Performance of Ohio Students on 2009 NAEP and Ohio Achievement Tests
Source: Ohio Department of Education interactive Local Report Card, and National Assessment of Education Progress
THE
OHIO EDUCATION GADFLY
A Bi-Weekly Bulletin of News and
Analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Volume 3, Number 30. October 28, 2009
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Ohio can use Race to the Top funding to improve teacher quality
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute and others voiced support yesterday for Senate Bill (SB) 180 (see here) that would strengthen Ohio's position in the federal Race to the Top sweepstakes through:
Terry Ryan, Fordham's vice president for Ohio programs and policy, told members of the Ohio Senate education committee that SB180 would allow the Buckeye State's schools -- especially the most troubled -- to take advantage of talented veteran teachers from Teach for America who don't want to spend time and money jumping through needless certification hoops and meaningless state requirements.
"We've seen this first hand in two of the charter schools we sponsor in Columbus -- the Columbus Collegiate Academy and KIPP Journey. Both schools have drawn on Teach for America alumni who have worked successfully in some of the nation's toughest urban schools. These teachers and others like them represent some of America's finest educators. The two schools serve children in the Linden and Weinland Park neighborhoods of Columbus" Ryan testified.
Columbus Collegiate Academy (CCA) is a particularly good example since in its first year of operation the school easily outshined the Columbus district and charter middle schools, ranking first in the city on the performance index score, fourth in reading, and first in math.Yet only one of the school's four teachers last year was traditionally licensed. This year, four of seven are (the others teach under long-term substitute licenses as allowed by Ohio law).
"We are able to recruit great teachers, many who have gained urban teaching experience in other states as members of Teach for America, but they have to spend far too much time weaving through a maze of paperwork and red tape," CCA Co-Director John A. Dues told the committee.
CCA math teacher Abbey Kinson learned to teach with the TFA program in a Washington, D.C. school serving some of that city's neediest children and is teaching under a long-term substitute license. "I work an average of 70 to 80 hours in a week and I'm proud to stand up here and brag about my kids," she told lawmakers. Achievement for Kinson's math students on the Ohio Achievement Test jumped from 41 percent to 82 percent. In just one year, her students achieved more than two and a half times the "expected yearly growth" as measured by the nationally recognized Northwest Evaluation Association's Measures of Academic Progress.
"I've proven that I know the best practices and have the skills to inspire kids to reach their potential. Yet, according to the Ohio Department of Education, I'm not qualified to receive full licensure in middle school mathematics," she said.
In addition to changing licensing rules, SB 180 would require using value-added student achievement data to help determine teacher effectiveness and allow for high-performing e-schools to open and operate in Ohio.
Ryan also called for Ohio to make additional changes that align with President Obama's education reform agenda, including adopting common national academic standards, putting in place an effective data-tracking system, embracing innovative models of teacher and administrator training, and supporting high quality charter schools and turnaround efforts.
Such changes could help Ohio gain some of the $4.35 billion in Race to the Top funds being offered by the federal government to boost innovative education programs.
Ryan said passage of SB 180 would make Ohio a leader in using value-added data to help gauge teacher effectiveness. "Such data should absolutely be one of the components in creating a fair, accurate, and useful measure of teacher effectiveness, which everyone knows is central to student learning" he told the committee. "High-performing teachers also deserve to be rewarded for delivering results, especially with our neediest students and in hard-to-staff subjects like science and mathematics. And those who can't deliver results need to be removed from the profession."
Ohio also needs to encourage innovation in how it recruits and prepares school leaders. While innovative school leadership programs are expanding across the country, Ohio is lagging. New Leaders for New Schools, a prominent example of a well-respected urban school-leadership program, doesn't operate in Ohio because they have not been invited here.
According to the recently released 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (commonly referred to as the nation's report card), just 36 percent of Ohio eighth graders scored proficient or better in mathematics. The most recent reading results (from 2007) were similar. (See more on NAEP in News & Analysis below.) Spurred by such bleak achievement data, President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have committed to turning around 5,000 of the country's lowest performing schools, about 200 of which are in Ohio.
"Thousands of young Ohioans, reaching the threshold of high school, haven't mastered the ability to do basic computations or read critically, let alone grasp the essentials of science, history, or civics" Ryan said.
But if state leaders are embarrassed by the lackluster performance of Ohio students on national achievement tests, they ought to be appalled at how the state's urban schools are performing.
As an illustration, Ryan used Dayton, where more than half of the city's schools received the equivalent of a D or F on the most recent state report card. Only two Dayton schools -- both charter schools -- earned an A.
