Most educators in the Magic Valley will tell you they want to see No Child Left Behind laws change. But the changes they envision fall closer to fine tuning than a large-scale overhaul.

The most common complaint teachers and administrators seem to have is that NCLB's definition of student proficiency is not fair to schools. In Idaho, a student's proficiency is based entirely on Idaho Standards Achievement Tests performance. Whether a school lands on probation depends on how many of its students reach ISAT proficiency.

The problem, some educators say, is that each student has individual abilities, strengths and weaknesses, but within each tested grade, all are expected to reach the same ISAT proficiency level. The system, they say, fails to take into account how much students progress or regress during their time at a particular school.

"What we have made is the proverbial line in the sand, and you ask every kid to toe up to it and step across it," said Jodie Mills, principal of Burley High School. "It's the best thing that's ever happened. But as with any law of that magnitude, there are some adjustments that need to be done."

Measuring growth

Mills and other educators say they would like to see a shift from a single test score measuring proficiency to a "growth model" - a set of standards that measure each student's growth. They say a growth model would be a more accurate measure of teacher and student performance.

"I know of no teachers who would have a problem being accountable for growth of the students in their classroom," Twin Falls School District Superintendent Wiley Dobbs said. "Where we're running into some trouble is students that are so far below grade level that they're never going to make it to that line in the sand,"

Help may be on the way. During the 2006-07 school year, the U.S. Department of Education approved use of growth models in several states including Alaska, Arizona, Iowa, Florida and Delaware. Dobbs said there is a good chance federal lawmakers will permanently adopt some type of growth model when they revisit NCLB.

Another concern is that NCLB has forced schools to devote more resources to students in danger of failing the ISAT at the cost of challenging more adept students.

Cassia County School District Superintendent Gaylen Smyer suggests lack of funding may be to blame for a disproportionate "emphasis placed on those lower-achieving students." Teachers will work to advance as many students as possible over the "line in the sand," but may not continue to push students they know are ISAT proficient. With more money, schools could hire more teachers and aides, allowing them to focus on a wider range of abilities.

"We've got needs that are not being met," Smyer said. "We've got areas where we'd like to have additional aids. We're teaching to the middle and bottom half. Sometimes those talented students are being neglected."

NCLB has had the effect of limiting time students spend on field trips and other traditional non-academic pursuits, because teachers spend every moment they can working toward ISAT proficiency, said Morningside Elementary Principal Steve Hoy.

"It's harder to fit in those types of activities now," he said. "By the time you do recess and lunch, there just isn't much time for things outside of academics."

In the classroom

At Paul Elementary, students spend hours every morning working on the fundamentals of reading. Hardly surprising, considering NCLB's focus on reading proficiency. What may come as a shock to outsiders, though, is just how individualized instruction is.

Within each grade level, students are separated into groups according to ability. In the confines of those smaller groups, students focus on deficiencies, always working toward the next level.

This, Paul Elementary Principal Colleen Johnson says, is NCLB's true legacy.

"It's a whole new philosophy," she said. "Up until (NCLB), teaching was a completely independent experience. You had your students in your room and you kept them there. We're intensely interacting and engaging kids. They don't get to just sit there."

Johnson said monitoring each student and intervening "immediately, intensively" to meet their needs has led to a drop in special-education referrals. In the past, she said, students showing deficiencies were often assumed to have cognitive problems. Now, educators have learned many of those same deficiencies are linked to specific skills, not broader developmental problems.

Johnson said NCLB's "unrealistic expectations" of proficiency have led some educators, as well as parents, to conclude the law has made education worse. The truth, she said, is more complex.

"It's to say NCLB is good or bad - that's too simplistic," she said. "There are many aspects of NCLB that have greatly improved education."

Sven Berg may be reached at 208-677-8764 or sberg@southidahopress.com.