Is your child getting a good education? That's the question some local parents are asking. Many Illinois districts have been sending out a letter telling parents their child's school did not meet requirements put in place by the No Child Left Behind Act. Every year students are tested in reading and math and the school is given an "Adequate Yearly Progress" score,or AYP, they must meet. This year it was 85 percent, meaning 85 percent of students needed to meet or exceed state standards in those two subjects. However, many schools are not making the cut. For example, George O Barr Elementary's AYP score for reading was only 65.9 percent and Colona school's was 69.8 percent.
"Our jaws just hit the floor, just looked to me like the letter said the school couldn't do their job teaching our kids anything," said Parent Terry Vervenne.
Vervenne and his wife Arporn have two kids, one in 5th grade the other 8th, who go to school in the Silvis district. The couple said they've noticed their kids struggling with the basics, and when they got a letter they became even more worried.
"They are behind in 5th grade and don't know what they should know," Vervenne said.
Arporn, who is from Thailand, said she brought her kids here hoping for a better life, but the education is not what she expected.
"I compare the education system to my country, here is a lot looser to me, we study hard," she said.
In the letter parents are given the option to transfer their students to another local school. The only problem is most other schools are in the same boat, and the ones that aren't will not take on any more kids.
"Generally schools have a policy that we do not accept non-residential students in the school district," Colona School Superintendent Kyle Ganson said.
Ganson said that is because of tax dollars. Meanwhile, school leaders from both Silvis and Colona said despite what the letter (which they are required by law to send) may say, they are working hard to improve student's education.
"It's very misleading because we had close to 70 percent of students actually meet or exceed standards," Ganson said.
George O Barr even saw their scores go up by 3.7 percent.
"It's a tough thing, we are always pushing to improve what we are doing and have, I am very proud of our staff and students," Silvis Superintendent Ray Bergles said.
Both Superintendents said under the No Child Left Behind Act there are a lot of flaws when it actually comes to measuring students success.
"Some educators get very upset about it, I think it's a little irritating that we are expecting all students who are in all different stages of development to meet the same standards," Bergles said.
"A lot of variables we don't have control over and yet, we are being held accountable for many of those factors that play into those test scores," Ganson said.
With expectations for those test scores going up every year, it's only going to get harder for schools to meet the requirements. However both men say they are not giving up. With or without the No Child Left Behind Act, they said teachers are focused on giving students the education they need to succeed.
"They're working hard to try and do the best they can," Bergles said.
