New Bedford Standard Times Oct. 15, 2004           < Back to News
Problem school now a shining example

Roosevelt sheds 'Underperforming' label
By STEVE URBON, Standard-Times senior correspondent

NEW BEDFORD -- Rescued from a well of failure by a new building, a new administration and a new attitude, Roosevelt Middle School yesterday was officially removed, with great fanfare, from the state's dreaded list of "underperforming" schools.
State Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll told a midmorning press conference in the school library that Roosevelt's success "is remarkable news for New Bedford." It was so noteworthy that Mr. Driscoll used it as a platform to tout upbeat results in the "adequate yearly progress," or AYP, the state must make to satisfy the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Ninety-six percent of the state's school districts hit their AYP targets in English, and 96 hit them in math, Mr. Driscoll said. Individual schools within a district, however, may have missed targets, especially within subgroups such as students with limited English, African-Americans or those with disabilities or low incomes.
The targets, 75.6 percent proficient in English and 60.8 percent proficient in math, will rise each year until they reach 100 percent in 2014. The definition of proficient is left up to the state, but Massachusetts has one of the five highest standards in the United States, Mr. Driscoll said, and it has a head start because education reform happened here before the federal rules took effect.
New Bedford overall made progress, but is still regarded as needing improvement in some subgroups in English and math. Among SouthCoast suburbs, only Wareham Middle School was listed by the state yesterday as being in the "needs improvement" category.
Roosevelt far outstripped the state's overall progress, Mr. Driscoll announced to applause from the 50 local officials and educators assembled in the room. The state's overall progress on the English portion of the MCAS tests was 3.3 percent this year, he said. Roosevelt's was 9 percent. In math, the state's scores rose 5.2 percent and Roosevelt's 11.4 percent.
New Bedford overall exceeded the statewide pace of improvement, up 4.6 percent in English and 8.8 percent in math. Only one of the 22 city elementary schools -- Charles S. Ashley -- failed to make adequate progress in math. Three fell short in English: Abraham Lincoln, Elwin G. Campbell and George H. Dunbar.
Repeated failure can lead to a loss of Title 1 special education money and a mandate that students be offered the chance to attend another school.
"Why am I at Roosevelt?" Mr. Driscoll asked. "Is it because I like the view (of the harbor from the library windows)? It's because I like accountability and results. And you didn't get great results from luck."
Principal Brian G. Abdallah, Schools Superintendent Michael E. Longo and Mayor Frederick M. Kalisz all preceded Mr. Driscoll in singing Roosevelt's praises.
Mayor Kalisz said the turnaround is the result of "a change in philosophy in the entire system," which Mr. Longo said "welcomes accountability" and "embraces" state overseers "as partners."
The adequate yearly progress reports are designed to comply with the federal requirements that every school in America bring every student to "proficiency" in math and English by 2014, a state of perfection that Mr. Driscoll told The Standard-Times that may need "some amendments as time goes on," but not yet.
For now, riding what he called "this hypotenuse to the sky" requires states to establish standards, meet them and improve every year. It dovetails with the 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Act, which established the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. Students must pass the 10th-grade MCAS to graduate high school, and MCAS testing is being used as a tool to hold schools accountable.
The federal act adds layers and breaks down aggregate school scores into a dozen and a half subgroups. Failure in any one of them can cause a school to be labeled "underperforming."
While applauding the effects of such pressure, Mr. Driscoll decried the labeling aspect. He used a basketball analogy, pointing out that famed center Shaquille O'Neal "is a lousy foul shooter. But would you call him a failure? No. He's terrific. But he's a basketball player who needs to improve."
He praised education reform in much the way that Mayor Kalisz did, pointing out that it brings together the community, parents, business leaders, police chiefs and regional employment boards in a joint effort that's bearing fruit.
Mayor Kalisz took credit for surveying the school system and pushing for new schools such as Roosevelt, and Mr. Driscoll tagged the city School Committee, "with all due respect," for "voting repeatedly" to reject plans for a new Roosevelt until four years ago.
But now, he said, New Bedford has lifted itself out of the bottom category of struggling urban school systems. It is now positioned above such cities as Fall River, Holyoke, Springfield and Lowell, he said.