THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: How’s that Gap Fixing project coming along? Here's the update!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

How’s that Gap Fixing project coming along? Here's the update!

Oakland Unified is declared to be “the most-improved urban school district over the last five years!” This is speaking about test scores, of course. The problem is that some important gaps don’t show signs of closing. ¿Por qué?*

How long do you think it’s going to take for people to decide it's time to go back to the drawing board?

CALIFORNIA’S MEASURE: THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE INDEX

THE SCORES: OUSD API Growth	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
African American	539	559	562	587	604	602	609	630
Asian	684	708	718	749	768	778	802	807
Latino	494	542	559	592	609	616	642	660
White	806	829	847	859	884	882	891	902

THE GAPS: Difference between the subgroups’ API scores	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
White/African American	267	270	285	272	280	280	282	272
Asian/African American	145	149	156	162	164	176	193	177
Latino/African American	-45	-17	-3	5	5	14	33	30
White/Latino	312	287	288	267	275	266	249	242
Asian/Latino	190	166	159	157	159	162	160	147

THE FEDERAL MEASURE: ANNUAL MEASUREABLE OBJECTIVES (% PROFICIENCY)

THE SCORES: English Language Arts AMOs	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
African American	12.9	16.7	17.8	22.8	26.3	26.4	28.9	32.5
Asian	29.4	37.6	39.0	47.9	53.8	56.0	58.2	62.4
Latino	7.8	11.3	12.1	17.1	21.9	21.5	26.1	31.2
White	64.7	68.4	70.5	76.3	80.3	80.6	81.2	83.5

THE GAPS: Difference between the subgroups’ ELA AMOs	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
White/African American	51.8	51.7	52.7	53.5	54.0	54.2	52.3	51.0
Asian/African American	16.5	20.9	21.2	25.1	27.5	29.6	29.3	29.9
Latino/African American	-5.1	-5.4	-5.7	-5.7	-4.4	-4.9	-2.8	-1.3
White/Latino	56.9	57.1	58.4	59.2	58.4	59.1	55.1	52.3
Asian/Latino	16.5	26.3	26.9	30.8	31.9	34.5	32.1	31.2

THE SCORES: Math AMO’s	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
African American	10.9	14.8	16.7	21.9	25.6	25.3	29.0	33.7
Asian	41.1	51.5	53.0	61.7	66.2	66.5	69.4	74.9
Latino	10.3	17.3	19.4	26.1	29.6	29.8	35.0	40.2
White	59.5	65.4	69.3	74.1	77.6	78.5	79.7	82.5

THE GAPS: Difference between the subgroups’ Math AMOs	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
White/African American	48.6	50.6	52.6	52.2	52.0	53.2	50.7	48.8
Asian/African American	30.2	36.7	36.3	39.8	40.6	41.2	40.4	41.2
Latino/African American	-0.6	2.5	2.7	4.2	4.0	4.5	6.0	6.5
White/Latino	49.2	48.1	49.9	48.0	48.0	48.7	44.7	42.3
Asian/Latino	30.8	34.2	33.6	35.6	36.6	36.7	34.4	34.7

My 2008 report on the gaps is here.

*Richard Rothstein can tell you the answer. And here's a clue: it's not the fault of the teachers, nor the school.

3 comments:

caroline said...: This is valuable information. Once again, how come the people who are paid to do this research don't do it? Or maybe they do and just "forget" to mention the results publicly. (Though this info is available to the press -- I know they're desperately worrying about keeping their jobs, but they could still DO them...); February 15, 2010 at 7:38 AM
The Perimeter Primate said...: I just found out something interesting. Maybe you know it already. Jack O'Connell's charts for API growth are what sparked my interest.

I am able to pull up subgroup API scores for our district and its schools back to 2002. However, the State of California was not tracking its own subgroup API progress before 2006.

As you know, I've been interested in the progress of the "gap" much more than just the generalized "most improved" scores.

http://perimeterprimate.blogspot.com/2010/02/hows-that-gap-fixing-project-coming.html

I just find it disconcerting that with all the talk about the "gap," the State for some time wasn't bothering to track its own subgroup API gap progress. See the exchange below.

