Extra school days worth a long look

 Cracking the riddle of how to help students make the grade has been trying for the Beaufort County School District, but a plan to help those who perform poorly on their standardized tests deserves a second look.

A strategy is afoot in the local administration to tack on an extra 20 days to the school year for those students scoring below basic on the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test, given to the state's third- through eighth-graders. The test is tied to funding with standards predicated on the federal No Child Left Behind Act, signed in 2002 to ensure all students are proficient in math and science by 2014.

To become the first in the state to mandate such a program, the Beaufort County Board of Education would need to sign off on the plan. To channel federal funding to pay for the teachers and classrooms — possibly more than $1 million a year — the State Department of Education would have to give its blessing as well.

Last year the district saw decreases in English and math, but it saw increases in science and social studies. However, the percentage of students who met minimum competency on the English section fell slightly in almost every grade. In math, the scores dropped in third, fourth and sixth grades.

Also last year, the majority of county public schools didn't earn a passing grade on so-called Adequate Yearly Progress. The results mirrored the two years prior. Only seven of the district's 27 schools met AYP, lagging the statewide average in its improvement goals: 67 percent in Beaufort County; 76 percent statewide.

As it stands, year-round school students have the option of raising their performance by attending voluntary remedial tutoring during regular school breaks, or intersessions. But many students choose not to receive the extra help; the measure to add the extra days would mean mandatory classes for these students.

If the goal is to help students achieve scholastic success, then first-year superintendent Valerie Truesdale's plan looks good — on paper. The long-standing argument has been whether we are educating children or simply teaching them how to pass a test. The sentiment has been echoed for years by educators and parents, but it has been more pronounced since the federal funding became tethered to academic success.

Too, schools that don't improve risk punitive action from the state, including removal of top administrative staff and, possibly, a state takeover. Others argue that the extra month of classes is punishment for poorly performing kids who should have been educated properly during the school year.

The measure wouldn't go into place until the next school year, but if it were today, about 2,600 students would be candidates for the extended year. In the meantime, the district has received state grants so that eight teachers — from five elementary schools and three middle schools — would be allowed to train to become math and science coaches.

The district should move forward with the plan but be careful that the measure isn't just a one-trick pony to pass a test to keep collecting a federal checks from NCLB. Not all student performance, what Truesdale has accurately called "foundational skills," can be tracked on a standardized test.