"The
St. Louis Schools Watch was founded on the premises that parental
and community involvement are needed for good schools to flourish,
and that public participation is a cornerstone of democracy. The
Watch offers information and analysis that we hope contributes to
a public debate over what changes are necessary to improve St. Louis
public schools, and what works."
The first thing to make note of about this year's Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) test scores is that the grading is different. Instead of the usual five Achievement Level categories (Step 1, Progressing, Nearing Proficient, Proficient and Advanced), there are now only four categories.
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) explains that because of a state law enacted in 2004, the MAP exams were revised to align more closely with the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exams. These are national tests in which all states must participate. Missouri's academic standards may not exceed those used in the NAEP tests.
Now the MAP tests for communication arts and mathematics are based on four achievement level categories instead of five to describe student performance. These categories (Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, and Advanced) are identical to those used by the NAEP.
DESE advises that these changes make it difficult, if not impossible, to compare 2006 MAP results with previous years.
For example, on the previous MAP tests, a substantial number of students (based on state averages) scored in the "Nearing Proficient" category. This category has been eliminated with the four new achievement levels. Students who might have scored in the middle range could now be in any of the four new categories. The results may vary widely among schools and districts.
In the past, many school officials have looked at student performance in terms of the "top two and bottom two" levels. This kind of analysis may be less meaningful now as a result of the elimination of the "Nearing Proficient" category.
"There will be a natural tendency for people to try to compare this year's results with prior years. DESE discourages such comparisons," says the department's advisory. "Our advice to everybody is: Recognize the important changes that have occurred in the MAP program and be cautious about making comparisons."
SLPS has issued the following statement and analysis:
The St. Louis Public Schools today announced the preliminary results from the 2006 Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) tests which reveal increases in achievement among middle and high school students. While the majority of the District’s middle and high schools show increases, elementary school scores declined.
"We obviously have a great deal of work to do to ensure that all of our students are performing at advanced and proficient levels," said Dr. Diana Bourisaw, Interim Superintendent of St. Louis Public Schools. "The 2006 MAP scores make it clear that we must offer support, including professional development for teachers and more flexibility within curriculum programs, for teachers. We cannot continue to demand accountability without providing the necessary resources for teachers," she said.
A review of the 2006 MAP scores by grade level reveals:
In Grade 3, 25.8 percent of students scored at the advanced and proficient levels in Communication Arts, a decrease of 9.4 percent from the previous year.
In Grade 4, Mathematics scores dropped 15.8% in the number of students scoring at advanced or proficient levels.
In Grade 7, the Communication Arts combined advanced and proficient performance level percentage was 15.2%, an increase of 4.2%
In Grade 7 Communication Arts, 17 of 21 (80.9%) of the middle schools experienced increases in the top two levels.
In Grade 8, there was an increase in Mathematics with 12.8 percent of students scoring advanced or proficient, up 4.6% from last year.
In Grade 8 Mathematics, 15 of 21 (71.4%) of the middle schools experienced increases.
In Grade 10, Mathematics scores averaged 13.2% in the top two performance levels, an increase of 9.7% from last year.
Communication Arts scores at Grade 11 averaged 17.9%, an 11.7% increase from the previous year.
In Grade 10 Mathematics, 10 of 11 (90.9%) of the high schools experienced small increases in the number of students testing as proficient or advanced.
In Grade 11 Communication Arts, all 12 of the high schools experienced increases in the advanced and proficient levels.
"While the official results from the State of Missouri will not be available until November, these preliminary numbers suggest three elementary schools previously identified as 'Needs Improvement' by DESE may have made enough gains in student achievement to be removed from that status," Bourisaw said.
The MAP measures academic standards and determines the level to which schools enable students to become proficient. The tests are scored on proficiency standards of Advanced, Proficient, Basic, and Below Basic. The levels of Advanced/Proficient scores are used to determine each school's Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) required by the Federal No Child Left Behind law. New for 2006 was that all students in Grades 3-8 were tested in both Communication Arts and Mathematics. High school testing remained the same as previous years with 10th graders tested in Mathematics and 11th graders tested in Communication Arts.
As a result of the changes in the testing of student performance, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) discourages the comparison of the 2006 data to the test results of previous years.
"All St. Louis students must be given the fundamentals they need in order to demonstrate proficient performance in communication arts, math, and science. We must align our investments in curriculum and professional development for all grades," said Veronica O'Brien, President of the Board of Education. "It is clear that a top-down approach to curriculum development did not empower teachers to teach, or help students achieve," she said.
The MAP score information is preliminary, as the Federal government requires the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to provide districts a 30-day appeal process. Final determinations of MAP data and Adequate Yearly Progress will be made by DESE in November.
