FOCUS DC News Wire 7/31/13

 

 

Students in the District’s traditional public schools scored higher than ever on the city’s math and reading tests this year, also posting the largest single-year gain since 2008, according to test results released Tuesday.

 

The city’s public charter schools, which had higher scores than the traditional system, made their biggest gains since 2009. For the first time, more than half of charter students scored proficient or above in reading on the city tests. Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) hailed the results as evidence that the city’s overhaul of public education — including the advent of mayoral control of the schools and the rapid growth of charters — is working. “I don’t think there’s any doubt we’re on the right path,” Gray said. “We just need to stay the course.”

 

The District, which initiated major school reforms in 2007, has served as a test case for often controversial policies — such as expanding school choice, eliminating teacher tenure and tying evaluations to test scores — which have since been adopted by a growing number of states.

 

The city has had persistently low test scores and lags behind most of the rest of the country on many academic measures. But between 2007 and 2013, proficiency rates in math and reading increased 18 percentage points on the D.C. tests, including a four point gain in the past year, to 51 percent.

 

Still, student performance remains uneven and far lower than anyone deems acceptable. “These numbers are encouraging, but they are still completely inadequate,” said D.C. Council member David A. Catania (I-At Large), chairman of the council’s Education Committee. Catania has introduced a suite of legislative proposals to again overhaul the schools, arguing that improvement has been too slow and inconsistent and that staying the course is not a solution. “Now is the time to continue to press ahead to look at what the barriers are that are prohibiting our kids from succeeding and remove them as quickly as possible.”

 

The D.C. tests, known as the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System, are administered each spring to students in grades 3 through 8 and in grade 10. The tests offer a snapshot of student learning that officials use to judge schools, teachers and principals.

 

Students’ scores land them in one of four categories: below basic, basic, proficient and advanced. The goal is to have students score proficient or better, meaning they meet grade-level standards. In the eighth grade, students are expected to understand the Pythagorean theorem and calculate the volume of cylinders and cones.

 

New math exams were introduced this year to test students’ ability to meet more rigorous Common Core standards, part of a national effort to standardize expectations for U.S. students. Reading tests were revised last year to align with the standards, which have been adopted by 45 states and the District.

 

Citywide, 53 percent of students are proficient in math and 49.5 percent are proficient in reading. While each subgroup of students — including economically disadvantaged children — made progress this year, achievement gaps remained stubbornly large: 92 percent of white students were proficient in reading, for example, compared with 52 percent of Hispanic students, 44 percent of black students and 42 percent of poor children.

 

 

 

THE ANNOUNCEMENT of historic achievement levels by D.C. public school students on annual math and reading tests was accompanied by reams of numbers, bar charts and graphs. But the best encapsulation of the accomplishment was the fist-pump-punctuated “Yes!” from D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D). It was a reaffirmation of the reform of public education launched in 2007, a rebuke to the naysayers who want us to believe reform has failed and a warning to those who would interfere with policies that are clearly gaining traction.

 

Data from the 2013 D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System released Tuesday had good news for students in both the traditional school system and in public charter schools.

 

D.C. Public Schools students improved their proficiency in math and reading by 3.6 percentage points and 3.9 percent percentage points respectively over the previous year, bringing proficiency rates (49.5 percent for math and 47.4 percent for reading) to the highest level in memory. All subgroups — black, Hispanic, white, special education and others — improved in math and most improved in reading; students in every ward and students in every grade improved their performance over 2012, and rates of advanced proficiency were up while rates for below proficiency were down in both subjects.

 

Charter schools, which enroll 43 percent of public school students, had even more impressive results, posting slightly higher average scores than their traditional counterparts and showing a 58.6 percent proficiency rate in math and 53 percent proficiency rate in reading. Particularly noteworthy were the gains made by English- language learners and economically disadvantaged students attending charter schools.

 

The citywide composite proficiency rate for both charters and traditional schools was 51.3 percent. Clearly, that is nothing to be satisfied with; much more improvement is needed. But there has been remarkable progress since 2007, when then-Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) took over the schools and the citywide proficiency rate was 33.5 percent.

 

There’s been a lot of gnashing of teeth of late about the pace of reform and whether another overhaul is in order. The state test scores, showing gains that are consistent with the federally administered National Assessment of Educational Progress, should put those notions to rest. Public education in D.C. is on a healthy trajectory, thanks to the growth of quality charters and reforms that are taking root in the traditional system. These include weeding out ineffective teachers, overhauling teacher evaluations and pay, putting new curricula in place, supporting good teachers and measuring results.

 

School improvement doesn’t occur overnight. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson quotes an adage from Abraham Lincoln to describe her approach: “Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.”

