Some Oregon schools face
sanctions for poor test results
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GOT A STORY IDEA?
Only 64 percent of
Oregon schools make
the grade in 'No Child
Left Behind' plan
JULIA SILVERMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PORTLAND — More than 370
Oregon schools have been pegged as
needing improvement under the fed
eral No Child Left Behind Act, accord
ing to data released Thursday by the
Oregon Department of Education.
That law, the centerpiece of the Bush
administration's education agenda, re
quires schools to bring increasing per
centages of their students up to grade
level in math and reading every year, or
face sanctions, ranging from paying for
tutors to being taken over by the state or
a private company.
This year, about 40 percent of stu
dents had to be at grade level for
schools to escape the "failing" tag; just
64 percent of the state's schools man
aged to hit that target, slightly worse
than last year's total.
State education officials didn't
hide their disappointment with the
results, which were particularly bleak
for the state's high schools: only 23
percent of high schools met the per
formance targets, compared with a
relatively healthy 75 percent of ele
mentary and middle schools.
"We are concerned," said Susan
Castillo, the state's schools superin
tendent. "This is about identifying ar
eas that need improvement in our
schools, and helping them improve."
For the great majority of the 371
schools, the only effect of the poor rat
ings will be negative headlines. Only
schools that receive Title I funding,
which is earmarked for socio-eco
nomically disadvantaged schools, face
the sanctions this year.
And even Title I schools must lag
behind performance targets for two
years in a row in tine same subject area
— either math or English — before
the sanctions are triggered.
That leaves just 44 schools facing
the sanctions, most of them clustered
in the Portland metro area, the Salem
Woodburn corridor, and in Klamath
Falls, one of the higher-poverty re
gions of the state.
"We anticipated this, but it is discour
aging," said Jim Ferguson, the principal
of Ponderosa Junior High School in Kla
math Falls, one of the schools that will
face sanctions. "I just wish the govern
ment would realize that improvement
is what counts, not two-year averages."
The federal targets are difficult to
meet because schools are measured not
just on overall performance but by how
well different groups of students do, in
cluding blacks, Hispanics, economical
ly-disadvantaged students and those in
special- education classes.
If even one of those groups fails to
hit the targets on tests or attendance
levels, an entire school can be classi
fied as "needing improvement."
Most often, entire Oregon schools
don't make the required progress be
cause of the performance of special
education students, those who are still
COURT
continued from page 3
"The question in this case is whether
elected public officials have to uphold
and enforce the law as written or
whether they can apply the law accord
ing to their own personal whims," said
Benjamin Bull, the Alliance Defense
Fund's chief counsel. "If it's the latter,
our uniform system of laws would be
reduced to a patchwork of disparate
rights and obligations based upon the
beliefs of local officials."
Kendell, of the Center for Lesbian
Rights, agreed leaving the licenses in
legal limbo for about year — until the
Supreme Court gets cases now perco
lating through lower courts — "will
result in some uncertainty."
Lisa Liff is a uniter
for the Associated Press.
GTFF
continued from page 1
The GTFF won a decisive victory
on the issue of the University's prac
tice of hiring graduate students for
hourly wages, Cecil said.
The new contract language states
the University cannot hire graduate
students unless they are working un
der contract, resolving what was one
of the negotiations' most contentious
issues. The GTFF said the old language
was unclear. The new policy clearly
states the University must give hired
graduate students a salary, a full tu
ition waiver and health care benefits.
"It's a simple declarative sen
tence," Cecil said.
King said the new language "clarifies
the work to be performed by GIFs."
Cedi said mediation was successful,
where nine months of negotiations were
not, because mediator Wendy Green
wald made it possible for negotiators to
interact without the flares of ego that
nine months of negations can cause
'There are times when having a third
party to relay offers without the person
ality conflicts can help," Cedi said.
Lindgren said he thinks mediation
went well because of GTFF demonstra
tions, induding Empty Campus Day,
held Aug. 4, which showed the Univer
sity that the GTFF had member support.
King said events like Empty Cam
pus Day had no real effect on negotia
tions. The University was ready and
willing to settle the contract long be
fore the event took place, she said.
No decision was made about un
dergraduate labor during mediation,
Lindgren said. The GTFF's chief
complaint in the matter was that cer
tain departments are using under
graduates to do work the union sees
as usually reserved for GTFs.
"We think the contract already bars
undergraduates from taking our
jobs," Cecil said.
The GTFF has filed grievances against
what it sees as the three biggest offend
ers: the math, English and biology de
partments. Lindgren said the University
had already ruled on all three cases, rul
ing that the actions of the math and
English departments are legal and ac
tions of the biology department illegal.
The GTFF plans to go to arbitration over
the English and math department rul
ings later in the year, Lindgren said,
adding that the biology department
was found to be violating the GTFF
contract, representing 15,000 hours of
graduate labor lost annually.
The University did not accept the
GTFFs proposed remedy for the situa
tion, which asked that the biology de
partment stop hiring undergraduates
and that the GTFF be paid back the
dues they would have received had
that work been done by union mem
bers, roughly $5,000.
"The University said that biology
was wrong but that there would be no
compensation," Cecil said.
With negotiations over, the GTFF
can now back down from its threat of
a strike, but with unanimous support
from the GTFF Executive Council, the
threat was very real, Cecil said.
"We were confident in our ability
to get our 60 percent strike vote,"
said Cecil.
benbrown@dailyemerald.com
learning English, and socioeconom
ically disadvantaged students.
Thursday's results did yield some
interesting statewide trends. For ex
ample, schools that received Title I
funding posted far better results that
their non-Title I counterparts, even
though the former must contend with
a less-privileged student body.
Education officials speculated that
the results were proof that the money
going into Title I programs was pay
ing off, and that the federal sanctions
hanging over the heads of Title I
schools might be motivating them.
"This really shows that when
schools are given the resources they
need to focus on classroom instruc
tion, we see student success," said
Gene Evans, spokesman for the De
partment of Education.
There were also some bright spots. In
addition to the solid performance by
the state's elementary school, 81 schools
that were tagged as needing improve
ment last year met the standards this
year, freeing them from any sanctions.
But in the future, non-Tide I schools
that fail to make significant progress
two years in a row won't get off with
just bad publicity, Castillo said.
In the future, such schools might re
ceive more professional development
for their teachers, or technical help
from the state, Castillo said. If such
help fails to make a dent in student re
sults, Castillo said, there might be state
"intervention" in the schools.
Julia Silverman is a writer for the
Associated Press.
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