Extra help to be offered to pupils deemed at risk
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer

MANALAPAN - The Manalapan Englishtown Middle School (MEMS) will be looking to enter a "safe harbor" for the 2006-07 school year following the determination that it did not meet every criteria set by the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.

Extra help will be offered to students who are determined to be in need of such assistance, according to an assistant superintendent in the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District.

If not corrected, the failure to satisfy all requirements established by NCLB could eventually result in a loss of federal money the district receives under NCLB, presently $197,000.

Assistant Superintendent of Schools James Marciante said NCLB was designed to identify and provide intervention for students who are identified as living under disadvantaged economic standards that could result in their not having access to learning tools such as a home computer or learning enhancement programs that are available to more economically favored students.

Marciante said MEMS received an early warning designation because test scores among special education pupils did not meet NCLB guidelines. He said the special education program enrollment exceeds 35 students and the scores of those pupils count in the school's overall assessment.

He said there are middle schools in neighboring communities where the pupils' scores matched MEMS, but because there were fewer than 35 students in the sample the results in those districts were not seen as statistically significant and so those buildings did not receive the same early warning as MEMS.

Marciante said as far as qualifying under the guidelines of NCLB, the district as a whole is fine. He said MEMS achieved standards in 38 of 40 areas; the areas in question surround special education.

According to Marciante, among the areas examined are students who are recipients of Title 1 funding, which among its provisions provides free lunches. Also considered under Title I, said Marciante, are minority groups like blacks, Hispanics and pupils who are enrolled in the English as a Second Language program, or other target groups and programs where students are believed to be disadvantaged.

Marciante said since the MEMS special education program is the only one with more than 35 students, the result is that "the school is punished for being a big school." He said the school must show a 10 percent improvement over the scores posted in 2005-06.

According to Marciante, the district now has good indicators based on last year's seventh-grade testing as to which students will benefit from "intensive intervention" this coming school year.

He said those students who, according to last year's test scores, appear to be at risk for failure on the eighth-grade mandatory proficiency test, will start receiving instruction in September aimed at strengthening their identified areas of weakness.

Marciante said the program will provide after-school or Saturday classroom time for any student who it is determined would benefit from the extra help.

Marciante said administrators are optimistic this assistance will result in MEMS achieving "safe harbor" designation under the federal NCLB guidelines at the completion of the 2006-07 school year.-