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...)

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

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