Little Falls High School has been removed from the New York State Education Department’s list of schools in need of improvement.
Under No Child Left Behind, schools receiving Title I funds that do not make adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years in the same subject and grade-level with one or more groups of students are designated as schools in need of improvement.
Little Falls High School had previously been identified as needing improvement because less than 95 percent of the entire student body took the required mathematics examinations and not because of low test scores.
“Participation is a big issue under No Child Left Behind,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. William Gokey. “While our test scores were higher than the requirement, we were labeled as being deficient in math because we did not have a high enough participation rate.”
Gokey welcomed the news that the school is now in good standing, and said it spoke to the efforts of the faculty.
“Our faculty made a concerted effort to not only improve our curriculum, but our participation rate,” he said. “While we will miss the funding we received from being on the in need of improvement list, being considered as a school in good standing is welcome news.”
Schools in need of improvement receive additional funding targeted toward improving achievement.
At the time of the announcement that Little Falls High School was placed on the schools in need of improvement list, Gokey said 92 percent of the student body took the state mathematics exams and not the required 95 percent.
The state’s action to remove the school from the list was based on 2006-07 assessments.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act was enacted in 2002 after it passed overwhelmingly with support from Republicans and Democrats in Congress. The act provides for heightened accountability for low-performing schools, increased school choice for parents and children and greater emphasis on reading, particularly in elementary schools.