The state of California released information Tuesday showing more local schools are failing to meet federal academic achievement goals -- the same day that four Fresno County schools were recognized as high-achieving Blue Ribbon schools under the federal No Child Left Behind program.
John S. Wash Elementary in Sanger Unified School District and three magnet schools in Fresno Unified -- Edison Computech, Manchester GATE and Bullard TALENT -- were among 25 in California and 314 nationwide honored by the U.S. Department of Education for having significant academic gains in student achievement while serving economically disadvantaged students.
It's the first time a Sanger school has received the national honor, and also the most Fresno Unified schools ever recognized at once.
"We're ecstatic," said Marcus Johnson, Sanger Unified's superintendent.
He said school officials have worked hard to boost student achievement at the school, where 140 of its 400 students are English-language learners.
Fresno Unified superintendent Michael Hanson called the recognition "a testament to the outstanding work and commitment of these schools to accelerate the academic achievement of our students."
But Hanson was less happy with the news announced Tuesday by the state Department of Education that more Fresno schools have missed federal progress goals for two years and are considered failing.
Academic Performance Index scores and Adequate Yearly Progress results show where schools line up with federal goals. The information is based on testing from the 2008-09 school year.
The state's API is based on how well students perform on a variety of tests and is considered a measure of academic progress. The target score is 800 or higher. Overall, most local schools advanced.
Fresno Unified School District improved by 14 points from last year to 702.
However, 67 of the district's 104 schools -- six more than last year -- were identified as program improvement schools that failed to meet federal progress goals.
A growing number of educators say that because the federal goals keep inching upward, even schools that are improving academically are consistently failing.
"We have 2,000 more kids proficient in math. I can have thousands of students moving into the promised land of being proficient, but you can't necessarily tell that by looking at the federal government measures," Hanson said.
Visalia Unified improved by 10 points overall on the API to 747, but 16 of its 30 schools were identified as program improvement -- two more than last year.
Madera Unified School District doubled the number of schools that hit the 800 API target from two to four and improved its overall API by 10 points.
But more than a dozen of its 26 schools are identified as program improvement campuses, including Dixieland Elementary, said Jake Bragonier, Madera Unified spokesman.
Dixieland scored 794 on the API -- just shy of the 800 target but also short of its federally set goal. "Anyone would consider Dixieland to be a high-achieving school," he said.
Most of the state's schools made academic gains on the API, with 42% at or above the 800 target -- 6% more than last year.
But under the federal system, each year a higher percentage of students must meet proficiency standards in subjects such as English and math, and many schools have fallen short, according to the state.
Larry Powell, Superintendent of the Fresno County Office of Education, said the conflicting information is especially confusing for parents.
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