Owen high test scores a fluke?

[Arthur Hu <ArthurH@TANGIS.COM>]

Gerald, you may have a point that either  they've managed to cheat pretty
much every year,
or that these kids will probably fail even if  they do have high test
scores, it would be interesting
if somebody on this list could actually visit there and figure out why their
scores are so
damn high. At the pass rates they're reporting, it's probably consistent
with a 98th percetile
score, and yes, I've never seen an inner city, let alone an affluent school
in this or any other state
that scores that high as a school average.

Anybody done research at what happens to kids who test this high early on?
This may be like
the claims of Head Start which resulted relatively high IQs that regressed
back to average after
kids were taken off the program. As I recall, a 98th percentile score is
equivalent to something
like a 130 IQ, vs. 85-90 typical for minorities historically.

Following is my test score percentile spectrum from
http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/test.htm#
<http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/test.htm#> washscore

And you're right, there are no other elementary schools with scores that
high on
this list.


---------------------------------------------------------------------
Washington State Percentile Test Score Spectrum

1992-94 Washington State Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS)
Total Battery Scores for Issaquah, state and 4 Neighboring Dist
mean national percentiles. Newton Mass from Boston Globe

Not all test scores are completely comparable across grades or parts
of the country, but still useful for a rough comparison.

xx%/$xx  percent 4+ college / $1,000 per-capita income

               G4       G8
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
1 black MerIsl          99 the only student in g8 scored this high
Owen Elem Detroit       98 Heritage report G4
Hillsdale Academy Mich  97 ITBS
Seattle Lakeside        95 estimate
Whitney Young Chicago   90 estimate, best predominantly black HS in US.
Lowell HS SanF G11      90 <-Best in SF
Mercer Isl As  89       90 <-Best race in any city in wash       59%/$21k
Evergreen Acad G4       88 Private elem Seattle suburb
Newton Mass             88
Richland Asian G11      87                                       64%/$16k
MercIsland Wh  83       84                                       60%/$31k
Home School White       87 NHERI claims
Home School Black       87
Mercer Island           83 (#1/98.3 ranked district in state)
Bellevue Asian 73       82 Bellevue Asian equal to Mercer Island 56%/$16k
Northshore Asian        80 2nd ranked Asians = 1st ranked district
Issaquah Asian          80
Parkview, Gwinnett GA   79 Best in Metro Atlanta, 94% white
Mark Lewis G2/G3 DC     75 Inner city success story
G10 White middle(2)     75
G10 Asian middle(2)     74
Renton Asian            74 Renton Asians better than Bellevue Average
G11 Yakima Asian        73 Maybe Japanese Asians own some farms?
---Best 73+-------------- Suburban Asians equal to best districts
Mays HS Atlanta GA G11  73 Black magnet school
Wildwood Elem Fed Way   70 Most improved school in King Co.
Richland White G11      70 Nuclear physicists                     34%/$17k
Seattle MadronaElem     70 Gifted program
Sea Garfield HS G11     69
Chicago Catholic        69-75
MercIsland Bl  G11      68 Only 4 students
NorthShore W/All        67 2nd rank with Issaquah after Mercer Island
Lk Wash        61       67 (#10/82.8)
Bellevue       64       67 (#12/79.3)                             45%/$23k
92 SeatleWhite 63       66
Issaquah       61       65 (#13/56.9)
Lake Wash               61
Seattle White           61
Lake Washington Asian   61
---Better 61-73 -------------- Seattle whites nearly as good as eastside
G10 Hisp Middle (2)     59
Renton         41       59
Riverview      57       58
G11 State Asian CFAS    57
------------------------------ Best black school in WA
G11 Richland Black      56
WA State       50       55
Atlanta CAT          51-55 68% minority, mostly black
Black Zion Academy      55 (private elementary school for poorer black
children)
G11 Spokane White       55
G11 State CFAS          53
G11 Yakima White        53
G11 Pasco White         53 <-Worst White in Wa, none below 50
G11 Spokane Asian       52
---Average----------------
Harlem Family AcademyG3 51 <- New York City95 up from 8% over GradeLev
Northshore black '95    51 <- Best black in state after Mercer Island
Boston, NYC Black G4    50 Grade level for blacks in Boston and NYC
Seattle Overall         50 1996
Newton Mass METCO       50
Seattle NatAm 92   35   50
Seattle 92         48   50
Chicago Garvey          50 Est state avg = 50
G5 Arkansas white       50 Stanford 9 1999
---Below Average 41-50------ All blacks worse than state average 26-41
Seattle Asian 93        49 Seattle and Tacoma Asians relatively weak
Sea Rainier Beach(1)    47 <- Worst high school in Seattle, 38% black 38%
asian
G11 Atlanta             47
G10 Black WA Middle     45
G10 Arkansas White      45 Stanford 9 1999
G11 Spokane Hisp        44
Mukilteo G4 White       44 95% White/Asian
Sea Afr-Am Academy      43 virtually same as dist black = 40
G11 Richland Hisp       43
G11 Tacoma Asian        42 ::Worst Asian in state is better than Issaquah
black
Issaquah Black          41
---Inner City ---------------------------
Seattle Black 93        40
Arkansas 5th grade  99  39 Stanford 9
Edmonds 94  G4  White   37 95% White/Asian (Worst white?)
Lake Wash Black         35
Arkansas 7th grade  99  35 Stanford 9
Bellevue Black          34                             31%/$14k - like richl
and whites
Renton Black            34
G11 Seattle Black CFAS  32
G11 Spokane Black       32
G2 Math Compton S9      30
G9 Atlanta              30 Lowest score of all grades, G1=59, G11=47
G11 Seattle Hisp        28
G4  Seattle AfAm 92  24 27
G11 Tacoma Black        27
G11 Wash Black CFAS     26
G11 Tacoma Hisp         25
G11 Richland Black      23
G2 Reading Compton      22  Stanford 9
Mercer Island Hisp      21  Hisp do poorly in best district
G11 Pasco Black         20
G11 Math Compton (Black)19  Stanford 9
G11 Yakima Black        17
G11 Compton reading 98  13