Pub Def editor Antonio D. French, Arch City Chronicle publisher Dave Drebis, and (soon-to-be) State Sen. Jeff Smith were the guests on "Collateral Damage" with host Fred Hessel on Monday. The topics of discussion were St. Louis Public Schools and the Talent-McCaskill U.S. Senate race. Click here to download the 30-minute show.
State Education Commissioner Kent King and four of the five members of the special committee he appointed last month to analyze the current state of St. Louis Public Schools met today on the West Campus of Washington University.
Co-chairs Dr. William Danforth and Attorney Frankie Freeman were joined by St. Louis American publisher Dr. Donald Suggs and Attorney Ned Lemkemeier. Michael Middleton, the group's fifth member, did not attend today's meeting.
The group drew criticism for closing their first meeting to the public. Danforth today said it was later brought to their attention that they are subject to the state's Sunshine Law, which is why today's meeting was public.
"Now that we know we are subject to the Sunshine Laws, I suggest we obey the law and the spirit of the Sunshine idea," said Danforth.
In the meeting, which lasted about thirty minutes, King presented to the group some slight modifications to the points of its mission, all centered around addressing what he described as the "turmoil" in SLPS in the past four years.
A Circuit Court judge has upheld School Board member Bill Purdy's right to sit on the board. Purdy was being sued by two fellow board members, Flint Fowler and Ron Jackson, and 47 other citizens, including fired Vashon basketball coach Floyd Irons. The lawsuit claimed Purdy was serving on the board illegally and should be removed.
The issue was whether a person can run for the school board if he or she has relatives who work in the district. Two of Purdy's daughters and a grandson are teachers in the district. A recent change in state law allows school board members to serve even if they have family working in the system. But the school board bylaws still say that is illegal.
Those bylaws have not been amended to reflect the state law. But today's ruling by Judge Steven R. Ohmer affirms Purdy's assertion that state law trumps board bylaws.
Had Purdy lost the suit and was forced to give up his seat, Mayor Francis Slay would have appointed his replacement, shifting the balance of power on the school board for the second time in six months.
The following letter comes from State Sen. Timothy Green (D-St. Louis County):
Higher education is the foundation of opportunity in Missouri. Nothing will do more to prepare our children for the careers of the future. But today, the cost of college is increasing exponentially. All students should have the opportunity to earn a college degree through hard work in high school and college. Last year, tuition at state universities increased nationwide, by as much as 40 percent in some states.
A Missouri NEA White Paper stated that Missouri tuition increased 45% between 1998-99 and 2002-03, and the state ranks second in the nation in tuition hikes over the past two years. During 2002-03, Missouri (-10.2%) was second only to Oregon (-11.1%) among states which cut support for higher education. This reduction followed a cut of -8.8% during the previous year for a two-year total of -19%.
Nationwide, due to record-high financial barriers, more than 400,000, low- and moderate-income high school graduates who are fully prepared to attend a four-year college will be unable to do so. Students and their parents are being forced to shoulder an even greater share of the rising costs of attending college.
According to the Missouri Budget Project, over the past 25 years, in Missouri, the students’ share of the cost of education has doubled, increasing from 25% to 50%. Higher education cuts have resulted in a $1,700 per student annual average tuition increase for Missouri’s public four-year institutions, affecting over 80,000 students. Institutions are passing the buck on to the cashed strapped students and their hard working families. Institutions must identify additional cost saving measures by avoiding excesses in order to ensure affordability.
In 1966, a student needed to work 20 hours a week at minimum wage to pay for college costs—today it takes 55 hours. Missouri’s state support for public higher education has declined as a percentage of the overall state budget from 8.3% in FY1980 to 6.8% in FY2000 to 5.8% in FY2003. Missouri has the lowest per capita funding support for higher education among the surrounding states: MO--$321, KS--$496, AR--$449, OK--$477, IA--$507, IL--$411 and the cost to attend out of state is at times lower than in Missouri.
Missouri is rated "F" in college affordability by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. State Auditor Claire McCaskill, in an audit, further indicates the worrying trends in college affordability. Governors Carnahan and Holden both appointed commissions during their time in office to study college affordability and the results of the studies were remarkably similar.
Once again, a Missouri Senate committee has been created to further study the lack of college affordability that plagues Missouri students and their families. It is time to take the results of these studies and craft legislation that helps Missourians afford the rising cost of a quality higher education.
The special five-member committee appointed by State Education Commissioner Kent King last month to analyze the current state of St. Louis Public Schools is meeting today -- and unlike its last meeting, today's session is open to the public.
The committee will meet at the Washington University West Campus building (the old Famous-Barr in Clayton), 7425 Forsyth Blvd, at 3:30 p.m.
Here is a video from Commissioner King's July 27 announcement of the committee, its members, and its mission:
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will be releasing the results from the 2006 MAP tests tonight at midnight on its website.CORRECTION: DESE won't be releasing the numbers on it's website until tomorrow morning some time. But we have the numbers already and we will be releasing them tonight at midnight right here on slswatch.pubdef.net.
