An article appeared in today’s Worcester Telegram that you may have seen. If you have not, I have provided you with a link to the article via the Internet below. I am disheartened that this article inaccurately rated Mahar (via chart) in comparison to other school districts in the Telegram’s distribution zone. It is true that our median Student Growth Percentile (SGP) is 35.0 in ELA and 33.5 in mathematics – but please keep in mind that this is comprised of the following SGPs:
Grade 7 Math – 20.0
Grade 8 Math – 37.0
Grade 10 Math – 54.0
Grade 7 ELA – 21.5
Grade 8 ELA – 36.0
Grade 10 ELA – 54.0
The districts to which the Telegram and Gazette compared Mahar have SGPs that are inclusive of students’ performance on assessments in grades 4, 5, and 6 as well. To compare Mahar with other K – 12 districts in an accurate fashion, the following SGPs would have been included in our median distribution:
Petersham Elementary SGP for all Grades
Math – 44.0
ELA – 43.0
Swift River Elementary SGP for all Grades
Math – 68.0
ELA – 80.0
Orange Elementary SGP for all Grades
Math – 37.0
ELA – 38.0
In the coming days I will be contacting the appropriate personnel at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to inquire about the existence of a Median SGP that is reflective of the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School District and our K – 6 partnering districts.
You can see how the accountability standards under the No Child Left Behind Act calls upon the quantification of student learning by bunching data. I have questioned and continue to question the data that is collected and how it is used. In this case, the Telegram & Gazette accurately reported half of the data for our Pre-K – 12 model and all of the data from other Pre K – 12 systems. It is my hope that the Telegram & Gazette will consider writing another article that is indicative of the steadfast work of our teachers, staff, and administration. If the chart printed in the Telegram & Gazette focused only on Grade 10 SGPs in English and Language Arts, Mahar would have been placed on their continuum above Quabbin, Ashburnham-Westminster, Gardner, Northampton, Leominster, Lunenburg, and many, many more.
One other thought….the time that it took to create this response could have been dedicated to real work with our teachers and the time that it takes for our teachers to read this response could have been dedicated to planning instruction.
http://www.telegram.com/article/20091028/NEWS/910280439
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
It's great that you responded to this article with information that added to a reader's understanding of this situation. The test data available today is complex and easily misrepresented, so good for you. I'd be interested to know if you (or the newspaper) heard back from any one about your letter.
ReplyDeleteOn a related note, I'm interested in further exploration of the growth model numbers for your seventh grade. They show that the median Mahar seventh grader has a growth percentile of 20. So 80% of kids with a similar MCAS testing history outperformed the Mahar median student. What might some of the causes of this lower than typical growth be? And, once identified, how might we address those causes?