School Reports
The Annual School Reports and the District Scorecard have been released.
Discussion follows.
The District Scorecard reports that the District is on pace to reach ZERO (0) of the 23 Goals. That is how bad they suck. Not only are they missing, they are missing badly. The District is within ten percentage points of the target in only four of the twenty-three categories. I cannot imagine a worse report.
Superintendent Banda, on the other hand, says things look great:
“The State of the District is strong,” Banda said. “We have work to do to make sure all of our students are succeeding, but I am pleased to see our schools improving and growth occurring both in test scores and enrollment.”
That's from the District Press Release.
Here's the PowerPoint that came with the State of the District.
Discussion follows.
The District Scorecard reports that the District is on pace to reach ZERO (0) of the 23 Goals. That is how bad they suck. Not only are they missing, they are missing badly. The District is within ten percentage points of the target in only four of the twenty-three categories. I cannot imagine a worse report.
Superintendent Banda, on the other hand, says things look great:
“The State of the District is strong,” Banda said. “We have work to do to make sure all of our students are succeeding, but I am pleased to see our schools improving and growth occurring both in test scores and enrollment.”
That's from the District Press Release.
Here's the PowerPoint that came with the State of the District.
Comments
This is weird: there are statistics for student responses to the climate survey, but the report also says that 0% of students responded to it. So where did the statistics come from?
--Yikes!
It sets a terrible precedent for any kind of data quality.
Ben
Could it possibly be that the heretofore pro Ed Reform board members and administrators don't see this as such a bad thing? Doesn't it create just the "crisis" they desire to justify application of "desperate measures?"
I detect the Shock Doctrine at work here, with lots of complicity from those in power. WSDWG
Let's remember that this data comes from last year when the STEM part was in grades 9-11 and the 11th graders joined the program in grade 10.
You'll also note that the school's demographics have not changed dramatically since the switch to STEM. It is still 41% Black, 73% FRL, and 13% SpEd.
You'll see some real strength in the 9th graders earning sufficient credit categories.
Good job, Cleveland STEM!
I don't know to what extent a great report would have changed things.
So here's a few snarky questions: Doesn't the principal have to be a high performing staff for the retention rate to be important? If the principal isn't an effective instructional leader, wouldn't change be a good thing? Wouldn't retention of highly-rated staff be a better measure?
First, 365 students, 30 teachers, 15 other staff. That's a staff person for every eight students. The average class size is reported as 17. The average daily attendance is only 84%. Student mobility is 36%.
The year-to-year growth numbers are not only under 50%, they are well under 50%: 33% for reading and 41% for math. You would expect better growth with those class sizes.
Students graduating in four years or fewer: 53%. Again, given those class sizes and that student:staff ratio, this should be MUCH better.
This was the worst of it: SpEd students passing the state math tests: 0%. Not one.
No, wait, this is the worst of it: The report says: "School Goals -66.7% of 9th and 10th grade students taking the end of course assessments for the first time in Algrebra or Geometry will pass the assessment . This reflects an increase from 35.7% in 2011/12."
Not only did they misspell Algebra, but they got the number wrong. The pass rate in 2011/12 was 24% as shown on the first page of the report.
These results are bad, yet somehow RBHS qualified for segmentation level 2 instead of level 1.
Only 31% of staff responded to the survey.
When you look at the growth from the baseline, many of the categories show a lot of promise- double digit growth in 5 years! Additionally the district out performs the state in nearly every category, a fact from which one could infer there is plenty of "good happening". There is work yet to be done, sure, but this report only shows SPS as "sucking" if you look at it in a narrow, biased context.
Level 5 in segmentation and well deserved.
Look first at the year-over-year growth numbers, they are slightly smaller than last year, but they are still amazingly big: 65% in reading and 72% in math. That's crushing it.
Look at the pass rates on the state tests, compare them to the district averages (they are all higher, some much higher), and then take a look at the demographics of the school: FRL 72%.
There is no demographic category for which Mercer does not beat the district average - including advanced learners, special ed, and ELL.
And, the cherry on top, with 93% of the staff responding to the survey, 90% have a postive perception of Instructional Practice and 82% have a positive perception of Leadership and Culture.
This is what public schools can do when they choose to do it and they are allowed to do it.
-404'd
There is good happening, but it is happening in spots. There is no systemic improvement. That means that the good which is happening comes independent of the District-level influence. Can we say the same for places where good things are not happening?