Bill Bryan of the Post-Dispatchis reporting that a 17-year-old male Beaumont High School student was reported to be in stable condition at a hospital after he was shot in the stomach this morning during a fight at a school bus stop.
"It happened about 6:22 a.m. at Thekla and Ruskin avenues," Bryan reports. "Officers said they suspect the incident was an extension of a separate fight Tuesday night. A suspect was sought in the shooting. Nobody else was reported hurt."
St. Louis Public Schools reports nearly 84% of students expected to attend school today were in the classroom.
"We are certainly pleased to see an increase in the attendance for day two," said Interim Superintendent Diana Bourisaw in a statement released to the media. She added that district leaders still want "all of our kids in school tomorrow."
The total enrollment for St. Louis Public Schools today was 27,620 compared with the first day enrollment of 23,558.
Bourisaw also highlighted the rise in certified teachers in classrooms on the first day of school. She said there are fewer than 60 vacant teaching positions in core subjects, including math, science, and language arts.
"I am confident that we will have a highly qualified teacher in every classroom in the very near future," said Bourisaw.
Huge Success or Obvious Failure? Downs and Giegerich Offer Opposite Assessments
By Antonio D. French
School board member and Schools Watch founder Peter Downs called yesterday's reopening of St. Louis Public Schools a "huge success."
"The stunning turnaround of the St. Louis Public School district was on display on the first day of school Monday," Downs wrote in his email newsletter. "A district that was on a course to crash and burn just two months ago opened its schools without major incident."
But an article in today's Post-Dispatch by education reporter Steve Giegerich painted a different picture.
"Simple arithmetic reflected the outcome of [the district's Back-to-School efforts] when better than one out of four city students - 28 percent of an expected enrollment of slightly more than 33,000 - failed to show up for the first day of classes," wrote Giegerich.
The Post reporter compares SLPS' 72% first day attendance with unnamed suburban districts which he says regularly top 95 percent. He calls yesterday's attendance numbers "the lowest since 2002."
It's not clear where Giegerich gets that number from. According to Downs and SLPS spokesman Tony Sanders, SLPS hasn't reported attendance numbers on the first day of school in three years.
"The last time the district reported attendance on the first day of school was in 2003 when, after delaying the start of school by two weeks, Interim Superintendent William Roberti reported that 76% of students attended school on opening day," wrote Downs.
The district has in recent years only given attendance numbers for the first week of school, which according to Interim Superintendent Diana Bourisaw have been around 80% -- a number which she told PUB DEF she was optimistic the district would beat this year.
Slightly above 7 out of 10 St. Louis City kids attended the first day of school today. That's according to Interim Superintendent Diana Bourisaw, who told PUB DEF that while she considers the school district's Back-to-School campaign a success, she is not satisfied with more than a quarter of students missing the first day.
"We're not satisfied until we have 10 out of 10 attending," said Bourisaw. She said that SLPS attendance has typically been around 80% by the end of the first week. "We are well on our way to exceeding that 80% number," she said.
Bourisaw also addressed a concern brought forward by some of our readers about confusion surrounding a later start date for some Early Childhood students. She said that historically those students have started a week after other students (Sept. 5 this year). "We need to change that," said Bourisaw. "They need to start from Day One like everyone else.
Leaders of the St. Louis Public Schools will try to prove many of their critics wrong today by opening school on time and without major incident. To help send the message of a school district under control and on the right path, Interim Superintendent Diana Bourisaw will be shaking hands and working the media throughout the day.
After a weekend schedule that included Back-to-School rallies and speaking at several local churches, Bourisaw will welcome students back to SLPS at Carnahan High School at 7:00 this morning. From there, she'll make the rounds from Nottingham Community Access Job Training High School (8:00) to Meramec Elementary (9:20) to Northwest Middle (10:45) to Mark Twain Elementary (11:45) to Pruitt Middle (12:30) to Madison Elementary (1:15).
Bourisaw is scheduled to hold a press conference at the district's downtown headquarters at 4:00 p.m. to give a report to the public of how the first day of school went.
PUB DEF will be traveling around the district throughout the day. Please report any issues by calling our 24-Hour Tip Line at (314) 518-2364.
As always, you can also post news yourself in the comments section of this post.
St. Louis Public Schools is bringing back its quarterly newspaper. A new issue of School & Home, which had won several Missouri and National School Public Relations Association awards before being discontinued several years ago, was recently mailed to the homes of all St. Louis Public School students.
The first issue, which focuses on back to school, gives information on the school district's parent resource center, health and wellness, helpful homework tips, and more. Interim Superintendent Dr. Diana Bourisaw and School Board Pres. Veronica O'Brien are featured columnists.
"We want to provide parents with important information they need to make sure their children get off to a good start," said Bourisaw. "We also want to share positive school news with the community." Click here to download the latest issue.
