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Missouri Education News
May 2008
Copyright © 2008 Queue, Inc.
IN
THIS ISSUE:
22 Missouri High Schools Earn StateÕs ÒA+Ó
Designation
15 Public Schools Honored as ÒGold Star SchoolsÓ
Findings from the Pilot Teacher Compensation Survey:
School Year 2005-06
Urban School
Students Score at Highest Levels Ever On State and Federal Tests
Twenty-two more public high schools
have qualified for designation as ÒA+ Schools,Ó (http://dese.mo.gov/divimprove/aplus/proginfo/A+facts.html). As a result, eligible seniors in
these schools may receive state-paid tuition assistance to attend a Missouri
community college or technical school.
A total of 253 Missouri public high schools have now earned A+ status. The program was created by state law in 1993. It is intended to raise academic standards in participating high schools, improve the graduation rate and prepare more students for postsecondary learning and high-wage jobs.
Since 1997, more than 33,000 Missouri graduates
have taken advantage of the A+ tuition assistance to attend a community
college. This year (2007-08), the state is providing almost $22 million
to underwrite the assistance for eligible A+ students.
To qualify, high school graduates must attend an A+
school for at least three years, have a grade-point average of at least 2.5 on
a 4-point scale, maintain a 95 percent attendance record, and perform 50 hours
of unpaid tutoring in the school district.
Members of the Class of 2008 who attend the newly
designated A+ Schools will be eligible to use their state assistance as early
as this summer, if they are ready to enroll in a community college.
The A+ Schools program encourages participating
schools to eliminate general-track courses and raise academic expectations for
all students; concentrate on reducing the dropout rate; and work closely with
higher education and private-sector leaders to better prepare students for life
after high school.
Bell
City High School
Belle
High School (Maries County R-II)
Blue
Springs High School
Blue
Springs South High School
Centralia
High School
Clarkton
High School
Cole
Camp High School
Conway
High School (Laclede County R-I)
Ft.
Zumwalt East High School
Grain
Valley High School
Lincoln
High School
Marion
C. Early High School (Morrisville)
Miller
High School (Miller R-II)
Ritenour
High School
Scotland
County High School (Memphis)
Staley
High School, (North Kansas City)
Stoutland
High School
Sweet
Springs High School
Wellington-Napoleon
High School
Wellsville-Middletown
High School
West
County High School (West St. Francois R-IV)
West
Platte High School
Fifteen public secondary schools in Missouri have
been selected as ÒGold Star SchoolsÓ for 2007-08, state education officials
announced today. The schools will be formally honored May 6 at a
reception in Jefferson City.
The Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education has conducted the Gold Star Schools program since 1991-92. The
program now operates in conjunction with the national Blue Ribbon Schools
program, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education.
MissouriÕs Gold Star Schools must meet the academic
performance criteria used to evaluate schools in the Blue Ribbon program. Gold
Star Schools must complete a written application to provide evidence that they
are using research-based strategies and practices to improve student
achievement.
The following schools have been named Gold Star
Schools for 2007-08:
á
Ballard
High School
á
Blue
Springs High School
á
Brentwood
High School
á
Carver
Middle School, Springfield Public Schools
á
Hixson
Middle School, Webster Groves School District
á
Jefferson
High School, Jefferson C-123 School District, Conception Junction
á
Kearney
High School
á
LeeÕs
Summit High School
á
Leopold
High School
á
Lincoln
College Prep, Kansas City School District
á
McKinley/Classical
Jr. Academy, St Louis Public Schools
á
Metro
High School, St. Louis Public Schools
á
South
Nodaway High School, Barnard
á
Stanberry
High School
á
Stewartsville
High School
This brief publication contains summary data from the research
and development effort to collect individual salary and demographic data on
public school teachers. Seven states participated in this effort: Arizona,
Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Data
from full-time public school teachers who teach at only one school were
included in the analysis. Median salaries and counts for different groupings by
experience, age, race, and gender are presented.
Selected Findings: School Year 2005Ð06
¥ The mean base salaries1 of full-time public school teachers in
the seven states participating in the Pilot Teacher Compensation Survey ranged
from $34,631 in Oklahoma to $44, 777 per year in Colorado. The median base
salaries of full-time public school teachers ranged between $33,516 in Oklahoma
and $42,676 in Colorado (table 1). The median total salary for full-time
teachers ranged from $34,973 in Oklahoma to $42,500 in Arkansas for school year
2005Ð06.
¥ The median level of teaching experience ranged from 8 years in
Arizona to 15 years in Iowa. The median teacher age was between 43 and 45 in
each of the states reporting these data.
¥ The number of teachers that held masterÕs degrees as their
highest degree varied across the seven states. The percentage of teachers
holding masterÕs degrees ranged from approximately 28 percent in Iowa and
Oklahoma to almost 50 percent in Missouri. Over the seven states, the majority of
teachers (58 percent) held a bachelorÕs degree as their highest degree.
¥ Teachers holding masterÕs degrees earned more than teachers who
held a bachelorÕs degree. For example, the median base salary for teachers with
a masterÕs degree was $51,077 per annum in Colorado, while the median base
salary for teachers with a bachelorÕs degree was $36,702.
¥ The proportion of teachers with one year of teaching experience
(teachers hired at the beginning of the reported school year) ranged from 4.4
percent in Iowa to 10.9 percent in Arizona. The median base salary for teachers
with one year of experience ranged from $27,864 in Iowa to $33,940 in Florida.
¥ Full-time teachers 66 years old or older comprised 1.0 percent
of public school full-time teachers in Florida and 0.9 percent in Arkansas
compared to 0.4 percent in Iowa and 0.5 percent in Colorado. In three of the
five states reporting age data, the highest proportion of teachers were 51 to
55 years old; Florida had equal proportions of teachers (14 percent) in the
26-30 and 51-55 age groups. In the fifth state, Colorado, the second highest
proportion occurred in the 51-55 age group.
