Questionable Statistics
It has been stated that only 17% of Seattle Public School graduates have completed the classes needed to enroll in a four-year university. Is that true? How could that be true? Surely more than 17% of our graduates enroll in four-year universities - don't they?
Here's a statistic from the League of Education Voters web site: "30% of kids entering kindergarten don't know how to hold a book." I'm having trouble believing that statistic as well. Is it because some of them - being in kindergarten and therefore non-readers - hold the book upside-down?
There are some other statistics out there that just don't seem right.
Here's a statistic from the League of Education Voters web site: "30% of kids entering kindergarten don't know how to hold a book." I'm having trouble believing that statistic as well. Is it because some of them - being in kindergarten and therefore non-readers - hold the book upside-down?
There are some other statistics out there that just don't seem right.
Comments
that's quite an assumption
my son is two years from KG and can read (and can properly hold a book)
Kingb, Charlie was guessing at what the 30% could mean. You just declared that your kid is in the 70% who does know how to hold a book. I don't get your point.
Charlie, one would have to ask the 36th DEMS for a copy of the video to be completely sure. I can just rely on my memory and my notes. They tell me that Sharon Rodgers, president for SchoolsFirst claims that 17% of SPS HS graduates do not have the credits to get into our state universities. That the rest had to go to community college or a private college instead. So, she made a very specific claim. I do not think it is supportable, or meaningful, given the list of private colleges that I know SPS graduates attend.
http://ghs.seattleschools.org/documents/Profile2009.pdf
Some older data says that Ballard High sent 60% of its graduates to for year colleges.
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/schoolguide/profile.php?building_id=2220
It would be good to ask where that 17% figure came from. OSPI? SPS?
:(
*One caveat is that they studied statistics "made up on the spot," which 97.381% of respondents would, considering all possible variables, agree is the same as statistics "pulled out of the air." (Neuman, A.E., 2011)
If I understand correctly the only monies from the Levy in support of schools and classrooms is the raise for teachers and purchase of textbooks. All other monies would be for Central Administration projects.
If this understanding of Levy expenditures is correct then why say passing the Levy will improve college readiness?
Thanks SC.
Seriously folks, if we want to defeat the levy, we have to ACT! We have to give people the facts, counter all this emotional baggage about doing it for the kids. It's going to take a lot of work. Just talking about it on this blog is not enough.
I am off to the 36th DEMs general meeting tonight. I will be attending the 11th LD Dems and as many other groups as I can. Please, work on your own PTAS, influence your neighbors, set the records straight.
http://www.hecb.wa.gov/keyfacts/documents/ChapterIV-PDF1-4-10.pdf
Check out the 5 yr Strategic Plan on the SPS homepage (p.14). The 17% rate was from 2006-07, with a "5-year" improvement goal for 40% in 2012-13. Where were we for 2009-10?
In contrast, the WA state 4-yr college readiness rate (for 2008 graduates) was 49%. This is from a BERC Group report presented to the State Board of Education (online, titled "Transcript Study"). The interesting thing is that in the BERC report, districts that required more credits (especially math & science) to graduate did not have higher 4 year "college readiness" rates (adjusted for poverty), as kids would not necessarily take higher level math classes for the required credits. This report was presented to the state Board of Ed and they still started up with the CORE 24 push.
But this summer, the State Board of Ed has actually thrown out the CORE 24 and come out with a new "20" credit push, with a new sales pitch name. BTW also- Seattle is one of the very few districts to require only 19 credits- more than 65% already require 22 for HS graduation, if I recall right.
I guess censorship is alive and well over there. Figures.
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To some of the other comments...the 'college readiness' question is different, of course . I don't have the exact stats, but I believe that something like 50% of students starting at 4 year universities in WA must take some kind of developmental education (remediation) classes - which would be one way of defining them as 'not college ready.' If I've remembered the 50% stat correctly, if only 50% of the 29% of HS grads who go immediately to a 4 year university don't need dev ed, then one way of looking at it is that we have a 4 year college readiness rate of 14.5%.