Sharon

--- On Wed, 3/24/10, AAU wrote:

From: AAU
Subject: RE: RE: Seeking older API Growth Reports
Date: Wednesday, March 24, 2010, 10:44 AM
Because the state law and the State Board of Education did not require CDE to report statewide API at that time.

Academic Accountability Unit
Academic Accountability & Awards Division
California Department of Education
Tel.: 916-319-0863
Fax: 916-319-0152

\\\\
Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 10:36 AM
To: AAU
Subject: Fw: RE: Seeking older API Growth Reports

Hello,

I am seeking the answer to a question.

I am interested in seeing the statewide API progress of various subgroups from earlier than 2006, but understand this information is not available.

I can do it for the subgroups in my own district, Oakland Unified, back to 2002, and was hoping to compare our trajectories to those of the state.

Do you happen to know why State of California APIs weren't calculated earlier than 2006, but district and school level APIs were?

Thank you,
\\\\

--- On Mon, 3/15/10, Donna Rothenbaum wrote:

From: Donna Rothenbaum
Subject: RE: Seeking older API Growth Reports
Date: Monday, March 15, 2010, 11:24 AM

Hi Sharon,
Yes you are correct and no, I don’t know why they weren’t calculated prior to 2006. I don’t work directly with that program, I’m more in the technical end of things. If you want to email the accountability office with your question, their email is aau@cde.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

Donna Rothenbaum
DataQuest Management Team
California Department of Education
916-327-0193

\\\\
Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 9:46 AM
To: Donna Rothenbaum
Subject: RE: Seeking older API Growth Reports
Thank you for responding, Donna.

Your answer was surprising to hear. It seems to mean there is no way to look at the statewide API progress of various subgroups from earlier than 2006. Am I correct?

My interest is in tracking the width of the statewide achievement gaps over time.

I can do it for the subgroups in my own district, Oakland Unified, back to 2002, and was hoping to compare our trajectories to those of the state.

Do you happen to know why statewide APIs weren't calculated earlier than 2006?

Thank you so very much for your time.

Sharon
\\\\\
--- On Mon, 3/15/10, Donna Rothenbaum wrote:

From: Donna Rothenbaum
Subject: RE: Seeking older API Growth Reports
Date: Monday, March 15, 2010, 9:03 AM
Hi Sharon,

State level API scores were not created prior to 2006.

Sincerely,
Donna Rothenbaum
DataQuest Management Team
California Department of Education
916-327-0193
\\\\
Sent: Saturday, March 13, 2010 4:34 PM
To: Donna Rothenbaum
Subject: Seeking older API Growth Reports
Hello,

I am seeking the State level API Growth Reports prior to 2006. On this page, the state level reports only go back to 2006. School reports go back to those for 1999-00.

Could you please direct me to the information I seek.

Thank you,
Sharon Higgins; March 24, 2010 at 11:27 AM
The Perimeter Primate said...: "The Black-White Achievement Gap - When Progress Stopped." Educational Testing Service report, 2010
http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/PICBWGAP.pdf

Audio interview w/Sam Dillon of The New York Times
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/podcasts/2009/04/28/28backstory-dillon.mp3; October 3, 2012 at 10:13 AM

Inform yourself about the Gulen movement!

1. WATCH the Gulen Movement 101: Session One webinar presentation (1/22/2014)
2. READ the "Expose the Gulen Movement" report.
3. LISTEN to my interview with At The Chalk Face , slide marker to 32:00 min. (5/19/2013)
4. WATCH the 60 Minutes segment "U.S. charter schools tied to powerful Turkish imam" broadcast. (5/13/2012)
5. READ my response to the 60 Minutes piece.
6. READ my guest article about Gulen charter schools published by The Washington Post. (3/27/2012)
7. WATCH my interview talking about Gulen charter schools, or my presentation at LaborFest (segment between 49:18 min. & 1:07:36 min.)
8. READ my postings labeled "Gulen movement" HERE.

