We performed this inspection of the Moencopi Day School located on the Hopi Reservation adjacent to Tuba City, AZ, to evaluate programs the school had in place to help close the educational achievement gap and increase graduation rates, the two broad areas into which concerns related to student achievement are categorized. Since the No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law in January 2002, requires schools to complete a comprehensive needs assessment with which to develop a strategy aimed at meeting students' academic development needs, we used the assessment to help evaluate Moencopi's progress.
We found that Moencopi had an outdated needs assessment that did not address all assessment areas. The incompleteness of the assessment left the school unable to effectively prioritize its resources to ensure the successful educational achievement of its students.
Further, school children may have mastered conversational English and yet still struggled to express themselves effectively using academic English, the formal written, auditory, and visual language used in learning environments. The English language learner (ELL) assessment test is required of schools in Arizona to help educators identify students who may have mastered conversational but not academic English. We found that Moencopi Day School officials had not administered ELL assessments as required by the State.
We provided three recommendations to help Moencopi Day School improve its efforts to promote educational achievement among its students and close the achievement gap.