 

For years, District schoolchildren suffered as school superintendents and school agendas came and went. Now they are benefiting from the consistent implementation of a vision of muscular school reform laid out by former chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and ably continued by Ms. Henderson, who had been her deputy. Mr. Gray, whose steady support has been crucial, said it best Tuesday: “I don’t think there’s any doubt we’re on the right path. We just need to stay the course.”

 

 

Standardized test scores for D.C. public and charter schools are the highest they have been in six years, an accomplishment officials on Tuesday said should be applauded but also serve as motivation to continue to raise the bar. The D.C. office of the state superintendent of education released the 2013 Comprehensive Assessment System scores, showing that 48.4 percent of public school students were proficient in math and reading while 55.8 percent of charter school students were at a proficiency level.

 

“This is a day for all of us to be proud of the direction we’ve taken in the city,” said Deputy Mayor for Education Abigail Smith, addressing a crowded auditorium at Kelly Miller Middle School in Northeast. “But we haven’t arrived. We are not where we need to be and none of us would suggest that we are.”

 

Results from the comprehensive testing show 51.3 percent of all students in the District are performing at proficient levels, a 4 percent rise from 2012 and a 17.8 percent rise since 2007. Math proficiency levels increased 3.9 percent to 53.0 percent, while reading scores rose 4.1 percent to a 49.5 percent proficiency level. In 2007, scores for both math and reading were below 37 percent proficiency. “Statewide proficiency is far too low,” D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray said. “This isn’t an easy path. It’s hard work every day. These results come at a turning point for education in the city.”

 

The District adopted the Common Core State Standards Initiative in 2010 and is in the midst of a five-year effort which includes an emphasis on reading and math. Forty-five states, the District and several U.S. territories use the Common Core standards as a way to measure education, although a number of states in recent months have expressed doubts about the curriculum. There is no national assessment to compare the District’s Common Core standards to those of other states, but the National Assessment of Educational Progress report card provides a general view of where the District’s fourth- and eighth-grade students compare to comparable cities.

 

Information provided by the Council of the Great City Schools showed that from 2007 to 2011, the District saw a 9 percent and 7 percent increase in math proficiency for its fourth- and eighth-graders, respectively. Baltimore saw a 4 percent rise in its fourth-grade math scores, and a 3 percent bump for its eighth-grade math scores. Boston reported a 6 percent increase at the fourth-grade level for its math tests and a 7 percent increase for eighth-graders.

 

The District test results also showed between 4 percent and 5 percent improvements in math scores for economically disadvantaged groups, English language learners and special-education students. Reading proficiency for those same groups improved roughly 3 percent to 5 percent. “There is no way to deny that the announcement today is indeed very good news,” said Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools. “Their gains are substantial and sharp in both reading and mathematics. The work that they have done to improve reading and literacy is clearly paying off. I think that’s the bottom line: Results like this do not happen by accident.”

 

The overall goal of the District is to have 75 percent proficiency in reading and math, and 5 percent overall growth each year. “Education really is an endurance sport,” said Maria Ferguson, executive director of the Center for Education Policy. “Most people have an unrealistic timeline of how education happens.” This year’s testing window was April 22 to May 3, and school officials said that of the 80,231 students enrolled in the District’s public and charter schools, 32,838 students — or 41 percent — took the test. Of those students, about 20,000 of them are in traditional public schools.

 

Students from third grade to 10th grade were tested, and results showed that every grade improved its math and reading scores from last year, except for seventh-grade math scores, which dropped by less than half of 1 percent. “We still have a long way to go, but I’m excited about what’s ahead,” D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson said.

 

 

 

The internet was blazing yesterday beginning at 10:01 a.m. once Mayor Gray released the 2013 DC CAS scores. Here's why. As the Washington Post's Emma Brown explains students in the traditional school system scored higher than they ever have and the results went up by percentages not seen since 2008. 49.5% of DCPS students are now proficient in math, a 21.6% improvement since 2007, the first year the test was administered. In reading, for the traditional schools the proficiency rate is now 47.4%, which represents a 13.4% improvement since 2007.

 

The City's charter schools also demonstrated impressive gains. In math 58.6% of students are now proficient, a 19.2% gain since 2007, compared to 53% for reading, up 10.8% from the baseline year. Charters now outscore DCPS in math proficiency by 9.1% and in reading by 5.6%.

 

Still proficiency rates for DCPS are below the 50% line. In addition, this is the first year that charters have reached above that mark in both math and reading. The DC CAS is given to all public school students in grades 3 through 8 and in grade 10. The exam has recently been rewritten to align with the new Common Core standards.

