Ever since President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law in 2001, schools across the country have been under the gun, trying hard to reach the federal standards and guidelines, which differ immensely from the New Jersey Department of Education standards that had been in place for decades.
Last week, the first set of scores from the federal government regarding standardized test scores for fourth, eighth and high school students were released - and North Bergen, which did well in the state scoring in recent years, had two schools receiving warnings that they were failing to meet the federal standards.
Sixteen high schools in Hudson County received warnings. Several administrators called the distinction unfair.
According to the results released by the Federal Department of Education, both North Bergen High School and Franklin Elementary School received warnings that those schools were not living up to the list of 40 new federal guidelines.
The No Child Left Behind Act was established by Bush and received bipartisan support in Congress in 2001. It was meant to hold local public schools responsible for the poor test scores of underachieving students, such as the poverty-stricken, the disabled, minorities, and those for whom English is a second language.
The law now requires schools to report the test scores of those groups separately from the rest of the mainstream student classes and requires districts to make improvements on their test scores.
Only two indicators
Of the 40 different guidelines listed by the federal Department of Education, North Bergen High School missed reaching the standards in two indicators. Franklin School failed in four indicators. The rest of the district reached the standards.
However, Superintendent of Schools Peter Fischbach is angered by the recent results, because the rulings are not "representative of the entire district."
"When the No Child Left Behind Act went into effect in 2001, there was no set of standards that were in place for schools across the country," Fischbach said. "Each state had to come up with a program to comply with the federal government. There were different tests in each state, but the same guidelines applied across the country."
Fischbach said that he didn't think North Bergen should have been included in the listings, because the district doesn't receive a dime of federal assistance.
"It should only apply to those schools that are receiving Title I funds from the federal government," Fischbach said. "Those are the schools that have to comply with the federal guidelines. We don't receive any federal funding at all."
In the past, schools had to insure that 70 percent of their regular students were either proficient or advanced proficient in the state-standardized tests. The standards also did not apply to the special education and bilingual students.
Now, the federal guidelines are 85 percent. The high school was given two chances to reach the 85 percent proficiency level. This was the first attempt.
'That's just unfair'
Fischbach said that the problems at the high school stem from the HOPE (Helping Overage Pupils Excel) program, which was designed to help at-risk students with special needs, like social and emotional problems, and extraordinary circumstances like teen pregnancy and drug problems.
"All of our regular mainstream students met the standards," Fischbach said. "We're talking about 21 students out of 2,300 in the high school. We're getting hit for the special education and bilingual students. You have to expect them to be underachievers. There should be a stipulation placed for those students, but they're being compared to regular mainstream students. That's just unfair."
Added Fischbach, "Statistically, those students cannot perform like the mainstream students. It's impossibility. If that's what they want to do, then they can throw all educational and psychological testing out the window. There are so many barriers in place, like language, like psychological and physical problems. It's brutally unfair."
Fischbach said that the ruling is also unfair because there is not a uniform standardized test that all students across the country are taking.
"Each state has a different test," Fischbach said. "It's not like the SAT [Scholastic Aptitude Test] that is the same test across the country. Each state's is different. The test has to be validated to be equal for every student."
Fischbach said that he is not concerned with the warnings, because he firmly believes that the township's special education and bilingual students receive a quality education.
"In North Bergen, we have an extremely comprehensive approach to special education to meet the needs of the children," Fischbach said. "We offer bilingual programs and extend ourselves to help our students. These findings are not a setback."
Fischbach said that he has been busy writing letters to state legislators to examine the guidelines of the No Child Left Behind Act.
Many legislators, like Rep. Steve Rothman, believe the act is a good plan but needs to be refined because of the issues Fischbach addressed.
Rothman believes that the method of punishing an entire school district for the performance of a small number of students is unfair.
Rep. Steve Andrews from southern New Jersey is also sympathetic to the plight of the cause.
"The law says that you must have a method of evaluation for each child, but it does not require that the same method of evaluation be used for each child," Andrews said in a statement. "That's what the source to most of the problems New Jersey students are finding with the results."
Andrews said that he is working with school officials in his area to come up with a better plan that will include the disabled and language-impaired students, and that the proposal will be made to federal education officials in the near future.
In the meantime, North Bergen has to live with the stigma that the district is failing to meet the federal standards, even if those standards don't necessarily apply.
"I think we should be removed from the list," Fischbach said. "Even though these are only the first reports from No Child Left Behind, it's still unfair to receive this classification."