EDUCATORS FEEL PRESSURED BY EDUCATION DRIVE SOME SAY NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT LEAVES THEM 'TEACHING TO THE TEST'.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - While school administrators anxiously await the release of this year's Accountability Progress Report from the state education office, the controversy over the federal No Child Left Behind Act continues to swirl.

The federal legislation, being challenged by some states, establishes standards of accountability in reading and mathematics by testing all children in grades 3-8. It also has the goal of making sure every child can read by the end of third grade.

But some teachers complain ``teaching to the test'' has taken its toll on teachers and students alike.

``Basically, No Child Left Behind says that every kid at every grade level will all end up being perfect or the system will have failed,'' said Orval Garrison, president of the William S. Hart Union High School District Teachers Association. ``It doesn't matter where you are personally, if you have a unique disability, or what your strengths or weaknesses are. You're put in front of these tests and expected to achieve a state-determined standard of excellence.''

``Every child is an individual and has their own set of needs, especially special-education students, who come in far below grade level,'' said Carole Magnuson, a special-education teacher at Newhall Elementary School. ``What we look for is progress every year; if a student makes an adequate amount of progress, we feel successful.''

``Even if you take a student at the seventh-grade level who has been functioning at a fifth-grade level and bring him up to sixth-grade level, under NCLB, you have failed,'' Garrison added. ``Kids come to us with different strengths and talents and different baggage. It is unrealistic to expect that they will reach the same level at the same time.''

Garrison believes that, under the law, hundreds and thousands of schools eventually will fall into the failure status, including some in the Santa Clarita Valley.

``Most of NCLB deals with Title I (for children from low-income families) funding and the strings that come with that funding,'' said Larry Heath, principal of J. Michael McGrath School in Newhall. ``I don't have any problem with high expectations whatsoever. The problem with low-achieving children is solvable, and the whole debate is silly.''

According to the Newhall School District, McGrath has the highest percentage of pupils in disadvantaged categories: low-income and socioeconomic-challenged, learning disabilities, special-education and English-language learners.

Heath has addressed the problems faced by his pupils by pumping up staff development, intensifying curriculum and lengthening the school day for those who need more attention. Still, he says, NCLB is not without its faults.

``There are some problems with the overall legislation; expectations for special-education students need to be rethought,'' he said. ``But unions are just as much to blame. They jealously guard the rights of senior teachers and want them to have the right to influence when they work. We all face difficult circumstances with disadvantaged students.

``We need to overcome those circumstances because this problem is solvable. All this hand-wringing is ridiculous. The best teachers should be assigned to the most difficult circumstances. When you're sick, you need the best doctors available.''

Heath has seen his school's approach - spending a disproportionate amount of time in reading groups, vocabulary development and math - work to everyone's advantage. The first year the campus was tested, it ranked in the top 10 of similar schools. The second year, the scores improved.

``This is all due to staff development and training - it's not magic,'' he said.

``If teachers teach to the test, shame on them. Do an effective job teaching the standards, and the tests will take care of themselves. Teach all your children well. You work hard with every kid and the results will always be there. They prove that high expectations are doable.''

Carol Rock, [phone]

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com