Evaluation tools sought for Minnesota’s schools

"MN Education"

07/05/2007

Legislators didn't pass new measures to evaluate alternative learning centers, but efforts seeking accountability continue.


By James Walsh,
Star Tribune
July 05, 2007


Officials could soon start shining some light into the shadows of Minnesota's educational system.
Both a leading legislator and the state commissioner of education say they expect Minnesota to begin keeping a closer eye on student performance at area learning centers and alternative education programs.

State Rep. Carlos Mariani-Rosa, chairman of the House E-12 Education Committee, said he hopes to establish education working groups soon to tackle issues and make recommendations. One group would look at how to better assess alternative schools.

"To a large degree, you're looking at a different group of students," Mariani-Rosa said. "I'm hoping we can come back next session with some ideas for how to get our hands around what is happening in alternative schools."

That would be welcome news to Terry Lydell, recently retired from alternative education and the president of the Minnesota Association of Alternative Programs (MAAP). Lydell and his group have long pushed the Legislature and the Education Department to come up with better measures for the academic success -- or failure -- of alternative education programs. To no avail, perhaps until now.

Where are the answers?

"If you ask a question, you should get an answer," Lydell said. "Regardless of what the answer is, it gives you someplace to go."

First, a little background: Minnesota has more than 150 state-approved, taxpayer-funded alternative programs with 147,000 students attending at least part-time -- costing more than $217 million a year. About 25,000 attend full-time.

Most programs serve students between the ages of 16 and 21 who are in danger of dropping out. Students must meet at least one of several criteria to attend such programs, including being pregnant or a parent, chemically dependent or not passing basic standards tests.

But a Star Tribune special report last spring found little information showing the effect of such programs. State and federal officials keep no data showing how many students graduate. State test scores for alternative students are much lower than state averages, but few students actually take the tests. Absenteeism is rampant at some schools.

A bill authored by State Rep. David Bly, DFL-Northfield, called on the state Department of Education, the now-dormant Office of Educational Accountability and MAAP to study alternative ways to measure success at these schools. But the bill went nowhere during the 2007 legislative session.

Mariani-Rosa said it's time to learn more. Besides, he said, studying perhaps more valid ways to measure school success is something that could benefit all schools.

'Why not try it?'

"I'm intrigued by the notion of if you're going to look at an alternative accountability system, or even a parallel accountability system, why not try it at the alternative schools," he said. "I think there are some creative ideas."

Steve Allen, president-elect of MAAP, said other ways to measure alternative success could include students' attitudes toward school or whether they learned marketable job skills.

Lydell agrees, saying the state must go beyond graduation rates and test scores when judging alternative programs. For many kids, simply staying in school is a major victory.

But, Lydell said, the Department of Education has seemed to oppose looking at alternative schools differently.

"The bureaucracy is the one that has stayed back with the way we've always done it," he said.

There's a good reason for that, said state Education Commissioner Alice Seagren: No Child Left Behind, the federal education accountability law, requires schools to use testing and attendance to measure academic progress. She said she's willing to add other ways to measure a program.

But, she said, "when the end of the day comes, our kids need to be prepared for a more globally competitive environment."

In fact, Seagren promised, the state is going to do a better job to ensure that students in alternative programs are making measurable academic progress.

Area learning centers this year will be required to file their improvement plans with the state. And her department is going to closely watch those plans, she said, "and not just let them coast and do some workbook things. A lot of ALCs are doing good things. I don't want to paint them all with too broad a brush. We have to hold a lens up to these programs."