Improving Achievement and Closing Gaps Between Groups: Data Resources and Hints

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Improving Achievement and Closing Gaps Between
GroupsData Resources and Hints
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• Seven Analyses You Can Do To Initiate or Refocus
  Change Efforts
• Two Key Web-based resources for you
• http//www.just4kids.org
• http//www.edtrust.org
• A few words about NCLB

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1. Classroom Value-Added Analyses
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How This Research Got Started
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Effects On Students Math Scores In Dallas (Grades
3-5)
Beginning 3rd Grade
Change in Average Score on Math Assessment Over 3
years
Source Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, Dash
Weerasinghe, " Teacher Effects On Longitudinal
Student Achievement" 1997.
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Student Growth in One Classroom Teacher A
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Student Growth in One Classroom Teacher B
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Student Growth in One Classroom Teacher C
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In High Schools, Can Also Generate Predicted
vs. Actual Performance, by Classroom
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Value-Added Data Systems

• Statewide in TN for 12 years
• Ohio Battelle for Kids has underway in
  one-third of all districts (and will be used to
  evaluate ed schools)
• Pennsylvania (pilot in 10 school districts)
• Other districts around the country

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Value-Added Resources

• William Sanders and June Rivers, SAS in the
  Schools, North Carolina

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2. Whos Teaching Whom?

• collect data on teacher and student
  characteristics--what are the patterns?
• Analyzing master schedules--time AND talent

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Classes in High Poverty High Schools More Often
Taught by Underqualified Teachers
Teachers who lack a major or minor in the
field Source National Commission on Teaching and
Americas Future, What Matters Most Teaching for
Americas Future (p.16) 1996.
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Poor and Minority Students Get More
Inexperienced Teachers
Teachers with 3 or fewer years of experience.
High and low refer to top and bottom
quartiles. Source National Center for Education
Statistics, Monitoring Quality An Indicators
Report, December 2000.
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Going DeeperAnalyzing Master Schedules

• the most experienced and best educated teachers
  who are they teaching
• student loads AP vs. Remedial courses

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Regular Team Sample
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Pre-IB Team Sample
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11-12 IB/AP Teacher Sample
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3. Looking at student transcripts.
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REMEMBERSingle biggest predictor post-high
school success is QUALITY AND INTENSITY OF HIGH
SCHOOL CURRICULUM

• Cliff Adelman, Answers in the Tool Box, U.S.
  Department of Education.

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But are most of our kids getting anything that
even remotely resemblesINTENSE?

• Jakes Schedule

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Fall Schedule, Freshman Year
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Spring Schedule, Freshman Year
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Fall Schedule, Sophomore Year
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Spring Schedule, Sophomore Year
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Fall Schedule, Junior Year
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Spring Schedule, Junior Year
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Senior Year?

• Too embarrassing to even show

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Curious about your own school or system?

• Pull a random sample of senior transcripts, white
  out the names, and take a look.
• Then ask yourself If we had to defend these
  before the editorial board of our local
  newspaper, could we????

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4. What About the Matter of Time for
Instruction?
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Most of us think of semester- or year-long
increments to teach kids what they need to learn,
but...
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Analysis of of School Calendars Tells a
Different Story About Available Time
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The Full Year Calendar
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Less Summer Vacation
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Less Weekends, Holidays, Summer Vacation
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Less Professional Development Days Early
Dismissal/Parent Conferences
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Less Class Picnic, Class Trip, Thanksgiving
Feast, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hannukkah, Awards,
Assembles, Concerts
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Less State and District Testing
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Bottom Line

• Roughly 13-15 Eight-Hour Days Per Subject Per
  Year

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Thats not all.

• Looking at the schedule.

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Instructional Time Per Course
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College Prep as Percent of Total Instructional
Time
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Bottom Line

• Students who take, say, math or English in 6
  period day schedule, get one full year of
  additional instruction over those who take 4
  years in block schedule.

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Kids Who are Behind Need Extra Instruction
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5. Organizing Resources for Different Results
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Its easy to fall into a pattern of blaming poor
results on problems beyond our control.

• For example, high 9th grade failure rates
  generally blamed on poor preparation, difficult
  transitions.
• But

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One Colorado High School Student/Teacher Ratio
by Grade
Source Jovenes Unidos Padres Unidos March,
2004.. Data from Colorado School Accountability
Reports.
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Same Colorado High SchoolCounselor Deployment
by Grade
Source Jovenes Unidos and Padres Unidos March,
2004
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Make sense?

• Thinking about staffing differentlyfor different
  results.