As one observer tweeted, "U.S. media have focused too much on the Islamic nature of the Gulen movement. Real concern is its shady dealings and improprieties."

Please be aware that Gulenists have created a large number of anonymously-operated damage control websites. They started to appear a few months after publication of Greg Toppo's article in USA Today (August 2010).

WE CAN DO IT!

Jim Hightower on populism:

"... what populism is at its essence is just a determined focus on helping people be able to get out of the iron grip of the corporate power that is overwhelming our economy, our environment, energy, the media, government."

Jim Hightower on plutocracy:

"Plutocracy and democracy don't mix."

More Jim Hightower HERE.
Read his Lowdown newsletter HERE.

Plutocracy is rule by the wealthy, or power provided by wealth. In a plutocracy, the degree of economic inequality is high while the level of social mobility is low.

On Bill Gates' ed reform

Joel Shatzky's comment on Huffington Post:

The inferior "test-prep" agenda which bases the pedagogically fraudulent "data" standardized test scores serves as a way of diverting the concerns of working parents who hope that better test scores will lead to better job opportunities for their children. If they realized that they were being given a con job, they might consider other, more "active" forms of political and social protest than simply lobbying for more money for charter and public schools.

New wealth gap report

Research and Policy Brief from the Institute on Assets and Social Policy, Brandeis University, May 2010:

"New evidence reveals that the wealth gap between white and African-American families has more than quadrupled over the course of a generation."

You absolutely must click on this link to view the graph.

Now compare that graph to the one you'll see here.

Now read this entry.

And if you are a person who blames the schools, or believes they are responsible for fixing these problems, you can stop that type of thinking right now.

A Keeper

Posted on the Oakland Public School Parents listserv by a member:*

As a public health nurse, I am working with a generation of young parents who were drug-exposed, who are now having children who are drug-exposed, and it's a whole new ballgame. Many who were premature and will carry some deficits for life.

There are also many other families who have several generations of all kinds of abuse, not enough to eat, violence in and out of their homes, as well as chronic exposure to pollution and nutritional deficits. And there are regular people in the same neighborhoods who are just trying to live, but are poor and can't get ahead.

And there is major grief, and continuous LOSS. So many folks have lost so many folks, people around them dying, of one thing or another, every month almost. Young people (cousins, brothers, friends) dying from violent means, the elders dying too young of chronic disease and disparities in health care, among other things.

What we know about learning and development is that stressed nervous systems CANNOT learn, and that's what we have. Children with many major stressors. Abandonment, attachment disorders, fear, post traumatic stress, sadness, inability to trust or sleep. Many children. Many.

Resulting in: Lack of impulse control, lack of executive function, difficulty in expressing and controlling emotions, difficulty in sleeping, holding still, and paying attention, not to mention following directions and prioritizing tasks.

Our teachers will (perhaps already do) need more training, support, and smaller class sizes. They need major support and help with mental health issues. We really need some kind of expanded vocational track for those who can't perform even at the community college level.

We can't expect teachers to undo years and years of living. The availability of universal preschool would help. Sometimes a classroom is the first kindly, safe, structured, stimulating environment a child encounters.

Wise insights such as these are never uttered by people like Eli Broad, Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee, Arne Duncan, Joe Williams, or any others who are of this type of school reform ilk. And this is why I know for certain that they just don't "get it." Maybe they don’t want to, OR maybe they don’t care.

* Thank you, B.R.

What Children Need

From Playing to Learn by Susan Engel (New York Times, 2/1/2010):

"Our current educational approach — and the testing that is driving it — is completely at odds with what scientists understand about how children develop during the elementary school years and has led to a curriculum that is strangling children and teachers alike.

…Simply put, what children need to do in elementary school is not to cram for high school or college, but to develop ways of thinking and behaving that will lead to valuable knowledge and skills later on."

And to tag onto that, check out this video about the wood shop at one of Oakland's middle schools.

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Saturday, February 13, 2010

How’s that Gap Fixing project coming along? Here's the update!

3 comments: