To sixth-grader Brianna Denning, the meaning of No Child Left Behind is clear: "Everybody is included -- nobody is left out of the group."

That was the intent behind President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, which became law in 2001. It faces reauthorization by Congress this year.

Although the intention of NCLB was laudable -- holding schools accountable for how effective they are at teaching students -- educators across Montana and the country say the act is flawed.

NCLB requires schools nationwide to administer standardized testing and submit results annually to the U.S. Department of Education. Federal funding, and even control of schools, can hinge on test results.

Gretchen Edelen, a veteran Helena High School English teacher, said she has mixed feelings about NCLB.

"It is important all students receive a free and appropriate education and no one is left behind," she said. "I worry about putting so much emphasis on a single test. It's risky to judge a school on a single test on a single day because it can't give you the whole picture."

The tests given at the end of the last school year were the second in a row that Helena's middle schools and high schools did not meet adequate yearly progress under NCLB. (See related story.)

Helena School District Superintendent Bruce Messinger said administrators are careful and thoughtful about how they respond to not making adequate yearly progress benchmarks.

It's just one measure, Messinger said, as the district takes into consideration other factors like how test scores compare and relate to classroom work.

The ultimate goal of NCLB is that all schools make adequate yearly progress, which would mean all students are proficient in understanding specific subjects up to state standards.

"That isn't going to happen," Messinger said. "Even if we did it perfectly well, there are things we don't control, like mental health and emotional issues."

Suzy Fabian, an eighth-grade teacher at C.R. Anderson Middle School, said the staff in her building does not wait for someone to come along and tell them what they need to do to more effectively teach.

"Teachers are being asked to do more all the time," Fabian said, adding that the requests many times come without additional funding or materials.

Every year, Fabian said, the staff decides on new methods and approaches to reach more students; sometimes that means implementing new programs.

Because of this methodology, student test scores have improved.

"Is NCLB impetus for that? I don't know," she said. "We might have ended up with what we've done anyway."

Ten years ago there was no statewide common assessment testing, Messinger said.

Critics say one of the problems with NCLB, or "nickel B" as some educators call it, is that states select their own type of test.

That means, for example, that a fifth-grade student in Montana who is considered proficient might be considered a novice in another states according to the test he took.

"Before NCLB and the requirement under the law we did not have a statewide credit and reference test," he said.

"Trying to create policy that works for school districts across the nation of all shapes and sizes is hard to do, if not impossible," Messinger said. "The federal government is not a major (financial) player in public education in our state or any state," he said. "Less than five percent of money that comes into Helena is federal money."

Despite all the attention NCLB gets, its test isn't high on many students' priorities, said Bethany Cordell, a senior at Helena High School.

"Between the SAT and ACT, it's not one that students really care about or try on," she said. "No one likes taking them, but it's not like they sit down and try to do their absolute best."

Most teachers, Cordell maintained, don't like NCLB, either.

"They don't feel like it's a good way to measure students and teachers' ability to teach students," she said.

Denning, a straight-A student, says teachers do point out things that will be on the tests throughout the year.

"We work hard on the things that will be on the test," she said.

"Everybody talks about how stressful they are," she said. "Everyone thinks, 'Oh my gosh, they are so hard.' It just gets everybody stressed."

Under NCLB, the consequence for not meeting adequate yearly progress could be that federal funds are withheld, or at least that is the threat from Washington.

Another consequence could be total takeover by the state superintendent's office.

However, in this state, that's unconstitutional, according to State Superintendent Linda McCulloch, because Montana law states that the only legal entity that can run a school are elected trustees.

"I can't see taking money away from a struggling school," McCulloch said. "That would be very contrary to educating students in Montana."

Messinger will be among a small group of Montanans heading to Washington, D.C., this month to talk to Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., regarding NCLB, its potential reauthorization and the unique challenges Montana faces with it.

Messinger said he doesn't think NCLB is likely to be reauthorized.

