected. Smith Valley Elementary School was honored in 2004.
Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau said these two schools, along with the state’s third nominee Gardiner High School, “serve as national models based upon their success.” The U.S. Department of Education oversees the Blue Ribbon Schools Program.
In addition to being a significant honor, these nominations serve as both a reminder and an indicator of the degree to which the nation’s educational philosophy has evolved over the past decade. Following the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which went into effect in January of 2002, schools have increasingly focused their curriculums on two foundations: reading and math.
Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), schools are graded on their students’ reading and math proficiency. Schools face punishments or rewards based on their proficiency levels. The law’s eventual goal, realistic or not, is to have 100 percent student proficiency by 2014.
It is no coincidence that awards such as the National Blue Ribbon School Award base their criteria on assessments in two disciplines: reading and math. According to the Department of Education, the Blue Ribbon Program was “renewed to bring it in line with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.”
Elrod and Lakeside elementary schools were nominated because they fit the criteria of at least 40 percent of their students being classified as economically disadvantaged and showing dramatic improvement in both subjects. “Economically disadvantaged” was determined through the percentage of students enrolled in the “free and reduced lunch” program.
Jeff Hornby, principal at Kalispell’s Elrod Elementary School, said the crux of his school’s curriculum is reading and math. Ninety-minute blocks of each day are dedicated to reading lessons for every student, which is similar to other schools across the nation. Hornby said the focus on reading is found in all local schools, lower grades up through high school.
Students at Elrod work in large groups, small groups, or individually on concentrated reading exercises. Four tutors, whose sole job responsibility is reading education, are working at all times, continually bouncing from one reading station to the next, only stopping for lunch. For people who haven’t been in grade school in recent years, it’s a foreign concept.
Not all of the reading and intensive math programs are directly a response to No Child, Hornby said, but most are at least inspired by the federal law. It’s a far different academic world than the one Hornby joined as a teacher in 1994.
“I think the catalyst for that was No Child Left Behind,” Hornby said of the shift in instructional philosophy.
There is still ample debate over the effectiveness of No Child Left Behind. Critics argue that it takes away from other disciplines such as science or arts; that the system of reward and punishment has negative effects; and that the emphasis on standardized testing focuses too heavily on test performance rather than overall student growth, among other complaints.
To be sure, plenty of Montana educators echo these concerns, though many choose to view the positives, even if they don’t agree with every aspect of the law. Hornby, for example, said the law “sparked good conversation for everybody.” Administrators and teachers, he said, are more aware of performance data and other statistics, which they can factor into their curriculums and goals.
In 2004, Elrod’s math proficiency was identified at 24 percent. Schools officials met regularly to brainstorm ways to specifically improve that area. In March, the school’s math proficiency was 78 percent.
Technology has aided these efforts, Hornby said. Whereas staff meetings used to consist mostly of planning for events and special occasions, now those logistics can be worked out through e-mail. At meetings today, staff can focus on specific academic needs, rather than “housekeeping items.”
“We’re more focused as a whole on academics than just running a school,” Hornby said. “We’re constantly looking at ways to make adjustments and meet kids where they’re at and tweak the curriculum so we are meeting the needs of the kids.”
At Lakeside Elementary School, another National Blue Ribbon School nominee, Principal John Thies said: “I have graphs all over the place and notebooks of graphs of the movements of our individual students and classrooms and the grades of our school.” Thies, obviously, is no stranger to detailed data analysis either.
For the past four years, Lakeside Elementary has instituted the “Reading First” program, which was a fundamental component of the No Child law when it passed. Though funding for that program ran out, Thies said his school is continuing some of its teachings. Sixty- to 90-minute reading blocks are reserved for each student and certain teachers are still trained to be top-notch reading instructors.
When a child is engrossed in a reading block, Thies said “it’s sacred. You don’t interrupt it.”
“It’s made a really big impact on our kids and their ability,” Thies said. “And it has created some exceptionally good reading teachers.”
Even before No Child Left Behind, Montana placed great emphasis on reading and math, said Jessica Rhoades, communications director for the Montana OPI. The Montana Criterion-Referenced Test (CRT), which is the criteria for the Blue Ribbon nominations, is the state’s primary proficiency assessment, she said.
“Schools have put an increased focus on reading and math because of No Child Left Behind, but it has always been a tradition here to focus on those core areas,” Rhoades said.
Rhoades points to a recent study by the Department of Education that describes a trend in which more states are lowering their proficiency assessment standards to stay ahead of federal sanctions. Montana, however, is one of only eight states that have increased the stringency of its standards, the study states.
The upside to this is that Montana children are continually challenged to improve and aren’t being short-changed in their education. The downside, Columbia Falls Schools Superintendent Michael Nicosia said, is that it’s more difficult to achieve proficiency.
Montana’s most recent Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) report shows that 73 percent of the state’s schools are in compliance with No Child Left Behind’s requirements. In 2003, the state’s first-ever AYP report documented 52 percent compliance.
“Montana is hurt because it sets proficiency criteria high,” Nicosia said.
Educators acknowledge that an increased focus on reading and math affects other subjects, a reality that Hornby describes as “casualties of our academic focus.” Science, arts and social studies often take a hit. Lakeside’s Thies said in order to fulfill the reading requirements, a keyboarding class or field trip may have to be taken away.
“There’s a tradeoff – you sacrifice other curriculum for some other curriculum,” Thies said. “We feel you have to have those skills (math and reading) to go on.”
Officials at Lakeside and Eldrod elementary schools must now await an application process before they know if they are selected for the national award. There will be an award ceremony in Washington D.C. in September for the winners.
“It’s an honor; I don’t want to downplay that at all,” Hornby said of the nomination. “I’m really proud of our staff here.”