What has made Mercer successful - not the District's intervention.
Where has the District intervened? At Cleveland, Aki Kurose, and Rainier Beach High School, the three targets of the Southeast Education Initiative.
Cleveland - looking good!
Rainier Beach - not happening
Aki Kurose - flat to slightly rising - a muddled mix
There are some encouraging elements. Pass rates on the math tests are rising. All of the year-over-year growth rates are over 55%. 6th graders passing all courses has risen to 90% as have the portion of 8th graders ready for high school math.
But there are some real signs of weakness as well. The 8th grade pass rate on the math test is still under 50% (which makes me wonder how 90% of them can be ready for high school math). The staff isn't crazy about the leadership, only 56% positive. The school's numbers lag the district's numbers in every demographic except ELL.
I don't know what to think about the school's goals:
"Reading‐6th grade will make a 20% gain from 43%% to 63%, 7th grade will make a 10% gain from 59% to 69% and 8th grade will make a 10% gain from 51% to 61% on being proficient on th state reading test.
Math ‐6th grade will make a 20% gain from 43% to 63%, 7th grade will make a 10% gain from 57% to 67% and 8th grade will make a 10% gain from 46% to 56% on being proficient on the state math test."
It's not just the typo's and poor grammar, I can overlook those, but the numbers are wrong.
It says that the 6th grade reading pass rate will rise from 43% to 63%, but the 6th grade reading pass rate is 59%.
It says that the 7th grade math pass rate will rise from 57% to 67%, but the 7th grade math pass rate is 46%.
It's hard to have confidence in these goals.
confused
Reading
• 6th grade will make a 10% gain from 51% to 61%.
• 7th grade will make a 10% gain from 52% to 62%.
• 8th grade will make a 20% gain from 34% to 54% on being proficient on the state reading test.
Math
• 6th grade will make a 10% gain from 41% to 51%.
• 7th grade will make a 10% gain from 44% to 54%.
• 8th grade will make a 20% gain from 26% to 46%.
Needless to say, they didn't hit those targets. Perhaps it also goes without saying that the numbers are wrong. The 7th grade pass rate on the math test was not 44% but 29%.
Here are the strategies they were going to use last year:
Math:
• Students who scored in Level 1 or 2 on their most recent MSP and some level 3 students will have an additional math class
focused on building the foundational math skills (Numbers and Operations).
• Students who scored in Level 1 or 2 and some level 3 on their most recent MSP will enroll in Math Camp to strengthen their
foundational skills (numbers and operations).
• Students will have the opportunity to receive additional math instruction. We will provide instruction based on state standards
and inform our instructional practices by using students' progress monitoring data.
Reading:
• All students have 90 minutes of reading and writing instruction daily using the Teachers College Reading and Writing model.
• All Literacy teachers collaboratively developed a school curricular calendar that is vertically aligned and anchored with the state
and common core standards.
• Students in the Level 1 or 2 and some 3 on the MSP will receive reading intervention support. Explicit non-fiction reading
instruction will take place in LA blocks, social studies and science classes.
Those are essentially the same strategies they are going to use this year.
It almost seems completely pointless to mention this, but Aki Kurose is in Step 5 for No Child Left Behind and it takes Title I money. That means that, according to Federal Law, the school is supposed to be closed, re-invented, and re-opened. Of course no such thing has happened. Instead, the District claims that the school is undergoing a "transformation" or "restructuring. That hasn't happened either.
Aki Kurose's CSIP clearly states:
"Throughout the academic year, we will be working with our Educational Director and the School Improvement department to refine and implement a major
restructuring plan in accordance with No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements."
Yeah. Right. They don't have a restructuring plan to implement and they aren't implementing anything.
Some might say that this is classic example of how public schools are exempt from any kind of accountability. The law requires the school to close, but it has not been closed. This, they say, is a big argument for charters.
I, however, see it exactly the opposite. I say "See? Even when the law requires schools to close they are kept open. The law is not enough to close these schools and it is not enough to close charter schools either. Charter schools will evade legal closure mandates just as easily as public schools do."
The district has four levels from 1 to 4 which consider both the outcomes and the growth for each school. Schools with low outcomes and low growth are in Level 1. Schools with low outcomes and moderate growth or moderate outcomes and low growth are in Level 2. Schools with high outcomes and moderate growth or moderate outcomes and high growth are in Level 3. Schools with high outcomes and high growth are in Level 4. Level 4 schools which do not show an academic achievement gap are in Level 5.