"Such bleak achievement levels are common across Ohio's urban and rural areas" Ryan said.
State Board of Education member Susan Haverkos and Bill Sims, head of the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools also testified in support of SB 180. "The challenge is standing up for what is in the best interest of the student, overcoming special interest groups and political pressure, and embracing just a few reforms that will have long term benefits for Ohio" Haverkos told lawmakers.
Read Terry Ryan's testimony here, John Dues' here, and Abbey Kinson's here. Video of the hearing is available at www.edexcellence.net/flypaper.
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Early college academies form lobby group
Ohio's public early college academies are combining forces to lobby the Ohio General Assembly for more cash to keep their innovative high-school programs afloat.
The schools lost big in the latest state budget. Faced with likely closure, if not this year then within the next two years, the nine big city high schools have formed the Ohio Early College Association to lobby state lawmakers for more money.
The schools want a few million back of a special $12 million state subsidy they had been receiving, figuring that with a little more state support they can garner donations and grants.
Early college academies are public college-prep high schools in Akron, Canton, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Elyria, Lorain, Toledo, and Youngstown. The state, the KnowledgeWorks Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have invested more than $40 million in these schools since 2003.
The schools offer an intense program to prepare at-risk, low-income, inner-city students for college success. Graduates leave school with college credit and some graduates can earn up to two years' worth of credit.
Advocates think they have a case for a special dispensation at a time state lawmakers have needed to cut billions in state spending. Early-college graduates, usually from educationally underserved urban areas, have been showing on state tests they are better prepared than their counterparts in traditional inner city high schools.
"Some of our kids (attending the Dayton Early College Academy) have to walk through drug deals to get here" said Tom Lasley, education dean at the University of Dayton. Lasley serves on the Dayton Early College Academy (DECA) board and heads the new lobby group.
DECA's $750,000-a-year state subsidy amounts to about a quarter of the school's budget and, without it, Lasley has predicted the school will eventually close. The Columbus Metro School lost an $800,000 subsidy.
DECA graduates are being recruited by colleges seeking to boost their minority student populations and early college grads are an obvious choice because they stand a better chance to succeed. "Of our 2008 graduating class, 100 percent went to college and 85 percent went back for their second year" Lasley said.
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Performance gap persists between state math tests and nation's report card
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics scores released earlier this month received a somber reception here in Ohio and rightly so - student achievement in math has remained relatively flat in the eighth grade for the last decade. The NAEP is a biennial test administered to fourth, eighth, and twelfth graders by the U.S. Department of Education and is billed as "the Nation's Report Card."
The 2009 NAEP scores for Ohio students are virtually the same as in previous years. In 2009, 45 percent of fourth graders and 36 percent of eighth graders were considered proficient or better in math, compared to 46 percent of fourth graders and 35 percent of eighth graders earning a proficient rating in 2007.
These numbers become even more troubling when compared to the results from the Ohio Achievement Tests (OAT). According to 2008-09 OAT results, 71 percent of eighth graders and 78 percent of fourth graders were considered proficient in mathematics. The graph below illustrates the performance gap of Ohio students between NAEP and OAT results.
Performance of Ohio Students on 2009 NAEP and Ohio Achievement Tests
Source: Ohio Department of Education interactive Local Report Card, and National Assessment of Education Progress
The Columbus Dispatch covered the disconnect between state test scores and NAEP in a recent article (read it here). A representative of the Ohio Department of Education told the Dispatch that both assessments are "... different tests with different functions. I understand where it may be confusing to try to look at them and say, "the numbers are so different, how can that be?"
However, Stuart Kerachsky, the commissioner of the National Center on Education Statistics said that in these circumstances, "...you can't really escape a conclusion that low performance on NAEP is a signal that there is a problem in a state that has to be examined very carefully and has to be addressed."
Gene Wilhoit, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, also commented, "to have 30 percent of the youngsters proficient on the NAEP and 70 percent on a state assessment is a huge disservice to students."
In addition to its low NAEP scores in math, the gap between Ohio's white and black fourth or eighth graders hasn't budged over the last decade.
These troubling indicators are a signal that it is time for Ohio to adopt common academic standards that would enable our students to compete successfully with the rest of the country and the world.
by Eric Ulas
Education secretary makes case for STEM education
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Friday that the nation needs a national policy to boost science education, especially in promoting the best ways to teach science, engineering, and math.
