Sunday's front page article in the Greenwich Time discussed where Greenwich Public Schools rank in the state of CT. We all know what they say about statistics (lies, d- - - lies, statistics), so it would be easy to come out just about anywhere by being selective with what stats are used.
Whether you say we rank number one or number 48 or somewhere in between (note that the ConnCan high school ranking on the front page is probably incorrect, according to the actual article), results based on CMT math test scores for elementary students are troubling.
Real estate buyers and sellers would compare Greenwich to Darien, New Caanan, Westport and a few others contained in the states District Reference Group A ("DRG-A"). From a demographic point of view, the state lumps Greenwich into DRG-B with Madison, Newtown, Avon, and 10+ others. Numerically, Greenwich is twice the size of most of these districts, based on the number of students taking the CMT. Does size matter?
It is wrong to compare DRG-A schools to Greenwich, given the differences in the demographics. Should we aspire to match or exceed these schools? Absolutely.
On the other hand, comparisions to DRG-B schools, regardless of size, is appropriate. DRG-B schools should have a similar socioeconomic distribution of students, based on the variety of factors used by the state to determine the group (we can always argue about that criteria, too). Therefore, Greenwich should have a similar percentage of students at or above goal compared to Madison et al. Well?
Looking at raw data from the CT Dept. of Education for 2011 Math CMT results for grades 3,4, and 5, we find:
Greenwich (76.3% at or above goal, 81.2, 84.0) (3rd, 4th, 5th grades)
Newtown (87.8%, 89.4, 92.0)
Madison (88.0%, 93.5, 89.0)
Avon (78.4%, 90.2, 94.9)
Simsbury (86.9%, 86.2, 92.9)
Monroe (87.9%, 91.1, 87.8)
For comparison, here are some of those DRG-A towns:
Darien (82.5%. 92.1, 93.1)
New Canaan (90.9%, 91.3, 88.9)
Westport (83.8%, 91.3, 91.6)
Data from the below site, which can be reached from the State Department of Education site.
http://solutions1.emetric.net/cmtpublic/Index.aspx
Did I selectively choose towns for comparison for DRG-B? Yes I did. These were the top five performers this year on the Math CMT for grades 3-8 in DRG-B, according to the CT Dept. of Education, as published in the Greenwich Times on 24 July 2011. Where was Greenwich? 17 out of 18. I'm not a statistician, but these gaps look statistically significant for the population sizes (300-700 per grade).
The July 24 article has our former superintendent saying it is not so bad, since the growth/progress of Greenwich students over time is improving faster than other districts. And I am sure there were all sorts of charts to prove it.
Yet, from an absolute point of view, Greenwich is still behind. Sooooooo I'm thinking, we should catch up in what, eight to ten years? Reminds me of one of my favorite sayings: the faster you fall behind, the more time you have to catch up! (For math students out there, please point out the flaw in that "logic")
That is why it is so refreshing to hear Dr. Lulow, in Sunday's article, say "he believes there is a logic to the rankings, and administrators and teachers recognize there is work to be done." (articles words, not Dr. Lulow's)
He also stated "It is acceptable and legitimate and responsible for people to debate and discuss school performace. We take a lot of the public's money. People have every reason to question what we do."
Good start to dealing with the problem. That's what this blog is about.
I saw your comment over on Kitchen Table Math and thought I'd come look over here. I live in CT too, though in a lower performing district (Hamden).
ReplyDeleteBest of luck fighting EDM in your district. I have the impression that EDM and Investigations are very widely used in CT. I don't know why that is the case. It seems to me that those curricula could only exacerbate the perennially bemoaned achievement gap in this state, since lower income families are probably less able to re-teach math at home or pay for tutoring.
You might want to look into the P-20 council reports to see if the profile for Greenwich provides any ammunition. I don't believe these reports (college readiness numbers by district, including information on percent of students who had to take remedial math at the college level) are publicly available yet, but may be found on the site eventually. ( http://www.ctregents.org/policy/p20 )