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Abstract from the NASSMC Briefing Service (NBS) that is supported by the National Security Agency (NSA) and ExxonMobil Foundation, Tuesday, September 21, 2004. Original article is in Education Week, September 15, 2004, Volume 24, Number 3, p. 1,20. See
http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=03Districts.h24
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NCLB Law's Focus Turns To Districts

This is the first year that entire school districts will be identified as "in need of improvement" under the No Child Left Behind Act. The federal law requires states to help under-performing districts meet their performance targets.

Both the numbers of districts needing assistance and the type of assistance available vary dramatically from state to state.

Rhode Island, for example, named one-third of its 36 districts as needing improvement. Assistance efforts are well underway, as the state is three years into a program targeting districts. "Action teams" are sent from district to district, helping them meet seven specific standards for performance.

California, on the other hand, has identified just 18 of its 1056 districts as needing improvement. The state has previously targeted its assistance efforts at individual schools, but now "we're taking that school intervention work and essentially elevating it" to the district level, said Wendy Harris, assistant superintendent for school improvement.

Other states are much farther behind. Indiana, where about half the districts did not show adequate yearly progress, has just 12 people available to help districts raise test scores. Idaho hasn't even finished rolling out its school improvement program.

"We're really starting from scratch," said Allison Westfall, of the state Department of Education. "Since we're starting from the beginning, the focus is on the schools."
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Jerry P. Becker
Curriculum & Instruction
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL 62901-4610
Phone: (618) 453-4241 [O]
(618) 457-8903 [H]
Fax: (618) 453-4244
E-mail: jbecker@siu.edu