Bryant K
The District celebrates goals when they set them, not when they meet them. In fact, the District is so pleased with itself when they set a goal that they usually don't even bother to remember the goal after that. They're done thinking about it after they set it.
Within that context, the goals that the District set are, of course, obsolete and meaningless. They became obsolute and meaningless on the day they were done congratulating themselves for setting them - and that was years ago - so they are really, really obsolete and meaningless now.
This is exactly the same attitude that the District has towards promises. They count the promises as over and done with when they make them, which is why they feel no need to actually fulfill them.
Those goals are completely thoughtless and the numbers are pulled right out of the ether.
If failure to meet those goals signal the need for a shake-up, then there are a lot of schools in desperate need of a shake-up.
At the time that the District Five-year goals were set we were told that they were set with a lot of care and thought about what could actually be achieved. When Dr. Enfield took over as interim superintendent no one said that the change in administration would cause any difference in the district's ability to achieve these goals. And Mr. Banda was not superintendent when the students took the tests that are reflected here.
-Learning
I never saw these goals as being based in reality. As far as I can see, the only way to achieve goals like this is to spend huge amounts of money per student on wraparound services. (Well, okay, you can go for large-scale cheating on the standardized tests and also report rising test scores.) High-aiming goals with no realistic way to accomplish them sound good but the superintendent who proposed them hoped and expected to have moved on to another job before the goals were supposed to have been accomplished. And so she has.
Does no one remember how proud Sundquist and Maier and DeBell and Martin-Morris and Carr were of this new Performance Matrix? Does no one remember who pushed this? (Alliance 4 Education and its Business PowerPoint = Education! Set.) The Alliance's big Claim to Fame just a year or two ago were these report cards and how they would dovetail into Measurable Goals.
There is no spinning this into oh, these are "aspirational" goals or as Pro School Reform says above "celebrate the movement even if we aren't making goals".
What this is is a failure. Plain and simple.
Goodbye-Johnson largely owns it. Enfield wasn't in place in authority long enough to make a difference. Banda is stuck with it. And I imagine Alliance 4 Education will be little to no help in resolving it, since their prescriptiveness over the past 4 years has been more hinderance than help.
DistrictWatcher
The answer is doing better what we already know we should be doing. Hiring and training strong teachers and principals. Continuing to get rid of the dead wood downtown. Unbelievably, stupidity still seems rampant there. M-O-N-E-Y to pay for the intensive learning opportunities our students need. And leadership that includes, not excludes the community. And by community, I don't mean solely Business and Burgess and Gates/LEV/Stand.
Good luck Banda. Good luck Board. You need it. And Big Ed Reform doesn't want you to succeed. It wants you to fail so that we can have Goodbye-Johnson Type II arrive back in town. Which would be the biggest failure yet.
DistrictWatcher
Chatty Korsmo
AAAGGGGHHH. I had forgotten about all that ballyhoo over the Performance Matrix, the "accountability" for MGJ. {Sounds of tearing hair out.} I can't stand it.
And -- you are also correct that MGJ (and the "malarkey" board that enabled her for so long) largely own it.
Maybe I'm too cynical. Maybe they did believe the goals at inception. By Year 2, anyone who really believed they were achievable was a fool.
And yes, I do believe that if the school has gone through two to three years of not meeting CSIP goals, then there is a problem. Maybe it's with the goals, and maybe with the principal. Either way, something needs fixing.
31. Percent of schools within Space Utilization tolerance levels - includes the use of portables
So there’s an email from Sara Morris, of the Alliance, regarding the CAS MOU dated February 20th of this year.
It is sent to: Tim Burgess – Seattle Council; Mary Jean Ryan – CCED Results; Holly Miller – City of Seattle; Chris Korsmo – League Of Ed Voters; Shannon Campion – Stand For Children; Liz Anne Lyons – lead bargainer on SPS/Union CBA ; Suzannah Malarkey – Technology Alliance; Jane Broom – Microsoft; Karen Waters – Strategies 360 (PR company)
The email in short: CAS MOU was approved, love to hear your thoughts…
What?! Why are these people in bed together deciding how to run OUR schools?
Really? A4E, LEV, S4C, the city, and Strategies 360? Really?
Thanks!
Betsy
Basically, we all got to see the powerpoint, and a few principals got up and said how great their schools (Cleveland, Broadview-Thompson, and Bailey-Gatzert) are.