Duncan called for a national science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education agenda and network to develop and share effective practices, as well as reiterated a call for better trained teachers and incentive pay for science and math teachers (see here). He spoke to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
However, despite poor science programs in high school, according to a new report released today, interest in science among American high school and college students hasn't slackened over the past 30 years (see here). According to the Rutgers University report, U.S. colleges and universities are graduating as many scientists and engineers as ever, contradicting long-held hand-wringing from educators and employers.
The study, "Steady as She Goes? Three Generations of Students through the Science and Engineering Pipeline," was conducted with funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
While the data seem to skirt the issue of whether "enough" scientists are being graduated, it does indicate many of the highest performing students are choosing careers in other fields after graduation.
That could eventually hurt since, in his speech, Duncan ladled a lot onto the plates of America's young people, saying they will need to spur future advancements in clean energy, health and medicine, the environment, space exploration, food production for developing countries, and for revitalizing the American economy. How much of that gets done and how well it gets done will depend on education and specifically on math and science majors.
"We must transform education in the United States so that every student reaches higher levels of mathematics and science learning. Increasing our national performance means raising the bar and closing the gap for all students -- poor, black, and Latino students -- who need to not only reach proficiency but also do advanced work" Duncan said in his speech. "We know our students must get dramatically better if we're going to compete in the international economy."
Just as important as a scientifically trained workforce, Duncan said America needs a scientifically literate public able to comprehend the technological issues that will transform their lives and their environment in the coming decades.
He bemoaned lagging math improvement of students taking the National Assessment of Educational Progress (see here and the article above).
"Our 15 year-olds' scores now lag behind those of 31 countries. Four countries--Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Finland--outperform U.S. students on math, science, and all other subjects" Duncan said.
He called for states to enhance teacher preparation, training and pay, and to attract new and qualified math and science teachers to engage students and reinvigorate those subjects in American schools. "We support initiatives to pay more to teachers in high-need subjects like science and math, and rewarding excellence by paying teachers and principals who do a great job in the classroom" he said.
Duncan said only 23 percent of college freshman declare a STEM major. And just 40 percent of those that elect STEM majors as first-year students receive a STEM degree within six years.
Part of the solution is encouraging minority students and women to enter the sciences. "Most of our scientists and most of our STEM teachers are being recruited from a narrow segment of our population, Duncan said. "We must find a way to include the people who represent the sum of our nation's population. If we can tap into the diversity of America, we can bring fresh ideas and perspectives and perhaps new inventions to our world."
Duncan complained about time spent on science being reduced in too many classrooms because of No Child Left Behind requirements. That complaint was echoed in later comments to the President's council by a representative of the American Association of Physics Teachers.
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The best of both worlds, by Eric Ulas
The Ohio Department of Education recently spotlighted an innovative partnership between Dayton Public Schools and Sinclair Community College that has established a unique Tech Prep high school in Ohio.This holds special significance here at Fordham, as it is named after David H. Ponitz, a Fordham trustee and the venerated president emeritus of Sinclair Community College. This fall, 550 teenagers began attending the David H. Ponitz Career Technology Center. It offers students the chance to graduate with training in a technical career field, all while offering an American high school experience that includes such features as music and sports. Read the full post here.
Teacher quality the most important (in-school) factor, by Jamie Davies O'Leary
Core Knowledge and Joanne Jacobs both picked up on a blog this week by Linda Perlstein, who says that Obama is "wrong" to suggest that teachers are the single most important factor related to student achievement. Perlstein points out that this is accurate only in that "of the various factors inside school, teacher quality has had more effect on student test scores than any other that has been measured." And? I don't think it's fair to suggest that Obama has misrepresented the evidence. Read the rest of this post here.
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State Test Score Trends Through 2007-08: Are Achievement Gaps Closing and Is Achievement Rising for All?
Center on Education Policy
October 2009
This report from the Center on Education Policyuses achievement data from state tests to answer two questions: to what extent do achievement gaps persist between minority students (African American, Latino, and Native American) and their white and Asian counterparts, and between students from low-income families and their wealthier peers? And is achievement rising for all student subgroups --e.g. are gaps narrowing because some groups are doing worse, or are all groups still making some gains?
CEP analyzed data from fourth-grade state test results at three achievement levels (basic, proficient, and advanced) to determine whether students in each category made gains. It also examined achievement gaps in proficiency at grades four, eight, and at one high school level, as well as gaps in average test scores. Overall findings indicate that achievement gaps are narrowing in most states. More importantly, the reduction of achievement disparities is most often the result of the accelerated accomplishment of low-performing groups, rather than the decreased performance of higher-performing groups. Achievement gaps at the proficient-or-above level narrowed more often for African American and Latino subgroups; Native American and low-income subgroups also made positive gains, but their success was on a much smaller scale.
