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One in five Utah schools flunk when it comes to meeting the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind education law, but more schools passed this year than last.
Copperview Elementary School in Midvale turned its failing grade into a passing one. The principal says one of the challenges was the number of Hispanic students struggling to learn English quickly. It's a challenge the school has worked extra hard to address.
For the last three years, Copperview Elementary School principal Brent Shaw had his work cut out for him. "We were probably one of the lowest failing schools. There was a lot of pressure," he said.
The school's English Language Learners and economically disadvantaged students failed to pass the Language Arts test. "We made the plan of, what are the things we need to improve upon?" he said. And the school got to work.
Shaw says, "We set goals for each one of those little kids, then we worked with them on an individual basis to help them succeed."
For some students that means individual attention. For others it means learning to read in small groups.
Sixth-grader Brenda Barrios said, "When you're like in front of the whole entire class and reading in front of them, it feels like you're crowded and stuff. Just with like this little group, you feel like you're not crowded anymore."
Copperview Elementary has worked hard to make the grade, and there's no doubt it will take more hard work to stay there.
"We're really excited that we made it this year, but we still have to make it next year and the year to come. So we're going to celebrate our successes, and then we're going to roll up the sleeves and get back to work, because we've got next year and the year after," Shaw said.
The No Child law evaluates public schools 40 different ways, and a fifth of Utah schools failed at least some of those standards. One problem is the number of Hispanic students struggling to learn English quickly. Some schools also failed to make certain disabled and low-income students performed as well as everybody else.
Schools that fail to meet the standards for two straight years must offer parents the option of a better-performing school.
State associate schools superintendent Judy Park was pleased that the number of non-performing Utah schools shrunk from last year. And she said high schools are doing the best job. Last year, a quarter of Utah schools missed the goals.
It's not easy to get off the list of failing schools. A school has to pass two years in a row to show they've made enough progress.
E-mail: corton@ksl.com
(The Associated Press contributed to this report. Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