From http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/2001035.pdf
"The results of the ECLS-K indicate that, among entering kindergartners:
* Eighteen percent cannot demonstrate familiarity with the conventions of print: they do not know that English print is read from left to right and from
top to bottom or where a story ends.
* Thirty-four percent cannot identify letters of the alphabet by name: they are
not yet at the first level of reading proficiency."
Helen Schinske
It appeared in the 2008 SPS Strategic Plan, page 11.
The definition is found in on page 4 of Appendix B in Appendices. It says, in part:
Graduates meeting high school credit requirement for 4 year college (%):
Students that graduate with a Core GPA of at least 3.0 and meeting the minimum college admissions standards for 2012 as defined by the Washington Higher Education Coordination Board. Includes 4 credits of English, 4 credits of Math (includes senior year math requirement), 3 Credits of Science (including 2 credits of laboratory science), 2 Credits of World Languages, 3 Credits of Social Science, and 1 Credit of Arts. Results are for the graduating class of the school year of this report.
As Ms. Rodgers pointed out in her email, part of the problem is that Seattle has had relatively minimal requirements for HS graduation (e.g. 3 yrs of English when colleges require 4.) I think another reason the number is so low is that that it only counts students with a core GPA of 3.0 or above.
I think this makes the number easier to comprehend. I really appreciate her quick and thorough response.
The goal is to increase this number to 40% by '12-'13. I'll have to think about whether the change in the grading system will impact that one way or the other (I'm thinking that now that kids can earn a 3.0 for C in an AP class the % could increase without any material change.)
Helen Schinske
*My high school talked about A and B grades as "honors grades" -- don't know if it's a common expression.
This chart has 284 class of '09 RHS grads and their plans.
22 - work, military, travel, undecided
37 community college
and
225 going to four year colleges. This is self reported, so I do not know how many graduates. I am fairly certain it us under 400. So let's say 400, that shows that more than 50% are clearly ready for 4 year college.
Everything I hear from Ballard and Hale and Ingraham and Garfield also suggests at least 30% of their graduates go to 4 year college? A quick check of their websites and I wasn't able to pull up any data. But if your kid goes there, perhaps you know how to navigate their site better.
Center and Nova are small, but I believe many are college bound. More than 15%? Franklin, Cleveland, RBHS, Sealth and West Seattle?
That 17% is questionable if not an outright lie. The Seattle Times School Guide lists the percentages of graduates bound for four year colleges. All SPS high schools are profiled except Cleveland which does not have the data available. At the time the stx were gathered, Rainier Beach had 13% going on to four yr colleges. All others were 25% and higher -much higher in most cases. I just looked and you can as well. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/schoolguide/
My apologies for being unable to provide a real link -too old and curmudgeonly to learn.
I will point that out to Sharon.
On the Alliance4Ed website is a document titled "Promises to Keep." It references that 17% figure with a footnote that states the number is based on 2006-07 data. The information in the Times School Guide is more current, however, no way did the number of college ready jump from 17% to 47.7% in one or two years. The Alliance simply lifted the District's number out of the Excellence for All progress report or whatever it is called. How on earth did the district come up with that 17% thatis now being trumpeted as gospel?
Not really. The Times guide says that the college rates are based on 2005 graduating class.
Doh! I missed it right in front of my nose -probably not enough coffee this morning. Thank you for the correction. However, how does the district explain the precipitous rate of decline in the number of college ready grads?
Puzzling, isn't it, that college-ready graduation rates should decline so dramatically. Must be part of their Strategic Plan: Excellence for All.
I do like Sharon and think she does a lot for schools and kids. I don't think she's correct that we should support this particular levy, but when she agreed to be President of SchoolsFirst, I doubt she had any idea she'd be in the position of supporting such a controversial levy.