State cites schools for testing violation

The Arkansas Board of Education on Thursday cited the accreditation status of 12 schools for failing to test at least 95% of all students eligible to take the ACT Aspire tests in math and literacy in the spring of 2022.

The board granted the appeals of three other schools — two virtual campuses and a credit recovery high school — that gave what the Education Board determined were satisfactory extenuating circumstances for testing fewer than the required 95% of students.

The Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education recommended the state accreditation status of all 15 campuses be cited for violation of standard 1-c.1.1., which sets the minimum requirement for participation in the annual statewide assessment.

Ten schools did not challenge the citation. Five did challenge, with two losing their appeals.

Deborah Coffman, assistant commissioner for public school accountability in the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, told the Education Board that the citation attached to a school’s state accreditation status constitutes a warning with no further consequences other than the schools must plan for increasing the number of tested students in this current school year.

If the violation is repeated during the upcoming administration of the ACT Aspire test, the accreditation status for a school would advance to accreditation-probation with action taken against the school if the violation occurs a third year.

In those cases, the state Education Board can take eight specific actions against the district, including removal of the superintendent or the merger of the district with another.

Schools that are now accredited with a citation include three campuses in Little Rock — Terry Elementary, Dunbar Magnet Middle and Southwest High.

Others that are now accredited-cited are North Little Rock High School, Pulaski County Special’s Joe T. Robinson High, Pine Bluff High, Dumas High, East Junior High in the West Memphis School District, Founders Classical Academies of Arkansas-West Little Rock, and the Responsive Education Solutions’ Premier High Schools in Little Rock, North Little Rock and Springdale.

Fayetteville Virtual Academy, Driven Virtual Academy in the Pulaski County Special School District and Graduate Arkansas Charter High in Little Rock were recommended for a citation by the state agency, but the Education Board sustained their appeal of the label.

The Fayetteville School District that was successful in challenging the proposed citation label described how one student was classified as a missing person and didn’t take the test, others moved out of state or moved to a home school and others refused testing because of opposition to standardized testing or personal or family medical reasons but didn’t submit required documentation.

Mary Claire Hyatt, an attorney for the district, said she didn’t know how the district could have done anything more to get the required percentage tested.

“Our reasons were ones we could not control,” she said.