High-flying or Yogic flying?

["Allen Flanigan." <Allen.Flanigan@USPTO.GOV>]

Sorry, meant to post this this morning.  It should have preceded my quickie
analysis of Virginia scores.

------------------------------------------------------------

Given Staiger and Kane's findings regarding test score volatility, I also
wonder what percentage of the schools EdTrust is calling "high flying" have
sustained high scores for several years.  I suspect that many have
experienced a one year "bounce", and will soon come down to earth like the
yogic "flyers" who momentarily "fly" a few inches into the air before
landing on their asses (indeed, it is probably not difficult to find single
year increases in some schools which can be compared with a "wealthy" school
experiencing a score dip to justify the "outscore PWSIWC (predominantly
white schools in wealthy communities)" claim.  Ain't statistical cookery
grand?)

[Flanigan, Allen]  -----Original Message-----
From: gbracey@EROLS.COM [mailto:gbracey@EROLS.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2002 10:06 AM
To: ARN-L@listsrva.CUA.EDU
Subject: Re: High Flying- High Minority Schools



I hope to get some funds to do an analysis of this.  Some of the data do not
make immediate sense.  For instance, in one Virginia district the lone high
school makes the list, but none of the feeder schools do.  Hmmm.  More
confusing, the school's scores on the SAT9 are low.

If I recall, the criteria are quite modest and a school only has to meet one
of them.

As I told Post reporter, Jay Mathews, I'll be more impressed when someone
does a longitudinal study on the same kids.  Virtually all of the schools in
cities and most elsewhere are elementary schools--e.g., schools where test
score manipulation is easiest.



----- Original Message -----
From: William  <mailto:Wcala@SERVTECH.COM> Cala
To: ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU <mailto:ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2002 10:15 AM
Subject: High Flying- High Minority Schools

Any comments on the latest from Ed Trust?

www.edtrust.org/news/12_12_01_dtm.asp
<http://www.edtrust.org/news/12_12_01_dtm.asp>

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 12, 2001

Contact: Jeanne Brennan, (202) 293-1217 ext 328 or Nicolle Grayson ext. 351



First-of-its-Kind Report Identifies Thousands of High-Poverty and
High-Minority Schools Across U.S. Performing Among Top Schools in Their
States


Washington, DC - The Education Trust released today a first of its kind
state-by-state and national analysis of high-poverty and high-minority
schools that score in the top 1/3 of all schools in their states. The
report, Dispelling the Myth Revisited, finds that in the year 2000 - the
most recent year for which test data are available in every state - over
4,500 high-poverty and/or high-minority schools nationwide scored in the top
1/3 of all schools in their states - often out-performing predominantly
white schools in wealthy communities. The Education Trust also released its
accompanying interactive Web site, Dispelling the Myth Online.

The report - Dispelling the Myth Revisited - evaluates over one million
school-level test scores in 47 states and the District of Columbia. It
identifies the schools in each state with math and/or reading achievement
levels in the top 1/3 of all schools that also ranked in the top 1/3 of the
state for poverty levels and/or African American and Latino enrollments.
(Complete state-by-state lists of schools with achievement and demographic
data are included in the report.) This report updates the Education Trust's
1999 Dispelling the Myth, which examined 366 high-performing high-poverty
and high-minority schools in 21 states (this report is available at
www.edtrust.org).

The interactive Web site - Dispelling the Myth Online - is a searchable
database that allows journalists to generate instant lists of schools based
on users' own search criteria.

"Twenty years ago Ron Edmonds asked, 'How many effective schools would you
have to see to be persuaded of the educability of poor children?' Until now,
limited technology and poor data collection have meant that those of us who
share Ron's belief - the belief that poor and minority children can achieve
at high levels when they are taught at high levels - could, at best, come up
with a handful of schools to butress our arguments," said Kati Haycock,
Director of the Education Trust upon releasing the report. "Well, that's all
about to change. Our new analysis identifies not hundreds, but THOUSANDS of
high-achieving high-poverty and high-minority schools. Naysayers can no
longer dismiss such schools as mere outliers," Haycock continued.

