All that Glitters is not Gold

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School Performance 2011 is here

All that Glitters is not Gold

Grabbing headlines recently was news that the state-run Recovery School District (RSD) student population at basic or above had jumped more than four times the state average between 2007 and 2011.

The state average for that period was 66, while the RSD-New Orleans rested at 48 (a five point gain over the 2010 scores).  The State gain was 1%, and the Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) stood at 82 with just a two point increase.

Not an insignificant gain for the RSD-NO.  But the end of the tale is that there remains a 23% gap between the state average and the RSD-NO; and an even larger gap of 41.5% for OPSB.

 The goal for Louisiana districts is to have all students at Basic or above by 2014.  The 2011 iLEAP for 3^rd grade test takers reveals the stark reality that the percent of students, statewide, who are at Approaching Basic (AB) or Unsatisfactory (UNSAT) numbers 25%; for the RSD-NO the number is 52%, more than double the state average of kids still looking to reach Basic.  The OPSB, meanwhile, shows only 22% of its students failing to make Basic or beyond.

When the 2011 test charts of the State Department of Education are evaluated to find the percentage of students meeting promotional standards on the LEAP tests, much the same gap occurs.  The charts show that 64% of RSD-NO students met promotional standards.  The State average was 80% and the OPSB 95%.

The opportunity to introduce more glitter into the RSD-NO performance brought headlines from Leslie Jacobs that New Orleans scores showed "impressive gains and once again improved much more than the state.”

Combining the scores of the OPSB and RSD brings the high performing scores of the OPSB (with 95% of all tested students at Basic or Abovc in ELA, 91% in mathematics, 85% in Science and 92% in Social Science) and those of the RSD-NO that scores 60% ELA, 56% in math, 39% in science and 51% in social studies. 

The disaggregation of the scores seems to tarnish the data presented on behalf of the RSD-NO.  Unfortunately, all boats are not lifted to the same elevation in a rising tide, and the state does not manage OPSB schools that outstrip RSD-NO scores by more than a third.

When reviewing OPSB scores in 4th grade ELA testing charts the 2009 score was 88% at Basic or Above, in 2010 that score improved in 2011 to 95%.  That compares with RSD-NO that started at 52% at Basic or Above in 2009 and rose to 60 in 2011.  Both district scores fell slightly in 2010.

Conventional wisdom admits that it is more difficult to make substantial gains in high performing and in higher graded schools.  That the OPSB increase, in promotional standards met, gained five points while the RSD-NO gained six is a significant accomplishment for the OPSB.  Study the individual RSD-NO School Performance Scores and it is clear that there now exists a two-tier system of poor and better schools.  While RSD-NO scores are rising, they did pre-Katrina as well, there are some indicators that some kids are being dumped into lower performing schools so as to build scores in the originally assigned school.

Laurel and Live Oak are two RSD-NO schools that do sustain all students and they boast 60 and 70% failure rates.

A byproduct of RSD-NO performance is the apparent two-tiered system that perpetuates schools at the bottom of the state rank ordering of School Performance Scores.  An example can also be found in the Algiers charters where Behrman and McDonogh 32 scores, from the same operator, produced 100% pass rates on 4^th grade English LEAP, while a few blocks away the other posted an appalling 33% pass rate on the same test.

Almost lost in the glitter of RSD-NO gain reports is the performance of Central with 93%, Zachary 97%, West Feliciana 92%,, Livingston 90%, Plaquemines 94%, Catahoula, Ouachita, St. Charles, St. Tammany, and Vernon all at 89% meeting promotional standards. 

While RSD-NO defenders often combine the high performing OPSB school scores, they object to comparing RSD-NO poverty-stricken student scores to OPSB.  But, comparing RSD-NO to Plaquemines or Catahoula or Ouachita, all heavily at risk student bodies, ought to raise some eyebrows.

When the RSD was being created the promise was that it would take three years to turn around those terrible New Orleans schools.  It is now five years.  A dozen RSD-NO charters have had their contracts extended in spite of not reaching academic goals, and only one meeting its fiscal transparency goals.

Such a record seems hardly the stuff that should be considered a model for Detroit, or Haiti.

It might, for some, be the glitter of fools gold rather than the real thing.

Don Whittinghill

Consultant

Hear the Echoes No.18

New Federal Data

Shows Importance of Advanced Education

Only five states in the U.S. , during 2009, had greater percentages of the population ages 3 and 4 in school.  Louisiana had 55.9 percent of children in that age group enrolled.  New Jersey had 66.2 percent, Massachusetts enrollment of 3 and 4 year olds amounted to 61.7 percent of all children in that age group, while Connecticut had 60.9 percent, Hawaii had 57.6 percent, New York 57.2 percent.

Only the District of Columbia had a greater proportion of 5 and 6 year olds enrolled than did Louisiana which enrolled 95.6 percent of that age group.  D.C. enrolled 98.2 percent.

          The percentage of 7 to 13 year olds enrolled in schools in Louisiana ranked 18^th in the nation at 96.7 percent.

          These data-points reveal that Louisiana’s reform is successfully aimed at starting early to close achievement gaps for at-risk children.

          Projected percent change in public enrollment between 2008-09 and 2020-21 is expected to drop 2.4 percent, with the largest part of the drop in preK-8 where decline is anticipated to be 3.2 percent.  In 2008-09 Louisiana enrollment was reported to be 685,000, dropping to 668,000 in the later year.  By comparison, the enrollment in the U.S. is expected to grow 6.9 percent over that period.

          The economic importance of education is underscored by employment outcomes of young adults contained in the report (table A-18-1).  The percent of adults aged 25 to 34 and employed full time in 2010 has fallen to 60.8 percent down from 61.8 in the prior year and the decade high of 71.7 percent in 2000.  The number of unemployed rose in 2010 from 8.4 to 8.9 percent.

          Those young adults with less than a high school diploma were considerably worse off only 40.6 percent employed full time.  That was the lowest number over the 10 year period, and unemployment rose from 13.6 to 14.0 percent for the year.

          By comparison the segment of young adults with a high school diploma was more likely to be working full time.  While full-time employment for high school graduates fell to 55 percent in 2010 from 55.9 the prior year, the 2010 percentage was 15.4 percent below the ten year high point.  The percent difference between this group and the grouping without a secondary school diploma amounts to almost 15%.

          The value of an associate degree on full time employment was significant reflected in the fact that 65.4 percent were full-time employed, a drop of 3 percent from 2009 but only 8.3 percent below the best year when 73.7 percent were full time employed.   

          A college degree provided full time employment to 74.1 percent of young adult graduates, down 0.8 percent, and 6.5 percent below the high point of 80.6 in 2000.  In 2010 only 4 percent of college graduates were unemployed.

          What this information from the 2011 Digest of Education Statistics reveals should be seen as a strong incentive to students who wonder why they should be forced to remain in school; and why a good education is so important.

          Economic development that aims to diversify requires a better educated work force and Louisiana has been diligent in upgrading public schools to facilitate such an economic strategy.  However, the number of students dropping out of school, or failing to reach beyond a high school diploma remains too large.

          Strategies to promote career advancement through higher levels of education can be expected to have high priority as state and local education leadership unite behind career focused programs.

          Viewing these statistics serve to reinforce the conclusion that the need for a new career diploma option was greatly needed.  Time will provide real insights as to whether the new career diploma backers Sen. Bob Kostelka and Rep. Jim Fannin were true visionaries. 

Don Whittinghill

Consultant