Las Vegas NowPossible Education Loopholes Exposed in Report

Possible Education Loopholes Exposed in Report

A new report found that minority students here in Nevada are 10 times more likely than their white classmates to have their test scores excluded from reporting to the federal government.

The new report by The Associated Press looked at the No Child Left Behind Act --a controversial measure passed by Congress in 2002.

Here's how the No Child Left Behind Act works:

If there were less than 25 children belonging to one of the reporting groups in school, that group wouldn't be counted

If there were only 12 Native American students in a school, then school officials don't have to report their scores and they wouldn't be counted.

The study says the majority of the groups not being reported are minorities.

This is a big deal because if one group has a low score or doesn't make the required progress, the entire school could be declared as failing. The flipside is that students could be doing well and it's not being reporting. Some say this loophole is preventing parents and educators from really knowing how students are doing.

Terry Steffen has been teaching fifth grade at William Ferron Elementary for four years.

"I love kids and it's fun to come to school and teach the kids," Steffen said. "I learn a lot from them I enjoy the interaction with the kids."

Steffen says while test scores from NCLB are helpful, they don't tell the whole story.

"Tests only go so far some kids aren't good at taking tests," Steffen said. "I know that kids in my class who are proficient, and performing but when it's time to take the test they lock up cold feet or have problems focusing on the questions."

“The issues with NCLB for principals is that they are focusing on test data and getting test scores up,” explained Principal Christy Bearid. “I think the focus should be on kids learning and whether children are progressing from whatever level they started out to the next level.

This is Christy Beird's first year as a principal and she says Ferron Elementary School couldn't be a better place to start, but she is worried about the future. Last year the school did not meet the annual yearly progress of the no child left behind act and the school was put on a watch list.

“We've really worked hard and implanted quite a few interventions,” Beird said. “We have after school tutoring. Saturday school we're doing summer school as well.”

If Ferron doesn't meet the progress requirements again, it will be placed on a needs improvement list.

Eventually if it continues not to meet the standards, the state could take over.

Steffen says he has proof that students at Ferron are progressing in ways tests will never show.

“I have a student who came into class speaking no English at all and he wouldn't participate or raise his hand in class, but now at the end of the year we're practicing a play a week," Steffen said. "He's so eager to take part in the play and read.”

According to the report, the test scores of more than 9,000 students in Nevada are not being tracked at the school level.

Officials overseeing the NCLB reported last week that only 68 percent of Nevada's teachers meet standards set by the act. In May, the state will find out if it has made enough progress to avoid losing federal money.

Email reporter Colleen May at cmay@klastv.com