TESTING FOR TOTS: For the first time even Franklins first-graders are taking the Iowa exam this year
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A few weeks later, the test results came in, and the teachers happily swarmed Collinson's office to see the improved scores. But the triumph was complicated. "There are parts of [No Child Left Behind] that are positive and good," says Naber, "but there's a huge portion that's horrible." The casualties include social studies, creative writing and teacher autonomy. "They're not learning civics, history, geography — a lot of essential skills that they're going to need to be good democratic citizens," says fifth-grade teacher Shane Williams. The fourth grade used to spend a year on states' history, geography and capitals. They now cover the topic in six weeks. And while Williams used to ask his class to do 20 minutes of creative or expository writing a day, he now holds off until after February. "Their writing skills have certainly deteriorated," he says.
At lunch one day in January, five fourth-grade girls merrily bantered in the language of testing. They rattled off their old scores and the percentiles they need to reach next time. "A lot of people feel stress," says Molli Lippelgoes, 9, "but if you just put your mind to it, it's not that hard. If we can do our best, we can put our school up a lot higher."
In what some educators see as a hopeful sign of flexibility, the U.S. Department of Education announced last week that the scores of immigrant kids in their first year at a U.S. school no longer must be counted. The No Child law also allows some of Franklin's learning-disabled kids to take the test with special accommodations like extra time. But it permits only 1% of the district's kids to take an alternate test — even though 14% are special ed. Children at the upper margin may also suffer. Activities for the gifted and talented have not been cut, but high-achieving kids aren't grouped in accelerated clusters in regular classes anymore. They are spread out so they can help the lower-scoring students.
Like all schools, Franklin must hit 100% proficiency by the 2013-14 school year. And each mandated improvement in between is based on comparing different classes, not on watching how the same students develop over time. "Our biggest fear [is], how do we sustain the growth? Can we jump up to the next level? I'm not sure," says Muscatine superintendent Tom Williams. Muscatine's 11 schools were receiving about $750,000 in federal money, and that increased to $850,000 with the new law. But state and local tax money pays the remaining 98% of the budget, and it is precarious. Last year Muscatine lost about $500,000 in state funding, and more cuts are expected. In February, first-graders joined the older kids in taking the 4 1/2-hour test, spread over two weeks. Many teachers consider that insane. "It's a long, hard test on a little one," Collinson admits, but they need to get used to it.