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Staffing Decisions and Class Size ImpactsCore
Subject Teachers Only
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Staffing Decisions and Class Size
ImpactsIncluding SPED Specialists
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Staffing Decisions and Class Size
ImpactsIncluding Title I and ELL Specialists
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Staffing Decisions and Class Size
ImpactsIncluding Enrichment Teachers
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Staffing Decisions and Class Size
ImpactsIncluding Other Certified FTEs
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Staffing Decisions and Class Size ImpactsOptimal
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Reynolds Middle School More Effective Use of
Time Means Increased Instructional Opportunities
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6.Teacher and Student Work

• grades/score analyses
• Standards in Practice
• Calibration

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A Students in High Poverty Schools Score at
About the Same Level as C and D Students in
Affluent Schools
Source US Department of Education, Office of
Educational Research and Improvement. What Do
Student Grades Mean? Difference Across Schools.
Educational Research Report (p. 3) January 1995.
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Standards in PracticeA Quality
Control/Instructional Improvement Tool

• Developed in El Paso, Pueblo, Philly
• now in broad use
• teams of teachers, 2 hours a week
• is work meeting standards?

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Grade 10 Writing Assignment
A frequent theme in literature is the conflict
between the individual and society. From
literature you have read, select a character who
struggled with society. In a well-developed
essay, identify the character and explain why
this characters conflict with society is
important.
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Grade 10 Writing Assignment
Write a composition of at least 4 paragraphs on
Martin Luther Kings most important contribution
to this society. Illustrate your work with a
neat cover page. Neatness counts.
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Calibration Are Assignments at Standard?

• 2 week method
• crate method

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Useful ResourceDataWorks
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14 SC Schools Calibrated
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7. Student Views

• Surveys
• Focus Groups
• Shadowing
• Writing/Drama
• Data Analysis

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What Teenagers Say About School Rigor

• Fewer Than 3 in 10 Think Their School is Very
  Academically Rigorous

Source 1998 Annual Survey from Whos Who Among
American High School Students
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Focus Groupseg. San Jose Unified
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Or How About a Little Real-World Application of
Mathematics Skills?
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By the way, its not just students who ought to
be looking at whos in what courses...
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High-performing minority students often excluded
from higher-rigor courses
Source The Achievement Council and the Education
Trust West analysis of unpublished CA district
data, 2001.
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8. Some Web-Based Data Resources for YOU!
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• http//www.just4kids.org
• http//www.edtrust.org

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Just4Kids.org
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edtrust.org
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Black 4th Graders NAEP Reading
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Gaps Between Groups?
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Latino-White Gap 4th Grade Reading
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Dispelling the Myth Online 2.0
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Dispelling the Myth
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Dispelling the Myth
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Dispelling the Myth
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3. A Little bit of background on NCLB
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THE FEDERAL ROLE
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In the US, Education Has Primarily Been State,
Local Activity.
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But, beginning in the mid-sixties, federal
government began to weigh in with dollars and
programs.

• Chief federal role
• Watching out for students who are underserved by
  states, locals.

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Main federal K-12 Programs serve

• Low-income students
• Language minorities
• Students with disabilities.

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You saw the numbers By early 90s, it was clear
that Title 1, other federal programs werent
making enough of a difference.

• Independent Chapter 1 Commission Need to focus
  on whole school improvement, not just pull-out
  services.

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1994 Elementary and Secondary ActMore
Flexibility in Return for Accountability

• States set standards
• States decide how much progress would be deemed
  adequate
• Asked to require rate of progress sufficient to
  get all students, but especially poor and LEP
  students, to standards
• Required to report disaggregated data on progress.

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What happened?

• Many states didnt even bother to report
  disaggregated data
• Most states didnt require much progress at all
• Most continued defining success in the same old
  ways, allowing average performance to mask big
  gaps
• And gaps kept growing.

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In 1999-2000, as the ESEA neared reauthorization,
clear that changes were necessary in at least two
places

• accountability
• teacher quality and distribution.

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NCLBRedefined What It Means to Be A Good School

• To be good, you have to be good for all groups of
  students that you serve.

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Also obligated states, districts to get a lot
more serious about teacher quality.

• Most important requirement
• Must work toward a much fairer distribution of
  teacher talent.

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Not surprisingly, a lot of pushback.
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1. States already had good accountability
systems
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Howard Bishop Middle SchoolGainesville, Florida

• 55 African American
• 58 Low Income
• An A school under the Florida accountability
  system

Source Florida Department of Education,
http//www.fldoe.org
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Achievement Gaps at Howard Bishop2004 Reading
Composite
AYP Target 31
Source Florida Department of Education,
http//www.fldoe.org
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Farallone View ElementaryCabrillo Unified,
California

• 62 White
• 25 Latino
• 22 Low Income
• A successful school under the California
  accountability system (API)

Source California Department of Education,
http//www.cde.ca.gov School
Information Partnership, http//www.schoolresults.
org
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Achievement Gaps at Farallone View2003 Math
Composite
AYP Target 16
Source School Information Partnership,
http//www.schoolresults.org
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Gaps Grew From 2002 to 2003Grade 4 English
Language Arts
38
53
Source School Information Partnership,
http//www.schoolresults.org
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2. NCLB doesnt provide any credit for growth
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Leschi ElementarySeattle, Washington

