Prometheus 6   

Different colored hoops to jump through

Standards tougher on diverse schools
More 'subgroups' mean more hurdles
Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 23, 2003

Consider this pair of Oakland elementary schools:

Manzanita and Golden Gate both soared about 50 points this year on California's Academic Performance Index. Both hover around 614 on the 1,000- point index. And test scores rose higher than expected at both. The schools are nearly twins in academic performance.

But under new federal education rules known as No Child Left Behind, Golden Gate is worth attending; Manzanita is not. Labeled a "school in need of improvement," Manzanita -- like thousands of other schools across California and the nation -- must accept state help and tell all students they may change schools.

The reason for the apparent double standard: Manzanita is more diverse than Golden Gate, says a new study of how the federal rules affect California schools. The rules require that large "subgroups" of students in each school meet academic goals. Each ethnic group, as well as low-income students and English learners, must score at a certain level or the school is subject to federal sanctions.

That amounts to a "diversity penalty," says the study due out today by researchers from UC Berkeley and the University of Southern California. More than 7,000 California schools, virtually all the state's schools, were included in the study.

The researchers want the federal government to let schools avoid sanctions even if subgroups miss academic targets. But defenders of the system say no one should be exempt from meeting high academic standards.

According to the study, California schools with the wealthiest students have an 83 percent chance of meeting their academic targets if they have only one subgroup. The more subgroups there are, the more hurdles the school must overcome, and the more its chance of meeting targets drops.

With six subgroups, even wealthy schools have only a 53 percent chance of meeting targets, the study found. The pattern sharpens at schools with poorer students, so that schools with 75 percent or more poor students and six subgroups have only a 16 percent chance of meeting targets, the study found.

Golden Gate, with two subgroups -- black and low-income students -- met all of its federally required academic goals this year.

Manzanita, with five subgroups -- English learners and black, Asian American, Latino and low-income students -- did not, though it came close. Had six more black students scored at the "proficient" level in math, Manzanita would not have to accept state help as part of a federally mandated program for underperformers.