This past summer marked the first time that public schools in Arkansas have been designated in Academic Distress for having three-year averages of less than 50 percent of students proficient in Math and Literacy.
As a result, 26 schools (of 1,066) in 14 districts (of 238) and one charter (of 21) were declared in Academic Distress.
Having just one Academic Distress school can thrust an entire district into Academic Distress upon a vote by the state Board of Education. Once that happens, the state board may act in any, all or none of the following ways:
Require the superintendent to relinquish all authority with respect to the district and appoint an individual to administratively operate the district under supervision of the commissioner of education;
Suspend or remove some or all of the district's current board;
Allow the district to operate without a local board, under supervision of district administration or administration chosen by the commissioner;
Call for election of a new board;
Waive application of Arkansas law, with exception of the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act and the Public School Employee Fair Hearing Act, and/or Department of Education rules and regulations;
Require annexation, consolidation, or reconstitution of the district; and/or
Take any other necessary and proper action, as determined by the state board, allowed by law.
Based on past three-year averages, six of the Little Rock School District's schools, including three of its five high schools, are in Academic Distress: Baseline Elementary, Cloverdale Middle, Henderson Middle, J.A. Fair High, Hall High, and McClellan High.
Unfortunately, these schools' lack of performance did not begin four years ago, but actually extends back at least 10 years. That means there are current juniors and seniors in the Little Rock School District who have never had the opportunity to attend a school where over 50 percent of its students were proficient.
In 171 opportunities over the decade, the six Little Rock School District schools currently in Academic Distress have performed above 50 percent proficient only twice. In 2011-12, Baseline Elementary had 51 percent proficient in literacy, while Henderson Middle had 54 percent. Two schools hit 50 percent in math--Baseline Elementary in 2010-11 and Cloverdale Middle in 2004-05.
Originally, the Little Rock School District had seven of 32 schools in Academic Distress, but when the Department of Education exempted Alternative Learning Environment schools from the designation, Hamilton Learning Academy fell off the list. However, Hamilton students' scores remain and would make their originally assigned schools' cumulative scores even lower.
What's frequently left out of the recent Academic Distress discussions is the fact that, since 2011, the Little Rock School District has also had:
• Seven of the state's 37 Needs Improvement Priority Schools (19 percent of 37 lowest performing schools in Arkansas); and
• Nine of the state's 85 Needs Improvement Focus Schools (11 percent of next 85 lowest performing schools in Arkansas).
That means that 16 of the district's 44 schools (36 percent) are among the lowest-performing 122 schools in Arkansas (13 percent). And before 2011's change in designation, most of these same schools were designated as Needs Improvement--Year 1, 2, 3, etc. These percentages did not suddenly appear. For at least the past 10 years, they have been readily available to anyone who cared to look.
(DROP CAP) Whose fault is it? The answer is obvious: the adults--the community, the district, the state. All of us are culpable for allowing this to not only happen, but continue.
Whose fault is it not? Easy. The students, who have been systematically failed by the adults tasked with providing excellent and accessible public education for all students, no matter their culture, economic status or ZIP code.
But forget the blame. The only relevant questions at this point are: "Who's going to fix it, and when?"
If the answers are not "all of us," and "now," then Academic Distress will continue to beget economic distress, which is steadily and certainly consuming our community and our people.
Gary Newton is president and CEO of ArkansasLearns.org, a private sector alliance of parents, businesses and citizens dedicated to excellent education for all students.
Editorial on 12/12/2014