¥ The majority of teachers in the seven reporting states were
White, with the smallest percentage of White teachers (74 percent) reported for
Florida.
¥ More than three quarters of the teachers across six of the seven
reporting states were female, with the highest percentage of male teachers (27
percent) reported for Colorado. The largest difference between males and
females was $1,027 in Arizona.
Full
report:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2008/2008440.pdf
Report Includes City-by-City Profiles of Big-City School
District Trends On Math and Reading Assessments
Kansas City School District
http://www.cgcs.org/BTO8/Kansas%20City.pdf
St. Louis Public Schools
http://www.cgcs.org/BTO8/St.%20Louis.pdf
Students in the nationÕs major city public
school districts continue to advance in reading and math on state tests and on
the more rigorous federal testÐ the National Assessment of Educational Progress
(NAEP).
A new report analyzing academic progress in 66
urban school systems in 37 states and the District of Columbia shows
substantially higher test scores in 2007 than in 2003 in fourthand eighth-grade
mathematics and reading on state assessments. It indicates that the state and
national test scores are at their highest levels since academic proficiency
data have been collected for urban schools.
Beating the Odds: An Analysis of Student
Performance and Achievement Gaps on State Assessments by the Council of the
Great City Schools compares this past school yearÕs state test scores with
those reported a year after the federal No Child Left Behind law was implemented in
2002, requiring school districts to report performance levels based on state
tests and show the percentage of students who score at the ÒproficientÓ level.
The Beating the Odds findings for the 2006-
2007 school year show that 63 percent of urban school students scored at or
above the proficient level in fourth-grade math on their respective state
assessments, a whopping 14 percentage point gain from 49 percent in 2003. For
eighth-graders, the percentage climbed to 55 percent, compared with 42 percent
in 2003, a 13 percentage point rise.
In reading, urban schoolchildren also posted
gains over the past four years. From 2003 to 2007, the percentage of
fourth-graders scoring at or above the proficient level in reading on state
tests rose to 60 percent from 51 percent Ð a 9 percentage point hike. For
eighth-graders, the percentage increased to 51 percent from 43 percent in 2003,
an 8 percentage point gain.
National Test Assessments
The report also reveals that the state-test
trends coincide with NAEP gains by urban students, but with lower percentages
of students scoring at or above the proficient level on what is generally
considered a more rigorous exam than most state tests.
Students in big-city public schools have made
faster math and reading gains than the nation on the NAEP over the past few
years, according to The NationÕs Report Card for 2007 released by
the U.S. Department of Education. The report last November marked the first
time that the nation could see four- or five-year trends on NAEP for the
countryÕs major urban public school systems since the Trial Urban District
Assessment (TUDA) was launched in reading in 2002 and math in 2003.
Some 28 percent of urban fourth-graders scored
at or above the proficient level in math in 2007 on NAEP, an 8 percentage point
hike from 20 percent in 2003. In reading, 22 percent of urban schoolchildren in
fourth grade reached or went beyond the proficient level in 2007, a 5
percentage point increase from 17 percent in 2002.
Beating the Odds also includes how
student test scores in 11 big-city school districts that volunteered for the
trial urban NAEP compare with scores on their respective state tests. Among the
11 cities are New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, the nationÕs three largest
school systems.
Although urban schools show gains in math and
reading performance, the districts still generally lag behind state and
national averages in fourth and eighth grades, and acknowledge that they still
have a long way to go to reach proficiency levels. But there are exceptions.
State Math Achievement
In the reportÕs eighth annual analysis, data
show that 22 percent of urban school districts now score as high as or higher
than their respective states in fourth-grade math, and 16 percent score as high
or higher at the eighth-grade level in 2007.
The school districts with both fourth- and
eighth-grade math scores equal to or greater than their respective states are
Anchorage, Broward County (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)., Charleston, New Orleans,
Palm Beach and Portland, Ore.
State Reading Progress
In 2007, 16 percent of urban school districts
scored at or above their respective states in fourth-grade reading, and 14
percent at the eighth-grade level. The school districts with both fourth- and
eighth-grade reading scores equal to or greater than their respective states
are Anchorage, Broward County (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), Charleston, New Orleans,
Portland, Ore., San Diego and San Francisco.
Achievement Gaps
Beating the Odds VIII also indicates that
racial achievement gaps in urban schools narrowed in math between 2003 and
2007, although they remain wide. Some 66 percent of bigcity school districts
narrowed the gap between their fourth-grade African-American students and white
counterparts statewide in math proficiency Ð 63 percent in eighth-grade math.
Among Hispanic students, 63 percent of the
urban school districts narrowed the gap with white fourth-graders statewide Ð
58 percent in eighth-grade.
In reading, between 2003 and 2007, 64 percent
of major city school systems narrowed the achievement gap between fourth-grade
African-American students and white counterparts statewide in reading
proficiency Ð 67 percent at the eighth-grade level. Among Hispanic students, 57
percent of urban school districts narrowed the gap with white fourth-graders
statewide Ð 63 percent in eighth grade.
Urban Environment AmericaÕs big-city
school systems enroll about one-quarter, or 26 percent, of all students of
color in the nation, and a disproportionately high number of English language
learners and poor students.
The report attributes the standards movement
as the catalyst that triggered change in urban schools. It gave urban school
administrators direction on what they were being held responsible for
delivering.
Beating the Odds analyzed two
assessments Ð state and national Ð because the nation does not have a single
system to measure progress relative to the same standard across school
districts in all states.