I find it interesting that they do surveys, and it goes on the school report, how families feel about their school - but there's no equivalent survey of how people feel about downtown management. I think a lot of people like their school pretty well, and are unsatisfied with SPS management at JSCEE. It's kind of like how people think Congress is in league with the devil, but THEIR representative is okay.
There are some interesting trends in the data, of course -- but there was no word about math materials, for instance. And an item about how they're going to work on Spec Ed was about that detailed: We're going to work on it. We're even doing a search for a director of SpecEd! Look at us go!
On the plus side, it seemed as though everyone was unified in their opposition to 1240. I'm sure some in the room are fans, but they kept it to themselves.
But let's give Banda a real chance, shall we? He at least seems to have one foot on the ground, in the real world, and maybe two. We'll see. But many Peter Pans have moved on. Good riddance.
Meanwhile, lets replicate Mercer throughout the district ASAP. WSDWG
I'll say that I do not do them because I don't want anything I put down to be used against or for something I can't control. The questions are open ended. If I say I don't think much of my school, it may be a reflection on the teachers, or it may be a reflection on the administration.
Here's Korsmo, and others. They should all be run out of town on a rail.
Korsmo: The CAS MOU could be used by “highly dysfunctioning [schools] in a kumbaya, we all love our mediocrity sort of way…” Wow! Really? Korsmo thinks a group of staff members will band together for a CAS MOU in order to continue mediocrity?! And she claims to believe in schools?
Ooh, ooh, and there’s one where Sara Morris (Alliance) says that they just got the Our Schools Coalition blog up and running, and she wanted to highlight its comment policy (paraphrasing the polic: “be nice”) Tim Burgess replies, “Nice. Good luck enforcing.” So Burgess values open debate. NOT. He believes commenters are all loudmouthed pests.
THEN, Korsmo introduces, via email, a new data wonk at Microsoft to Tim Burgess and Sara Morris. Tim replies, let’s do coffee! Must be nice to have such easy access…
I'm amazed at the depth of connection and influence these non-educators have. They aren't elected or even hardly known, yet they are manipulating everything to do with procedural aspects of our schools. Wow.
Re: the missing results for Green Lake. I'm a parent there, and we were told in September that the MSP test booklets for writing were lost at some point in process. They got out of the school and on to the district, that's for sure. I forget where in the process they were lost, but it was either between the district and the state, or between the state and the scoring people. The state/district are supposed to be trying to track them down. In the meantime, there are no writing scores to report, hence no valid progress scores to report in that particular area, hence they are not apparently reporting anything at this time. Yeah. I wish they'd just adjust the report to put out what they can, rather than not put anything out at all.
Dragon Parent
Ms Korsmo writes:
"Meet Charles Wright. Charles is new-ish to Seattle having moved here from Denver. He is a (schools) systems guy and loves his data. I think you all will hit it off rather nicely. Charles is looking to get better engaged with his new community and I recommend he connect with you two as one means of getting engaged."
Well, he's engaged now. Mr. Wright, new-ish to Seattle, was added to the Alliance for Education Board of Directors on September 19, 2012.
From new-ish to Seattle in February to a seat on the A4E Board in September. I guess it helps to have Chris Korsmo introduce you to Holly Miller and Tim Burgess.
As parents, we are going to lose control of our schools and our district to a very small group of people if we don't watch out (and we will not have the support of teachers or the PTA to help us).
LL
Start now. Cocktail hours are already taking place with regularity. Holly Miller. Chris Korsmo. The politically grasping Dean of Ed at UW - Stritikus. Sarah Morris. It's one big fundraising cluster. You might lose charters but you might win by keeping Burgess - who loves charters just like Morris and Korsmo and Stritikus - from office. You've got a year.
Aware in the 46th
The timing is convenient for the charter-pushers and all those who want to dump public education entirely for a franchise (KIPP, Inc., Green Dot Inc.,) business model approach to teaching kids. (Anyone notice that the word "portfolio" slipped into Initiative 1240 in reference to multiple charter schools under the control of one authorizer?)
But schools are not businesses; they are communities, they are a public service and a public trust. Whereas, the corporate model, with its profit uber alles mindset, is what has driven our national economy into the sinkhole of the Great Recession.