 

David Catania, Chairman of the D.C. council's education committee was not impressed. Ms. Brown quotes him as saying, "These numbers are encouraging, but they are still completely inadequate.” The Mayor, of course, sees things differently. He commented, “We know we have much more to do, but today we celebrate the hard work by our students, teachers and administrators reflected in these results. I am committed to accelerating the progress we have made by scaling up what’s working and continuing to invest in our schools.”

 

Obviously, each man is promoting their agenda for D.C. schools, with Mr. Catania arguing that we need the 7 education bills he has introduced while the Mayor is sticking to his position of staying the course.

 

But what cannot be argued is that the standardized test scores revealed academic growth for students in all grades for all subgroups for both the traditional and charter schools.

 

For example, here's some statistics provided by the D.C. Public Charter School Board regarding their system:

 

•English language learners had nearly a 14-percentage point jump in reading, improving from 30.9% proficiency to 44.7%, which was 5.0 percentage points above the state average of 39.7%.

•Economically disadvantaged students improved by more than 3 percentage points to 48.4% in reading, 6.4 percentage points above the state average of 42.0%.

•Special education students saw gains of nearly 3 percentage points to 21.4% in reading, 2.1 percentage points above the state average of 19.3%. In math these students went up by 5.0 percentage points to 29.7%, which is 5.6 percentage points above the state average of 24.1.

•African-American students (50.5% reading) climbed by 3.0 percentage points and are 6.8 percentage points higher than the state average of 43.7%.

•Hispanic students (54.6% reading) climbed by 6.6 percentage points and are 2.3 percentage points higher than the state average of 52.3%.

 

In addition, an analysis by Steve Taylor for FOCUS shows that charter students significantly outperform their DCPS peers in Wards 7 and 8, which contain the most disadvantaged students. In Ward 7, charter students score higher than their DCPS counterparts by 19 points in math and by 17 points in reading. In Ward 8 charters score 31% greater in math and 21% higher in reading.

 

Still, the achievement gap remains. City wide math proficiency for white students was 91.1%, compared to 58.6% for Hispanics, 47.1% for black students, and 46.2% for those living in poverty. As Ms. Brown points out across town "92 percent of white students were proficient in reading, for example, compared with 52 percent of Hispanic students, 44 percent of black students and 42 percent of poor children."

 

I think everyone involved in education reform came to the same conclusion on Tuesday. Much progress and much still to be done.

 

 

A record number of students in the District of Columbia public schools reached proficiency in reading and mathematics on the city's annual exams in 2013—growth that comes as the school system has moved aggressively to implement the more rigorous common standards, city and education leaders announced with much fanfare earlier today.

 

At a packed news conference held at Kelly Miller Middle School in Northeast Washington—where math and reading scores jumped 14 percentage points this year over 2012—Mayor Vincent Gray said the strong results across nearly every student subgroup and across every ward in the city stem from the massive restructuring of the school system that began in 2007 when then-Mayor Adrian Fenty won authority to run 45,000-student system.

 

"I think we are beginning to see the systemic changes we've all worked hard for," Mayor Gray said.

 

Even with its strong growth in 2013, less than half of all students—48.4 percent—were proficient across both math and reading. The charter school sector—which serves roughly 35,000 students—did better with an overall proficiency rate of 55.8 percent. And the racial achievement gaps remain very wide in the city's traditional public schools. Forty percent of African-American students were proficient or higher in math in 2013, compared to more than 91 percent of white students. In reading, the gap was even bigger, with 38.6 percent of black students demonstrating proficiency compared to 92.1 percent of whites.

 

Still, every student subgroup posted gains between 2012 and 2013 in both subjects, except for English-language learners, whose reading performance slipped slightly. ELLs make up 10 percent of the district's enrollment, said Chancellor Kaya Henderson, and are in need of more of focus and more investment.

 

Perhaps more than almost any other urban school system in the country, the District of Columbia has moved swiftly and comprehensively to put the common standards in reading and math into classroom practice and has made major investments to train and support teachers and students through that transition. (My colleague Catherine Gewertz has been closely documenting that transition at one middle school near the U.S. Capitol.) The annual exam—known as the DC CAS—was redesigned in 2012 to align with the new English/language arts standards, and this year to align with the new math standards.

 

City and education officials hailed the steady trajectory of growth seen over the past six years in the District of Columbia schools, and credited the progress to an array of changes—a new teacher-evaluation system, an almost complete turnover in the principal ranks, and more city resources sunk into classrooms to support teachers and students—that stem from the radical change in governance that put the mayor in charge of the system.

