As expected, grades 3-8 across the state, not just FWCS, got "better" this year as test difficulty on the ISTEP+ dropped in the second year after moving to spring testing. Whereas 47% of middle and elementary schools were in the watch or probation category, that number dropped to 27% in just the last year. Anyone who would bet money that such an improvement is possible in one year, should be taking out credit default swaps.
With high school testing changing from Graduation Qualifying Exams to End of Course Assessments, the state has not yet decided how to determine AYP for the high schools. When ECA's were give two years ago, the results were not counted. The statewide passing rates were then around 40%. Last spring they came up to about 60%. Again such an "improvement" is not possible in one year without dumbing down the tests. Despite easier tests, the results for our local high schools, especially the LEAD schools are still so bad (around 50% passing in English and 20% in math) that it would be hard to get worse. All five FWCS high schools are now on academic probation. How can the high schools all get worse while the lower grades are all doing better? They can't.
So you can bet that the ECA's will get easier again next year and our high schools will dodge the bullet. The state doesn't really want to take them over anyway. But to avoid that by gaming those tests they will also lose their credibility. FWCS didn't have any credibility to start with. With the IDE declaring victory, we'll have to see if the Republican legislature figures out what's going on. But don't bet on that either.
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FWCS high schools are not alone...75% of all public high schools in Indiana are on academic watch or academic probation!! The cynic in me says this was the intent of NCLB all along. Why are ELL students and Special Education students even part of state or federal ratings...think they will ever get to 100%? Of course not.
Hard to say what they were thinking when they came up with the 100% target and all the various categories where schools can fail. It's ridiculous, which is why making AYP is only relevant to losing their Title I money. But that's not an excuse for blowing it off like FWCS did, and not trying to do anything until the state finally threated to step in.
If they had made a serious attempt right away and it failed, I wouldn't have any complaint. But they didn't. They just stayed the course and mouthed their yearly platitudes when the scores came out.
Yes, you are right, FWCS did blow it off and concentrated instead on a massive building project for two years. Hey, if you are right, the ECA tests will get easier this spring and scores will go way up!!
Yes, so all I can ask is that our new and wiser board members won't let us suffer through another nauseating press conference about the miracle of Acuity or whatever it was that led to an instantaneous turnaround. I'm reading another book about the subprime meltdown. Anyone wonder how people can be dumb enough to buy a house they can't afford or get a mortgage when they can't even make the first payment? Spend some time in a math class at one of our LEAD high schools and the answer will be obvious.
Do you really think schools can protect certain people from themselves? I am doubtful. I spent all day Tuesday in LEAD school math classes and had an ejoyable day. For the most part the students were involved and interested in learning. There were a few who refused to work, I am not sure what the solution to that is...fail them until they see the light? Maybe their success lies in appearing in reality TV!! (Although now if they fail they can take a "credit recovery class" sitting at a computer...I am uncertain how I feel about that.
In the year I spent tutoring algebra at SSHS we were supposed to cover probablilty. Nobody in the alegebra "labs" could do fractions so we spent three weeks on that and never got to probabilty. I saw a lot of that in academic classes as well. I'm told by a math teacher over there the labs are still like that.
How could somebody who can't do simple math figure out what's going with the hundreds of "products" that were being pushed by the subprime lenders? How can we push these kids through school and give them a diploma that lets them think they're ready for the real world?
I guess I shouldn't let it bother me.
The problem IS that K-8th grade math has too much breadth and not enough depth. I don't remember learning about area until 6th grade, yet FWCS' 3rd graders are having it and so much more crammed down on their throats.
The quick fix to that is to change curriculum, and focus on the basics.
Siestagirl,
Am I correct -- you don't think ELL or Special Education students should be part of state and federal ratings? If so, why?
ELL students, even if they are recent to this country and have verified limited knowledge of English, still must take ISTEP in English and achieve the same pass percentage as native English speakers. Special education students are, well, special, need I say more? The state of Indiana, in its third grade Reading Plan, is requiring a third grade reading level to move to fourth grade. But it EXEMPTS certain levels of ELL students and special education students accoring to their Individual Education Plans. So the Education Dept of Indiana contradicts itself...including ELL and Sp Ed for one policy but not for another.
I believe these students should be tested and their progress monitored but not counted in state and federal accountability measures.
Hadn't heard about the third grade reading plan? Is that part of stopping social promotion in the third grade?
I don't understand the practice of putting non-English speakers into regular classes. That wouldn't have worked for me when I stepped off the boat way back when. Do they have research/experience to show that that's a good idea rather than taking them aside to teach them enougn English to function in an Entglish speaking classroom?
Back in the early 90s I got a student from Thailand...right off the boat I guess, he could hardly say hi. He sat in his classes with a thai/english dictionary and ended up with A's toward the second part of the year, in geometry, a very word-intensive course. He earned an engineering degree from Purdue. My point is that some students can succeed in regular classes with limited English skills. And I love the story!!
And Anon - I believe you are right about K-8 math having too much breadth and not enough depth. But remember, those standards are controlled at the state level and now, I beleive, the federal common standards.
Kind of makes you wonder why the Imagine charter schools did worse.
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