The Russell-Tyler-Ruthton School District has its concerns with the No Child Left Behind initiative and is doing something about it.
The RTR School Board voted Nov. 17 on a resolution to encourage the state of Minnesota to pull out of the No Child Left Behind program.
Bruce Houck, RTR superintendent, said Monday the board wants the state to pull out of the program because of unrealistic expectations and its unfunded status.
"The board has had a lot of discussion about student achievement and trying to make sure that all the students do achieve to their abilities," said Houck. "No Child Left Behind in our discussions is unrealistic - expecting 100 percent of the kids to achieve 100 percent."
Jerry Bly, RTR School Board member, said Monday the board has been discussing its concerns about the program for a while.
"This discussion has been going on for several months and maybe even a few years," said Bly. "The question that we always have is the effectiveness and the funding."
Houck said RTR has been working on improving on reading, writing and math - the programs covered in NCLB - but the expectation of 100 percent proficiency isn't realistic.
"Every year the state raises the bar in relation to reading, writing and math," said Houck. "One of the issues when we look at the state math test, only 36 percent of the students across the state pass that test. We're right in there with the rest of them."
Houck said faults in the NCLB program are apparent following one student's experience taking the math exam.
"Last spring we had a student who took the ACT test and scored a 27. He took the math test this spring and didn't pass it. There is no relationship between the two.
"When the average (ACT math score) is 19 and he scores a 27 in the math and then doesn't pass the math test in school - there is something wrong with one of those two tests, and the ACT has been around for a long time, the tendency is to look at the state test."
Houck said the district will continue to work on improving its proficiency beyond NCLB, but said it's important to keep the needs of each student in mind.
"We have been working diligently to improve those scores and we still want to achieve the state expectations," said Houck.
"Special education students who take those tests are expected to score the same as anyone else," added Houck.
Houck said funding for NCLB has been difficult to come across and is exceeding the district's capabilities.
"The cost of the program to the district is excessive with no money coming in for it," said Houck. "Like the majority of the districts in southwest Minnesota, the money we've been getting through Title 1 and Ttitle 2 has gone down every year. They are expecting us to do more with less."
Houck said the district will be sending letters to state and federal representatives to discuss the issue further.
"We're going to send our resolutions to all our state senators and representatives and also to our federal representatives and senators," said Houck. "We're going to request a meeting with them after they get into session."