Why Compare?
Yesterday's post listing Norwalk's top performing elementary schools by CMT scores prompted some insightful comments. My intention in creating a list was to figure out how the schools rank against each other.
As many comments pointed out, this limited ranking does not take into account complex factors that underlie the numbers like ethic composition of schools and economic factors that affect student performance. The numbers also do not reflect significant progress in improving CMT scores made by some schools in a relatively short time.
For example, in 2006 only 38% of 5th graders at Kendall School were "at/above goal" in math. In 2009, that number has jumped to 61.7%. That's over 23 percentage points!
At Brookside, 5th grade "at/above goal" reading scores went up from 52.8% in 2006 to 67.9% in 2009. That's up 15 points -- exceeding the State average. Similarly at Naramake, the same measure has increased from 52.8% in 2006 to 68.5% in 2009.
I was particularly struck by the progress made at Cranbury Elementary. Their fifth graders "at/above goal" scores have increased approximately 10% in math, reading and writing.
In contrast, at my children's elementary school, Columbus Magnet, there has been no improvement in "at/above goal" 5th grade math and reading scores since 2006. In fact, there was a significant decline in writing scores for 5th grade from 68.9% in 2006 to 50.8% in 2009.
As well at Jefferson, only 37% of fifth graders were "at goal" in Math this year. This number lags way behind the rest of the district. What's happening there?
My intention in comparing schools is for us as a community to look at best practices and trouble spots in our schools. What is happening at Cranbury that resulted in across the board improvement? How come 77.6% of Wolfpit's fifth graders have writing scores that are "at/above goal", exceeding much of the district and state averages by well over 10 points?
Ranking the schools does not provide the complete picture in and of itself but it is a starting point for discussion about what's working and what's not.
Posts
Nathan Hale is without a doubt the best middle school in Norwalk, great teachers and great principal with Bob McCain. McCain has goals, lets everyone know what they are and is determined to succeed, it's a great team that works well together. They deserve their great scores. Notice the math scores, there were more kids at 'advanced' than at 'goal'. Great going.
ReplyDeleteYou took the time to point out what you see as a deficiency in Jefferson's grade five performance. Did you bother to look at the huge gains they made - in every grade - over the last several years? You chose not to mention how grade three out performed the district in almost every category, or grade four and five's gains over the last several years.
ReplyDeletePlease do not make the mistake of only looking at the negative.
This is great news and a great way to get it!! Thanks for the rankings. I recently pulled my children out of All Saints School where I had paid for them to attend for years. The education that they got there was nothing short of appalling. It was absolutely horrible. The school violence there is completely out of control and the principal and vice principals are inept and uncaring. The teachers refused to give and extra help unless you paid them by the hour. My kids are all in public school now in Norwalk and are doing amazingly well -- they are challenged, happy and finally getting a little bit of that self esteem back that they lost at All Saints. It is great to see that improvement is across the board.
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Thanks Moina for getting the discussion going on best practices. Every school in Norwalk has great things going on, and now is the chance to share them, replicate them, and make Norwalk the premier school district that it has the potential to be.
ReplyDeleteMoina, thanks so much for your blog. Yourct.com was an active forum for debate and commentary but now that posters are required to register, I fear the inklings of information will not be as forthcoming as it once was. There is also fear of reprisal for posting in the education venue. Thank you for allowing an open forum. Any negativity I'm sure we can deal with ourselves.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, we got your back Moina, do your thing hun. You are a rising star.
ReplyDelete