Specialized schools win accolades

By JAMES HAUG

Special education students often have been blamed for keeping their schools from achieving federal benchmarks, since all students are expected to show progress no matter their disability or disadvantage.

This year, however, it's the special education students who have outshined their peers.

John F. Miller, a school for the developmentally disabled or mentally retarded, was just one of two schools in the Clark County School District to reach the supreme accolade of "exemplary school" status under the No Child Left Behind Act.

"It's a wonderful accomplishment," said Kim Wooden, the director of quality assurance in support services for school district. "We're all extremely proud of them."

Rather than taking the standard "paper and pen" tests in math, science and reading, Miller's "medically fragile kids" are given alternative assessments, which means they were tested on whether they were grasping the basic fundamentals of learning, Wooden said.

These skills are so basic that they're taken for granted by students in general education, she said.

An example of alternative assessment would be showing that a student can acknowledge the teacher, which could mean anything from making eye contact to batting an eyelash. Responses are videotaped for assessment.

The school in southeastern Las Vegas serves about 115 students from 3 to 22 years old, but Miller is not broken down into grade levels like a traditional K-12 school. Jean Reynolds, the principal, was not available for comment Friday.

The school's small size was an advantage in making exemplary status under No Child Left Behind since only 47 students were tested. Any time there's a small number of test takers, it's easier to post bigger gains, said Sue Daellenbach, the district's director of testing.

"That's just a given," she said.

J. Marlan Walker International, the only other school to reach exemplary status, is also a specialized school because it students spend half their school day in Spanish immersion classes. Otherwise, the students at the K-5 school "are representative of the district" as a whole, Principal Celeste Oakes said.

Oakes emphasized that it's not the academic program but the "quality of instruction" that helps students achieve.

School officials released the No Child Left Behind progress report on Thursday. Schools had to meet 37 different benchmarks to be considered showing adequate yearly progress.

Administrators of at least two schools said weak performance by their special education students kept their schools from achieving their progress goals.

At the extreme of the low performing, four schools -- Tate Elementary and Bridger, Von Tobel and West middle schools -- have failed to show improvement for six years in a row.

Regional superintendents and principals said they will make assessment to see where they can improve.

West Principal Mike Barton said his school is making progress, just not enough to qualify under No Child Left Behind standards.

"When you're in the basement, it takes a while to get up to (adequate yearly progress) standards," he said.

Reading proficiency by sixth-graders, for instance, has jumped to 35 percent, a growth of 20 percent over two years.

When he came to the school two years ago, Barton said, "It was a cliche movie about the inner city school. Not an ounce of learning was happening, but it's now a school. We may not be meeting federal standards, but we will one day."

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug @reviewjournal.com or 702-7992-2922.