(1) poorest area in Seattle \priv\96B\03\RAINIERB.HTM 38% Asian 38%
black, 45% free/reduced lunch, yet 47th percentile on math
(2) middle class = ITBS 1998 computer in home, mother has
4+ college degree SeaTimes 8/13/99

In general, the best scores are for whites in the most affluent
cities, Asians one step down in affluence, the worst are for blacks
and Hispanics in rural / agricultural areas. It is unfair to make
comparisons such as Jonathan Kozol does between wealthy whites and
poor blacks since not even working class whites perform at the levels
of the richest whites, and no one advocates busing children from the
raunchiest white neighborhoods like Revere into wealthy suburbs
because they are constitutionally guaranteed an "equal" education.

Race, not neighborhood matters the most as whites and blacks broken
out do about as well in the affluent suburb of Bellevue as they do in
the diverse city of Seattle. Asians only fare worse than whites in
areas like Seattle, where poor Asians are matched with over-educated
whites. In the suburbs, Asians generally do as well as whites in
communities one notch up in affluence. Blacks in the near-top
eastside perform no better than Seattle at worst, and no better than
the 50th percentile at best, and the same in the SF Bay area.

The DC suburb of Prince George County has the nation's most affluent
black community with a $50,000 median income, yet their test scores
are no better than Oakland which has among the worst districts and
poorest black communities in the SF bay area.

Exceptions to the poverty and affluence rule are that poor Asians
perform at near national average without any special intervention.

Poor blacks in the Zion academy and other special schools appear to
be able to hit the 50 to 55 percentile. Blacks selected in magnet
schools in Chicago, Detroit, and Georgia perform at levels comparable
to the best Asian schools like Lowell.

Whites and Asians in Richland WA with otherwise undistinguised
incomes perform as well on math as students in the far more affluent
Seattle Eastside suburbs ($17k vs. $23k in Bellevue pci) because
their parents service the high-tech Hanford nuclear reservation on
government paychecks. Areas near Air Force bases also get very good
test scores.


-----Original Message-----
From: Gerald W. Bracey [mailto:gbracey@EROLS.COM]
Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2000 4:38 AM
To: ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU
Subject:


Arthur:

Owen has Metro scores at the 98th percentile.  As I hope you realize by now
NO school does that--unless like TJ here in Fairfax, you start with a high
scoring district and then select only the top 4.5% of that district--and
even then you get only the 91st percentile in reading.

About Grosse Pointe:

1.  Affluent districts could care less about standardized tests.  They know
they're going to be OK and so they go on and actually teach stuff.  Even
within Cherry Creek, the economically poorer schools were much more up tight
about test scores.

2.  MEAP has an opt-out provision and most of the opt-outs are kids who have
done well in school.  For them, MEAP is a lose-only proposition.  If they do
well, ho-hum,, if they do not so well they get something on their records
they don't need.

As I said to Cooper, we know what happens to Grosse Pointe kids--they all go
to college.  What happens to Owen kids?

I'll believe the scores when I can go in with my test and my test
administrators and get the same results.