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Arkansas example for other states in education reform, federal official says Tuesday, Mar 11, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas has become an example for other states to follow in reforming their public education systems, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Ray Simon told the state Board of Education Monday. Also Monday, the board approved the closing of an elementary school in Union County and recognized 17 high schools for improving participation and performance in the ACT. Simon, a Conway native, served as director of the state Department of Education for six years before being appointed by President Bush in 2005 to his present position. Simon was back in his home state Monday to address the Education Board on the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which requires states to set academic standards for their public schools. One of the difficult aspects of No Child Left Behind has been persuading states to set high standards, Simon said. Arkansas has set standards that are among the highest in the country, he said. "Despite the fact that Arkansas has higher standards than many states, you still have pretty close to the national average on the number of schools making adequate yearly progress," Simon said. "The number is a little less - about 61.7 percent of Arkansas schools are making adequate yearly progress compared to 70 percent around the country - but the fact that your standards are higher says a lot." Simon also said Arkansas' average high school graduation rate is slightly higher than the national average, and its percentage of high school students who take Advanced Placement exams is well above the national percentage - 32.2 percent in Arkansas compared to 24.9 percent nationwide. "People are beginning to look at this state to see how school reform should be done," he said. The board voted Monday to approve a decision by the Strong-Huttig School Board in Union County to close Huttig Elementary School. The Strong and Huttig school districts were consolidated by the state in 2004. The consolidation left two separate elementary schools open, but the district's school board recently voted 5-2 to close Huttig's elementary school. Strong-Huttig Superintendent Saul Lusk told the board an 8.8 mill increase to upgrade facilities and keep Huttig Elementary open was rejected by voters in September "by a very wide margin." "We feel that the reason why we should do this is simply the financial picture tells us that we should do this," Lusk said. The school has 69 students in kindergarten through fifth grade and is about 12 miles from Strong. Assistant Education Commissioner Charity Smith presented awards for college readiness to representatives of 17 Arkansas high schools that have increased both the number of students taking the ACT and overall ACT scores. "If you increase the numbers, people think the scores will actually go down. Well, there are 17 school districts in this state where they increased the number of kids taking the ACT and their progress went up," Smith said. The high schools honored were Arkadelphia, Ashdown, Bentonville, Cedarville, Dardanelle, Des Arc, Dewitt, Dumas, Gravette, Greenland, Central High School in Helena-West Helena, Horatio, Midland, Monticello, Prairie Grove, Siloam Springs and Spring Hill. ------- On the Net: Information on the state's educational progress is available at www.ed.gov/nclb/accountability/results/progress/ar.html. |