/humor
I was curious about the 85% for "4th graders proficient on the state math test" compared to the average of 3rd/4th/5th graders of 89%. Seems like we start high (low to mid 90s?) and by 4th grade not doing as well. This is a sad sad statement given what the principal has to work with -- if anyone is set up for success with kids who are motivated and ready to learn, it's a Bryant Principal. Likewise the progress in math (compared to average) is dropping from 4th to 5th grade. When I interpret that data and combine it with what I observe, it seems to me that new leadership is in order. Teachers there are (for the most part) fantastic, but not exactly allowed to flourish and do their best work. Would love to hear others opinions.
Too bad we can't have more "clusterfunds" go toward our public schools... : )
WV: 731 hodshot
Of interest at Aki is the report (unverified) that Saxon Math gets the most use in grade 6 and less in grade 7 and even less in grade 8.
Here are the percent of students scoring at level 1 (well below standard at Aki) in 2012
6th grade 24.7%
7th grade 38.5%
8th grade 51.6% ... It looks like at least 50% are definitely not ready for high school math.
=====================
Analysis of the High School math results:
At Chief Sealth for example and the District:
the report is ...
9th and 10th graders proficient on the state math tests (first time test takers)
Chief Sealth then -:- District pass rate
2011 - 50% -:- 59%
2012 - 55% -:- 65%
change +5% -:- +6%
It must be noted that while +5 and +6 look good ... the state supposedly lowered the cut score for proficient on the Algebra EoC in 2012 (effectively making it easier to be proficient .. but who really knows.)
Here are the actual results from EoC Algebra and EoC Geometry for first time test takers
ALGEBRA - Chief S - Seattle - State
9th 2011 :: 33.5% :: 48.8% :: 53.7%
10th 2011 :: 24.0% :: 28.6% :: 32.1%
9th 2012 :: 49.5% :: 59.8% :: 55.9%
10th 2012 :: 25.0% :: 29.9% :: 28.5%
change
9th :: +16.0 :: +11.0% :: +2.2%
10th ::.. +1% :: +1.3% ..:: -3.6%
Seattle Definitely out performs state on changes from 2011 to 2012
Geometry - Chief S - Seattle - State
9th 2011 :: 82.1% :: 84.5% :: 91.0%
10th 2011 :: 49.6% :: 61.6% :: 67.5%
9th 2012 :: 87.5% :: 90.9% :: 91.3%
10th 2012 :: 42.4% :: 59.2% :: 59.4%
change
9th .........:: +5.4% :: +6.4% :: +0.3%
10th .......:: -7.2% :: -2.4% :: -8.1%
Seattle looks to have done better than state change in every segment above.
Also of interest is the situation with percent of students scoring at level 1 Well below standard.
ALGEBRA - Chief S - Seattle - State
9th 2011 :: 39.0% :: 29.8% :: 23.2%
10th 2011 :: 51.7% :: 47.1% :: 39.6%
9th 2012 :: 27.3% :: 21.2% :: 21.5%
10th 2012 :: 18.2% :: 45.6% :: 41.5%
change
9th :: -11.7% :: -8.6% :: -1.7%
10th :: -33.5% :: -1.5% :: +1.9%
Geometry - Chief S - Seattle - State
9th 2011 :: 4.5% :: 5.5% :: 2.3%
10th 2011 :: 18.3% :: 12.6% :: 9.3%
9th 2012 :: 4.5% :: 3.2% :: 2.3%
10th 2012 :: 27.5% :: 15.1% :: 15.0%
change
9th ......... :: 0.0% :: -2.3% :: 0.0%
10th ....... :: +9.2% :: +2.5% :: +5.7%
HELP -- what is up with in 2012 47.3% of 9th grade Algebra students scoring at level 1 .... guess these kids were NOT ready for high school math. So why were they scheduled into Algebra?
The unverified Saxon Report was about Mercer Middle School....
here are Mercer results for level 1.
Well below standard at Mercer in 2012
6th grade 10.4%
7th grade 8.4%
8th grade 13.6%
AND for District
6th grade 14.9%
7th grade 18.9%
8th grade 20.4%
AND for the State
6th grade 18.8%
7th grade 21.0%
8th grade 23.8%
=====
In 2012 when
Seattle had 47.3% of 9th grade Algebra students at Level 1 Well Below Standard
the State had only 21.5%
-- GET a clue : Seattle High Schools need a math class below Algebra I for many incoming 9th graders because neither 100% nor 90% are ready for high school math.