• 79 African American
• 72 Low Income
• Made AYP for 2002-03

Source Washington Superintendent of Public
Instruction, http//ospi.k12.wa.us
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Achievement at Leschi2003 Reading Composite
AYP Target 56.2
Source Washington Superintendent of Public
Instruction, http//ospi.k12.wa.us
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All Students and Low Income Students Made Safe
Harbor in Reading
2003 AYP Target 56.2
Source Washington Superintendent of Public
Instruction, http//ospi.k12.wa.us
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All Students and Low Income Students Made Safe
Harbor in Reading

• 70 below proficient in 2002
• 58 below proficient in 2003
• 17 reduction in the percent of students below
  proficient from 2002 to 2003

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New Growth Model Pilot

• TN, NC first states approved.
• Bottom line finding only a handful of schools
  DIDNT make status-based AYP, but DID make it on
  growth. Indeed, growth to standard turns out to
  be a tougher standard than current AYP.

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3. NCLB has unrealistic expectations.
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Charles Carroll Barrister ElementaryBaltimore,
Maryland

• 55 African American
• 93 Low Income
• Expected to exit In Need of Improvement Status in
  2004-05

Source Maryland Department of Education,
http//www.mdreportcard.org
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Raising Achievement for All at Barrister2003 and
2004 Reading Composite
Source Maryland Department of Education,
http//www.mdreportcard.org
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Raising Achievement for All at Barrister2003 and
2004 Math Composite
Source Maryland Department of Education,
http//www.mdreportcard.org
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Frankford Elementary,Frankford, DE

• Approximately 1/3 African American, 1/3 Latino,
  1/3 White
• School poverty rate 75
• Parents largely agricultural or poultry workers.

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Frankford Results 2004

• 97.5 of students met state reading standards,
  including
• 100 of all low-income students and,
• 100 of all African American students.
• 82 met state math standards.

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Stanton Hall Elementary School, Philadelphia

• 100 of students are African American
• 87 are poor.
• In 2003, fewer than 20 met state reading and
  math standards.
• School on the list for reconstitution.

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Stanton Hall 2004 Results

• 71 met state reading standards
• 47 met state math standards.
• Superintendent RETESTED. Results same.

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Central ElementaryPaintsville, KY

• 71 Low-Income
• 99 White

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Making Gains at Central 5th Grade MathSchool
Number 1 in the State
Source The Department of Education,
http//www.schoolresults.org/
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4. NCLB is an unfunded mandate
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For years, conservatives have railed about
unfunded mandates, including

• Desegregation
• Title IX
• Special Education
• Civil rights and health and safety protections
  for employees.

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What do progressives actually mean when they
say that?

• Dollars up 40, and more concentrated in schools
  serving poor kids. How much would be enough?

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TODAYS EDUCATION LEADERS KNOW THEY NEED TO BRING
ABOUT BIG CHANGE.

• Thats one of the reasons why Council of Great
  City Schools is biggest supporter of the law.

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Can NCLB provide some of the leverage they
need?What do overall results look like to date?
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North CarolinaRaising Achievement, Closing Gaps
Grade 4 Math
16
24
7
Source North Carolina Department of Public
Instruction, http//www.ncpublicschools.org
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North CarolinaRaising Achievement, Closing Gaps
Grade 7 Reading
17
27
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Source North Carolina Department of Public
Instruction, http//www.ncpublicschools.org
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DelawareRaising Achievement, Closing GapsGrade
5 Reading
8
26
30
Source Delaware Department of Education,
http//www.doe.state.de.us
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IllinoisRaising Achievement, Closing GapsGrade
5 Math
16
35
31
Source Illinois State Board of Education,
http//www.isbe.state.il.us
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OhioRaising Achievement, Closing GapsGrade 6
Reading
30
39
40
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FloridaRaising Achievement, Closing GapsGrade 4
Reading
26
38
35
Source Florida Department of Education,
http//www.fcatresults.com
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VirginiaRaising Achievement, Closing GapsGrade
3 Math
15
26
22
Source Virginia Department of Education,
http//pen.k12.va.us
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PennsylvaniaRaising Achievement, Closing
GapsGrade 8 Reading
35
43
Source Pennsylvania Department of Education,
http//www.pde.state.pa.us/
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MichiganRaising Achievement, Closing GapsGrade
8 Math
37
42
Source Michigan Department of Education,
http//www.michigan.gov/mde
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MassachusettsRaising First-Time Pass RatesMCAS
Exit Exam
Source Massachusetts Department of Education,
http//www.doe.mass.edu
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MassachusettsRaising First-Time Pass RatesMCAS
Exit Exam
Source Massachusetts Department of Education,
http//www.doe.mass.edu
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• All of this state- and district-level data
  reflects the focus, determination, and hard work
  of educators who are making sure their students
  learn up to state standards.
• Are we really sure we want to take away their
  leverage now?

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The Education Trust

• Download this Presentation
• www.edtrust.org
• Washington, DC 202-293-1217
• Oakland, CA 510-465-6444