RE: accountability

Carole Levinson:  There are many factors that make up Title I and without knowing the full details of the situation with the school in which your teacher/friend works and her group of students, it is difficult to answer your question directly as to the penalties that might have been incurred. 

However I would like to offer the following general overview of the current statewide accountability system.  The system focuses on test scores for both the school as a whole and then disaggregates the data/students scores by "numerically significant subgroups."  The purpose of creating a system that looks at growth for both the overall school AND these numerically significant subgroups was to ensure that no student is overlooked, hidden, or left out.  Thus, a school is held accountable to ensure that ALL students at the school are making advances in their achievement.  Thus, it is possible for a school as a whole to meet growth targets and not have all numerically significant subgroups meeting their growth targets.  In such a case the school, if this persists, could face district or state "penalties."  With regards to providing monetary awards for success with increased student achievement, there are two key avenues for this:  (1) one-time awards that may be provided to teachers for significant improvement in their students' achievement; and (2) awards for a school, as a whole, that continues to show student improvement - as measured by meeting both growth targets (the whole school and numerically significant subgroups). 

Having provided all of this as general background, I would most definitely agree with your assessment.  If a teacher is having success in a school - and most specifically with a particular population of students (like those served by Title I) - such success should be emulated, documented, and shared throughout the education system - not penalized.