data
TIMSS 2007 report now available
Posted on 10. Dec, 2008 by admin.
***NERD ALERT***
Highlights from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2007 were released yesterday by the National Center for Education Statistics. TIMSS is an international comparison of 4th and 8th grade students in mathematics and science, and administered every four years.
While math scores of U.S. 4th and 8th graders have increased since 1995, we still lag behind Taipei, Hong Kong and Singapore, among others.
Mark Schneider, vice president for new educational initiatives at the American Institutes for Research, wrote an editorial in Education Week detailing his concerns with the 2007 TIMSS results. One big point is the variance within the U.S. is greater than the variance between the U.S. and Hong Kong.
Chad Aldeman, policy associate at Education Sector, highlights the gap between white and non-white students in the U.S.
Continue Reading
Class of 2008 rises to the challenge
Posted on 04. Jun, 2008 by admin.
Yesterday, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson gave an update on the Class of 2008, and fortunately the news is much better than the train wreck many predicted. Of the 67,000 or so high school seniors in the state, more than 61,000 (or 91 percent) have passed the reading and writing WASL exams or the equivalent. But keep in mind, this passing rate does not include the 9,000+ students who have dropped out or the 9,500+ students who have been reclassified into other grades.
Below are breakdowns of passing rates by ethnic groups and special programs. The gap between ethnic groups is shrinking (now less than 9 percent); however the numbers are less encouraging for English language learner and special education students.
What the WASL passing rates don’t show are the number of seniors who lack enough credits to graduate. In a 13-district sample study conducted by OSPI, 62.5 percent of the 10,000+ students in December 2007 were on track in credits and passed both required WASL exams. Another 5.3 percent of students were on track with credits but had not passed both WASL exams.
Dr. Bergeson also spoke to dropout statistics for the Class of 2008. We don’t yet, and won’t until the fall/winter, have a clear picture of the number of kids in the Class of 2008 who have dropped out of high school. And while any dropout rate is troublesome, it looks like the cohort dropout rate for the Class of 2008 will either hold steady with or be lower than rates for the past few cohorts (average of 21 percent over the last four years). So despite the anticipated panic, the WASL as graduation requirement is not causing students to mass exodus from schools.
Below is a graphical look at the mobility of the Class of 2008, from OSPI.
At the end of her presentation, Dr. Bergeson talked about next steps to drive further student achievement. Along with plans to strengthen options for English language learners and struggling students, she pointedly called out the need for an increase in funding in basic education. This is a rather timely assertion as the Basic Education Finance Task Force will hear proposals from various organizations, LEV included, next week in Olympia.
Continue Reading
How to ensure teacher success?
Posted on 02. May, 2008 by admin.
Yesterday, Rep. Deb Wallace (Vancouver) hosted an online discussion on issues surrounding teachers and their success. Topics ranged from training programs to mentoring to shortage areas to data systems.
While the web dialogues shied away from proposing solutions to many of the issues presented, they provided an engaging forum to talk about many of the issues facing our teachers, schools and, by extension, the students they serve. One of the largest takeaways from the day-long conversations was the need for K-12 and higher education to work together when attempting to tackle many of the issues facing our schools.
We know teachers play a HUGE role in student achievement, and we also know teachers need support to ensure student success. I couldn’t help but silently cheer when strong mentoring and induction programs were highlighted as an area Washington can and should work on to improve teacher practice and reduce teacher attrition. A UW study found that the attrition rate for new Washington teachers in the first five years is 26.5 percent, just over one in four. It would be great if more K-12 districts partnered with institutions of higher education to create mentoring and induction programs.
This dialogue comes at an important time for education in our state. The State Board of Education and OSPI are working on new math and science standards, and the SBE is looking to raise high school graduation requirements, which may include Algebra II. As Kati Haycock, president of The Education Trust, said at our town hall meeting Monday, raising standards is a good thing and leads to higher success rates among students.
Ready to take action? Join us at DidYouKnowCampaign.com and become involved in making our schools No. 1.
Continue Reading
Better than bad does not equal good
Posted on 04. Apr, 2008 by admin.
Posted by Heather
Two interesting reports were released this week: One on high school graduation rates for urban districts (including Seattle) and the other on state writing exam scores.
Cities in Crisis: A Special Analytic Report on High School Graduation, published by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, ranks Seattle seventh in graduation rates among the 50 largest cities with a graduation rate of 67.6 percent (the 50-city average is 51.8 percent). It should be noted this graduation rate does not represent a specific class’ graduation rate, or the graduation rate of districts over a specific time frame. Instead, it is an estimation based on the continuation rates of high school students between the 2003-04 and 2004-05 school years. This probably explains why the report’s graduation rate is higher than the graduation rate Seattle Public Schools reported to the state. Here are the graduation rates for Seattle Public Schools, as reported through the Washington State Report Card, for the last five years available:
|
Academic Year |
On-Time Graduation Rate |
|
2001-02 |
53.2% |
|
2002-03 |
50.1% |
|
2003-04 |
62.6% |
|
2004-05 |
57.6% |
|
2005-06 |
44.7% |
So what does this mean? The difference between the EPERC report and Washington’s report card highlight a real need for not only a uniform system of calculating graduation rates, but also a more accurate system to track students. Fortunately, all students in Washington’s public schools now have a unique student identifier, allowing the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to accurately track students and calculate graduation and dropout rates. Before, OSPI could not always identify who transferred out of the system and who dropped out, affecting graduation rates. For the Class of 2008, we will hopefully have truly accurate data to show how many of Washington’s (and Seattle’s) students are graduating on time.
In The Nations Report Card: Writing 2007, published by the National Center for Education Statistics, Washington comes out average, again. In an effort to make it sound like we are doing better than we are, references are made to the 88 percent of Washington 8th graders who scored at Basic or above. That’s like patting ourselves on the back for having 88 percent of 8th graders earn D’s or higher. The real proof of how we are doing as a state is the percentage of students who scored Proficient or higher-only 35 percent of 8th graders. Ten states performed better than Washington when comparing Proficient or higher scores, including Connecticut (53 percent), Massachusetts (45 percent) and New Jersey (56 percent). Here, again, we see Washington achieving average results with below average resources. Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey all spend more per pupil than Washington (upwards of $2,500 more), and offer higher average teacher salaries (upwards of $11,000 more).
While Washington’s system fares better than most states (and Seattle’s than other large cities), that doesn’t mean it’s “good.”