Despite these findings, the report indicates that disparities between high- and low-performing groups still remain as wide as 20 percent. In Ohio, the achievement gap is even wider--86 percent of white fourth graders scored at the proficient level or higher in reading, compared to just 59 percent of African American fourth graders (for a full look at Ohio's subgroup achievement and gap trends profile, see here). Further, there were declines among Ohio fourth graders at the advanced level in at least six subgroups, indicating that higher-performers could be losing ground. Decision makers in Ohio should note the results of this report, especially as education officials being revising academic standards before June 2010. The state's achievement gaps remain gaping, and achievement among higher-performing students has started to drop. The development of rigorous academic standards should be part of the state's strategy to deliver students to higher levels of achievement and stay competitive with the rest of the nation. Read it here.
Portfolio School Districts for Big Cities: An Interim Report
Center on Reinventing Public Education
Paul Hill, Christine Campbell, David Menefee-Libey, Brianna Dusseault, Michael DeArmond, Betheny Gross
October 2009
This report from Center on Reinventing Public Education is the next installment in a series on performance management (we reviewed the introductory report here). The authors present initial findings from four districts using portfolio management--New York City, New Orleans, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.--in the hopes that other districts considering the portfolio technique will learn from their experiences; the final report is due in 2011. If you recall, unlike traditional districts, portfolio districts empower schools to make instructional, HR, and budgetary decisions; they foster experimentation among schools rather than insisting on uniformity; and they base school expansion, closure, and funding decisions entirely on performance. The portfolio district continually reconstitutes, closes, opens, and experiments with its schools until, as the authors put it, "no child attends a school in which he or she is not likely to learn." New York (through the city-wide "autonomy zone") and New Orleans (through extensive and continuing chartering) have implemented portfolio management full-scale; Chicago and D.C. have adapted only parts of it so far. (In Chicago, portfolio management is only applied to the Renaissance 2010 initiative schools, while DCPS does not oversee a portion of the city's "portfolio" of schools, namely the charters and voucher-receiving schools.) The report outlines precipitating events that fostered their creation (e.g., Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and mayoral takeover in NYC) and the implications that opening new schools and closing unproductive ones has on district redesign (e.g., the need to develop a stellar human capital strategy, manage competing "old" and "new" cultures among staff, or consider switching to pupil-based funding). But there are many questions left for the final report: Can independent school operators wean themselves off of philanthropy and be self-sustaining? Will alternative sources of teachers and school leaders continue to fill the human capital pipeline? Can portfolio management continue to thrive after a city's primary reformers have left the scene?
All good questions whose answers will be especially useful for cities moving toward portfolio management, like Cleveland. Compared with other Ohio cities, Cleveland has the benefit of mayoral control over schools (CRPE argues that it shakes up entrenched political interests and makes portfolio management easier to implement) and is finding success with its "innovation schools" which are higher-performing than the rest of the district (see here). Anyone interested in the success of Cleveland's move toward portfolio management, or wondering whether such performance management is possible in other Ohio cities should read the full publication here.
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New Schools for New Orleans (here) is seeking a Chief Operating Officer and Director of Development to help grow the organization and work toward its goal of achieving excellent public schools for all students in New Orleans. NSNO recruits and places teachers and school leaders, helps launch new charter schools, provides grant support to high-quality charter schools, and advocates for accountable and sustainable public schools. Interested in the positions? Learn more here.
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The Ohio Education Gadfly is published bi-weekly (ordinarily on Wednesdays, with occasional breaks, and in special editions) by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Have something to say? Email the editor at [email protected]. Would you like to be spared from the Gadfly? Email [email protected] with "unsubscribe gadfly" in the text of your message. You are welcome to forward the Gadfly to others, and from our website you can even email individual articles. If you have been forwarded a copy of Gadfly and would like to subscribe, you may email [email protected] with "subscribe gadfly" in the text of the message. To read archived issues, go to our website and click on the Ohio Education Gadfly link. Aching for still more education news and analysis? Check out the original Education Gadfly.
Nationally and in Ohio, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, along with its sister organization the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, strives to close America's vexing achievement gaps by raising standards, strengthening accountability, and expanding high-quality education options for parents and families. As a charter-school sponsor in Ohio, the Foundation joins with schools to affirm a relentless commitment to high expectations for all children, accountability for academic results, and transparency and organizational integrity, while freeing the schools to operate with minimal red tape. The Foundation and Institute are neither connected with nor sponsored by Fordham University.