In commenting on this data, Georgia Governor Roy E. Barnes, who participated
in the National Education Summit in October, said, "These data show that the
achievement gap can indeed be closed. This report helps dispel the myth and
the excuses by showing that, even for children living in poverty, we are
correct in raising expectations, providing resources, supporting quality
leadership and teaching, and yes, even insisting on accountability."
All of the schools in the Dispelling the Myth Revisited analysis have
poverty and minority enrollment levels of at least 50%, and many are far
greater than that. To make the list, schools also had to have poverty and/or
minority levels in the top 1/3 of all schools in their states. In states
with high minority enrollment, this criterion excluded nearly 1,500 schools,
even though their scores were among the top 1/3 in their states.


AMONG THE REPORT'S FINDINGS:


*       Nationally, among those schools meeting the analysis criteria were:


        3,592 high-performing, high-poverty schools;
2,305 high-performing, high-minority schools; and
1,320 high-performing, high-poverty-and-minority schools.


*       As a group, these schools educate approximately 2,070,000 (over 2
million) public school students, including:


        about 1, 280,000 low-income students;
about 564,000 African American students; and
about 660,000 Latino students.

*       Schools on the high-performing, high-poverty list have about twice
the rate of low-income students compared with all public schools nationally,
and score in the top 1/3 of schools in their respective states.

*       Schools on the high-performing, high-minority list have more than
twice the rate of African American and Latino students compared with all
public schools nationally, and score in the top 1/3 of schools in their
respective states.

*       Nearly half of the schools in the analysis -- 46% -- scored in the
top 1/3 in their states in both math AND reading or language arts.

*       The overwhelming majority of schools in the analysis are regular
neighborhood public schools.


LESSONS FROM PRINCIPALS AND SOME COMMON CHARACTERISTICS (see attachment for
principal quotes)


In the Education Trust's 1999 Dispelling the Myth report, surveys of
principals of those schools showed that they shared six common
characteristics. Preliminary interviews with principals from Dispelling the
Myth Revisited schools indicate that these schools, like the ones in the
original report, share most of the same characteristics. In addition, there
seems to be a new emphasis on the role of assessments in helping schools
guide instruction and deploy resources, and also as a healthy part of
everyday teaching and learning.

These characteristics include:

*       Extensive use of state/local standards to design curriculum and
instruction, assess student work and evaluate teachers;

*       Increased instruction time for reading and mathematics;

*       Substantial investment in professional development for teachers
focused on instructional practices to help students meet academic standards;


*       Comprehensive systems to monitor individual student performance and
to provide help to struggling students before they fall behind;

*       Parental involvement in efforts to get students to meet standards;

*       State or district accountability systems with real consequences for
adults in the school, and;

*       Use of assessments to help guide instruction and resources, and as a
healthy part of everyday teaching and learning.

"This report is unique for filling in the information gap that Ron Edmonds
faced as he attempted to draw attention to how these high-performing schools
could help many educators overcome their limited expectations for poor and
minority children. But we know that more work still remains to be done. We
intend to dig even deeper into what's behind these schools and to get out
the message about what works," said Craig Jerald, author of the report and
senior policy analyst at the Education Trust. "We invite journalists and
researchers to join in our effort to examine high-performing, high-poverty
and high-minority schools."

The report is an analysis of a massive new U.S. Department of Education
database which was created by the American Institutes for Research. It is
the largest database on U.S. public schools ever developed, and the first to
combine school-level assessment scores along with demographic and other
kinds of information on nearly all of the nation's schools. This is the
first ever published analysis of that database.

The Education Trust is making this database accessible to users through the
Dispelling the Myth Online site and is available on the Education Trust Web
site (www.edtrust.org), just ranked as the top education Web site by
National Journal. Dispelling the Myth Online will be updated several times
per year as states release new test scores for schools. We also plan to
introduce data on the performance of groups within schools as states move to
make such data available over the next few years.


(attachments)
<http://www.edtrust.org/documents/DTM%20Principal%20quotes_FINAL.doc>


*** Our actuality line numbers are (actuality available in both English and
Spanish): ***


toll free - 888-784-3322 OR locally - 202-638-3214

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