By Tere Dunlap
tdunlap@ themonroetimes.com
MONROE - By not meeting the adequate yearly progress for graduation or attendance for a second year in a row, Monroe Virtual School's status in the federal No Child Left Behind review slipped to a first-level unsatisfactory.
As a result, the school must now implement a two-year improvement plan to raise the graduation rate.
A change in graduation standards just two months before the review contributed to the lowered rating this year, said Cory Hirshbrunner, the school principal and the district curriculum coordinator.
"The graduation rate changed to 85 percent," she said. "It used to be 80 percent, or show growth over the prior year."
Unlike "brick and mortar" schools, the virtual school can't use attendance requirements, and so must use the graduation rate, Hirshbrunner said.
Another on-going challenge that plagued the school's rating was that the charter grant, set up in 2002, was for the school to be a five-year program, not a traditional four-year high school program. However, the state looks at, and rates on, a four-year graduation time frame, Hirshbrunner said.
"In the last two years, we have changed to a four-year program, and tell the students they must take 5.5 credits per year. If that's not met, we will send them back to their districts," Hirshbrunner said.
"We are making progress to put everything in place to get that (satisfactory rating)," she said.
The school's review was not all bad. For at least the past three years, the school has rated satisfactory in the three other objectives in the review.
The school met the 95 percent rating for student participation in tests, which Hirshbrunner said is a challenge. With students all over the state, the school must set up testing centers around the state to get students in to take their tests. Attendance/graduation and test participation objectives were first required in the 2002-03 school year.
Monroe Virtual School also met the current reading and math advanced or proficiency standards, which are reading at 74 percent and math at 58 percent. Each year the standards get more strict with the law requiring all students to be proficient in math and reading by 2014, according to the Associated Press.
Hirshbrunner said the review does not look at the advances and challenges some students achieve through the virtual school. Some students have taken up to three or four foreign languages, and many take college-level courses, she said.
Monroe Virtual School was just one of the 89 Wisconsin schools along with the Milwaukee and Beloit districts on a state list released Tuesday for repeatedly failing to meet the federal No Child Left Behind law standards, according to the Associated Press.
Also, 145 schools and the Milwaukee, Madison, Racine and Green Bay districts were identified for missing at least one of the standards for the first time.
According to the Associated Press, State Superintendent Tony Evers urged parents and community members not to judge the quality of individual schools or entire districts based on how well they perform under No Child Left Behind. Even schools that find themselves on the list as missing the mark may have many strengths, he said.
"These reports, based off a snapshot-in-time assessment, present one view of a school's progress and areas that need improvement," Evers said in a statement.
Under No Child Left Behind, schools are evaluated on test results, graduation rates, test participation rates and attendance. Missing the mark in any category can put a school on the failing list. The district is judged on the collective tests scores.
The number of schools with the more serious ranking for failing to make improvements increased from 79 last year to 89 this year. However, each year the standards get more strict with the law requiring all students to be proficient in math and reading by 2014.
Schools on this year's list have until June 25 to appeal their status.
tdunlap@ themonroetimes.com
MONROE - By not meeting the adequate yearly progress for graduation or attendance for a second year in a row, Monroe Virtual School's status in the federal No Child Left Behind review slipped to a first-level unsatisfactory.
As a result, the school must now implement a two-year improvement plan to raise the graduation rate.
A change in graduation standards just two months before the review contributed to the lowered rating this year, said Cory Hirshbrunner, the school principal and the district curriculum coordinator.
"The graduation rate changed to 85 percent," she said. "It used to be 80 percent, or show growth over the prior year."
Unlike "brick and mortar" schools, the virtual school can't use attendance requirements, and so must use the graduation rate, Hirshbrunner said.
Another on-going challenge that plagued the school's rating was that the charter grant, set up in 2002, was for the school to be a five-year program, not a traditional four-year high school program. However, the state looks at, and rates on, a four-year graduation time frame, Hirshbrunner said.
"In the last two years, we have changed to a four-year program, and tell the students they must take 5.5 credits per year. If that's not met, we will send them back to their districts," Hirshbrunner said.
"We are making progress to put everything in place to get that (satisfactory rating)," she said.
The school's review was not all bad. For at least the past three years, the school has rated satisfactory in the three other objectives in the review.
The school met the 95 percent rating for student participation in tests, which Hirshbrunner said is a challenge. With students all over the state, the school must set up testing centers around the state to get students in to take their tests. Attendance/graduation and test participation objectives were first required in the 2002-03 school year.
Monroe Virtual School also met the current reading and math advanced or proficiency standards, which are reading at 74 percent and math at 58 percent. Each year the standards get more strict with the law requiring all students to be proficient in math and reading by 2014, according to the Associated Press.
Hirshbrunner said the review does not look at the advances and challenges some students achieve through the virtual school. Some students have taken up to three or four foreign languages, and many take college-level courses, she said.
Monroe Virtual School was just one of the 89 Wisconsin schools along with the Milwaukee and Beloit districts on a state list released Tuesday for repeatedly failing to meet the federal No Child Left Behind law standards, according to the Associated Press.
Also, 145 schools and the Milwaukee, Madison, Racine and Green Bay districts were identified for missing at least one of the standards for the first time.
According to the Associated Press, State Superintendent Tony Evers urged parents and community members not to judge the quality of individual schools or entire districts based on how well they perform under No Child Left Behind. Even schools that find themselves on the list as missing the mark may have many strengths, he said.
"These reports, based off a snapshot-in-time assessment, present one view of a school's progress and areas that need improvement," Evers said in a statement.
Under No Child Left Behind, schools are evaluated on test results, graduation rates, test participation rates and attendance. Missing the mark in any category can put a school on the failing list. The district is judged on the collective tests scores.
The number of schools with the more serious ranking for failing to make improvements increased from 79 last year to 89 this year. However, each year the standards get more strict with the law requiring all students to be proficient in math and reading by 2014.
Schools on this year's list have until June 25 to appeal their status.