Although not much school funding is allocated federally, Messinger said, the federal legislation dictates what goes on in the schools.

"The responsibility to educate the children is a state responsibility, so in my opinion the accountability measure needs to be managed at the state level because that is where the responsibility to educate children rests," Messinger said.

There isn't enough support from any coalition to get NCLB reauthorized, from conservatives or liberals, he said.

"When Congress looks at our education laws, there must be greater flexibility rural school districts, like those in Montana," Baucus said. "Education is important and we must provide sufficient resources to prepare our children to be successful tomorrow -- whether it's in Manhattan, Montana, or Manhattan, New York. I look forward to meeting with Dr. Messinger and other Montana education leaders to discuss ways to make our education laws better and more useful to our children and our school system."

Rehberg supports reauthorization and said the program needs to be retrofitted for rural schools like in Montana.

"No Child Left Behind has been an important step forward in terms of providing better education for our children," Rehberg said in a prepared statement. "However, it's still far from perfect. In Montana, many schools continue to fall short of the program's standards and any reauthorization needs to include necessary provisions that will make it more compatible for our rural schools.

"I look forward to working with my House colleagues on this critical legislation and I'll continue to build on the important progress which is already being made within our state."

In a nationwide poll conducted this fall by Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup, fewer than one-third of the respondents said they believe NCLB is helping improve the performance of public schools.

Denning said the annual testing feels like it takes forever to complete, although she admits she generally finished before many other students in the room.

In general, though, Denning doesn't think the tests are that big of a deal. In fact, she said, they can be a fun and challenging way to break up the daily school work.

"It does scare me that people in the government will be looking at it (the scores)," she said.

Still, Denning thinks it's a good idea the government tells schools what students should know, she said.

"Because they know what you need to know in years to come," she said.

Testing standards

No Child Left Behind requires standardized testing in all public schools. Each state determines which test they administer.

In Montana, as well as the Helena School District, all the required standardized testing is given to students in the spring.

The Criterion Referenced Test measures students' performance against state standards.

Students in third through eighth grades and in tenth grade are assessed in math and reading. A 45 minute time limit is suggested for each of the three sessions.

This year for the first time, fourth, eighth and tenth-grade students will be tested in science.

Students are assigned performance levels based on their score: novice, nearing proficient, proficient and advanced.

Proficient meaning that students are able to demonstrate, according to the skills measured by the tests, what students at their particular grade level are expected to understand under state standards.

All 11 elementary schools in the Helena School District met their adequate yearly progress standards under NCLB last year.

But the Helena elementary district as a whole didn't because of scores in the two middle schools, which are included in the district.

Similarly, the majority of students in the high school district passed last year's tests, but the schools didn't.

The reason for that apparent disparity is that NCLB divides student populations into 11 groups.

Students evaluated as economically disadvantaged are one group, for example, as are students with special needs.

When the test scores for students in even one of the 11 groups don't meet standards required by NCLB, the whole school subsequently doesn't meet its adequate yearly progress goals.

And when one school doesn't meet its goals, the whole district doesn't pass.

But to make matters more complicated, if an individual school has fewer than 40 students in one of those 11 groups, that group's scores don't determine whether the school passes.

That means larger schools with more students are more likely to have the 11 identified groups determine whether they make adequate progress under NCLB.

The tests at the end of the last school year were the second in a row that Helena's middle schools and high schools didn't meet the adequate yearly progress requirements.

In Montana, 15 percent of school districts did not meet federal requirements.

This year there will be one fewer test for students than in the previous five years because in May, the Board of Public Education voted to discontinue the required use of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills to fourth, eighth and 11th graders.

Helena, however, will continue to give the ITBS test to students in second grade to identify gifted and talented students.

The state board made its decision based on a recommendation from State Superintendent Linda McCulloch.

"Schools feel like they've hit the max when it comes to testing," she said.

Reporter Alana Listoe: 447-4081 or alana.listoe@helenair.com