 

Still, it's important to note that the standards, curriculum, and the tests changed during that period, raising questions about how comparable results from 2012 and 2013 are with prior years. But Chancellor Henderson said that since students' record performance this year was on a test that is more difficult than the old DC CAS, the progress can't really be in doubt.

 

"The test, I think, has not gotten easier," she said in an interview with Education Week. "The fact that more students are meeting the floor level of proficiency, fewer students are below basic and more students are at advanced than ever before provides an indication that we are going in the right direction, so that even with a more difficult exam or an exam more aligned to the common-core standards, we are showing progress."

 

She also said that while she does worry about what scores will look like when District of Columbia students take the new common assessments designed by the PARCC consortium of states in 2015, the district's early move to common-core implementation should help students and teachers be prepared.

 

"It doesn't mean we are going to ace [the new tests], but it doesn't mean we are necessarily going to tank them either," she said. "By exposing our young people as early as possible and our educators to the rigor and content of the common core, we we can be prepared as best as possible."

 

Henderson does not support a suspension or moratorium on testing for accountability during the transition period between the new standards being taught and the new assessments being ready for prime time. Other high-profile education leaders such as Montgomery County, Md., schools Superintendent Joshua Starr and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten have been pushing for that.

 

"I'm not afraid to help our community make the transition to a different test, but I do feel like we have to chart our progress," Henderson said.

 

Still hanging over the district's head are persistent suspicions that isolated instances of cheating on state tests in 2008 when Michelle Rhee was chancellor (and Henderson her deputy) were actually a sign of a more coordinated, sweeping effort to make the district's academic performance look better than it was. It's a suspicion that Henderson believes she has done everything possible to dispel. The district has adopted more rigorous testing security protocols over the last couple of years and are "equal to, or more secure" than any other measures used in districts across the country, Henderson said.

 

The constant questions about the integrity of student performance disturb her deeply.

 

"To see what's happening in our classrooms right now, to see the amazing things our teachers are doing, the amazing things that our principals are doing, and the amazing things that our young people are doing, and when they achieve, to have people say that it can't be real unless adults cheated is a kick in the stomach," she said. "If I could cut off my right hand just to not disrespect the people and the work they are doing, I would do it."

 

 

Summer isn't just for lounging around anymore. DCPS's kindergarten-through-8th-grade summer school program enrolled and retained more students this year than last. But many still don't make it all the way through.

 

On the first day of its K-8 summer school program this year, DCPS had almost 2500 students signed up, about 60 more than last year. Attendance was up significantly as well. But by the fourth week of the 5-week program, 23% of those students had disappeared.

 

That's not unusual. In fact, it's better than last summer, when the attrition rate was about 26%. Why? Although it's generally agreed that summer school is crucial in the effort to close the gap in achievement between rich and poor students, there's no way to enforce attendance. DC's truancy regulations don't cover summer school.

 

DC Councilmember David Catania's education proposals include a provision requiring summer school for students who are held back a grade. But no such requirement exists now for any K-8 student. In fact, under current regulations it's virtually impossible to require a student to repeat a grade before high school.

 

Although Catania's approach may have its problems, it's a shame that more kids who could benefit from the program don't attend or stay with it. That's especially true now that DCPS's program is getting better. This year, for the first time, the summer school curriculum was aligned to what is taught during the school year. And only teachers who were rated effective or highly effective were eligible to teach in the summer. Class size is smaller in the summer as well, averaging 17 students.

 

The big news is that average daily attendance jumped from 68% last year to 81%, resulting in about 300 more students per day in school. DCPS has no "stick" to enforce attendance, so the increase is likely due to the "carrot" of a higher-quality offering.

 

Although the results of the program will remain unclear until students take standardized tests in the fall, the Washington Post quotes one school administrator as saying that most students seem to have improved or at least retained their skills.

 

The program increased its enrollment despite some early confusion about who would be eligible to attend. This year DCPS decided to give priority to students it deemed most likely to benefit from summer school. As reported by the Post, that appeared to exclude some students who were struggling the most.

 

DCPS says that it never intended to exclude anyone. In late May, over a month before the program started, parents received a letter informing them that registration was open to all. Several hundred students were placed on a waiting list even though some slots weren't filled, but that's because some of the 8 sites were full and others weren't. Students on the waiting list were moved into slots as they became available. Overall, the program operated at 90% of its capacity, about a 10% increase over last year.

 

"We enrolled every student that was interested in summer school," said DCPS spokesperson Melissa Salmanowitz. That's great news, but it would be greater if even more of DC's neediest students, and their parents, could be encouraged to participate and stick with the program.