Texas Education News
May 2009
Copyright © 2009 Queue,
Inc.
IN
THIS ISSUE:
Eighty-Four Percent of
Fifth-Grade Students and 79 Percent of Eighth-Grade Students Pass TAKS Math
Weighted Student Formula
Produces Good Results In Some of the Country's Biggest Cities
Education
Watch: Tracking Achievement, Attainment, and Opportunity in AmericaÕs Public
Schools
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Eighty-four percent of fifth-grade students and 79 percent
of eighth graders passed the math Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills
(TAKS) test on the first administration, the Texas Education Agency announced
today.
Test results reported today include both TAKS and TAKS
(Accommodated) scores. Results reported prior to 2008 did not include TAKS
(Accommodated), which was first administered in that year .
To comply with federal requirements of No Child Left
Behind, TAKS includes a form called TAKS (Accommodated) for special education
students who meet eligibility criteria for specific accommodations. The TAKS
(Accommodated) form includes accommodations such as larger print and fewer
items per page, and contains no embedded field-test items. Many students who
are receiving special education services take the TAKS (Accommodated) test.
At fifth grade, 84 percent of the 327,055 students who took
the TAKS or TAKS (Accommodated) math test in English passed and 44 percent
earned Commended Performance.
Of the 4,627 students who took the TAKS or TAKS
(Accommodated) fifth-grade math exam in Spanish, 45 percent passed and 13
percent performed at the Commended Performance level.
Among eighth-grade students, 79 percent of the 317,830
students tested passed the math TAKS or TAKS (Accommodated) test and 24 percent
earning Commended Performance. There is not a Spanish language test available
in this grade.
While most students take TAKS or TAKS (Accommodated) tests,
some students receiving special education services take an alternate assessment
called TAKS-Modified (TAKS-M). This test is based on modified academic
achievement standards.
Among
fifth-grade students who took TAKS-M, 74 percent of the 15,125 students tested
passed the math exam and 18 percent earned the Commended Performance
designation. At eighth grade, 64 percent of the 16,506 students who were tested
on TAKS-M passed the math test and nine percent received Commended Performance.
Students who failed the math test will have two additional
opportunities, May 19 and June 30, to retest. |
As part of the Texas Student Success Initiative, students
in fifth and eighth grades must pass the math and reading TAKS tests to be
promoted to the next grade. Under state law, students who fail these exams must
be given extra instructional help.
TAKS testing for other grades and subjects will continue as
scheduled through Friday of this week. For schools or districts that have been
closed due to the swine flu outbreak, testing will be rescheduled for a later
date. Results from tests being taken this week are expected to be released in
late May.
The 2009 Broad Prize for Urban Education honors urban school
districts making the greatest progress nationwide in raising student
achievement.
This yearÕs five finalists are: ¥ Aldine Independent School
District, near Houston ¥ Broward County Public Schools, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. ¥
Gwinnett County Public Schools outside Atlanta ¥ Long Beach Unified School
District, Calif. ¥ Socorro Independent School District, El Paso, Texas
The Broad (rhymes with ÒroadÓ) Prize for Urban Education is the
largest education award in the country given to school districts that
demonstrate the best overall performance and improvement in student achievement
while reducing achievement gaps among ethnic groups and between low- and
non-low-income students.
The winner of The Broad Prize, will receive $1 million in
scholarships for high school seniors who will graduate in 2010. The four
finalist districts will each receive $250,000 in scholarships.
One commonality among this yearÕs finalists, which all serve
significant percentages of low-income and minority students, is that all five
made notable gains in reducing achievement gaps chronically present in large
urban districts in the United States. For example, between 2005 and 2008, all
five districts narrowed achievement gaps between Hispanic students and the
state average for white students in reading and math at multiple school levels.
In addition, a higher percentage of lowincome students in these five districts
performed at the highest achievement level on state assessments in reading and
math than did their counterparts statewide in 2008.
The districts in the running for the 2009 Broad Prize include
four-time finalist Aldine, two-time finalist Broward County, three-time
finalist and former Broad Prize winner Long Beach, and two first-time
finalists, Gwinnett County and Socorro.
Previous Broad Prize winners have included the Brownsville
Independent School District (2008); the New York City Department of Education
(2007); Boston Public Schools (2006); Norfolk Public Schools in Virginia
(2005); the Garden Grove Unified School District in California (2004); and the
Houston Independent School District (2002).
Every year, 100 of AmericaÕs largest urban school districts are eligible for The Broad Prize. In selecting the five finalists, the review board evaluated publicly available academic performance data on each district that was compiled and analyzed by MPR Associates, Inc., a leading national education research consulting firm. The review board chose five districts that stood out in areas including: ¥ Academic performance and improvement on state exams compared with other districts in the state with similar low-income student populations and with the rest of the state as a whole ¥ Closure of income and ethnic achievement gaps ¥ College readiness indicators such as graduation rates, SAT, ACT and Advanced Placement exam data
For more information about The Broad Prize, this yearÕs finalists
and the review board, please visit www.broadprize.org.
Weighted Student Formula
Yearbook offers an in-depth look at how shools and districts using
"backpack" funding are improving student outcomes
Much of our education funding
is wasted on bureaucracy. The money never actually makes it into the classroom
in the form of books, computers, supplies, or even salaries for better
teachers. Weighted student formula changes that. Using weighted student
formulaÕs decentralized system, education funds are attached to each student
and the students can take that money directly to the public school of their
choice.
At least 15 major school
districts have moved to this system of backpack funding. Reason FoundationÕs new Weighted
Student Formula Yearbook examines how the budgeting system is being implemented
in each of these places and, based on the real-world data, creates a series of
Òbest practicesÓ that other districts and states can follow to improve the
quality of their schools.
ÒTo make schools more
responsive and accountable to parents and students we need to stop wasting
money in central and district offices and get the money flowing directly into
classrooms,Ó said Lisa Snell, author of the Weighted Student Formula Yearbook
and director of education at Reason Foundation. ÒIn places where parents have school choice and districts
empower their principals and teachers we are seeing increased learning and better
test scores.Ó
The results from districts
using student-based funding are promising. Prior to 2008, less than half of Hartford, ConnecticutÕs
education money made it to the classroom. Now, over 70 percent makes it there.
As a result, the districtÕs schools posted the largest gains, over three times
the average increase, on the stateÕs Mastery Tests in 2007-08.
San Francisco Unified School
District has outperformed the comparable large school districts on the
California Standards Tests for seven straight years. A greater percentage of
San Francisco Unified students graduate from high school than almost any other
large urban public school system in the country. And across the Bay, Oakland
has produced the largest four-year gain among large urban districts on
CaliforniaÕs standardized tests since implementing results-based budgeting in
2004.
In 2008, Baltimore City
Schools faced a $76.9 million budget shortfall. But Superintendent Andres
Alonso instituted weighted student formula. He identified $165 million in
budget cuts at the central office to eliminate the deficit and redistributed
approximately $88 million in central office funds to the schools. By the 2010
school year, Alonso will have cut 489 non-essential teaching jobs from the
central office, redirecting 80 percent of the districtÕs operating budget to
schools.
The Weighted Student Formula
Yearbook identifies key principles that improve educational outcomes as well as
the transparency and accountability of our schools:
1. Funding should follow the child to the public
school of their choice;
2. Per student funding should vary based on a
childÕs educational needs, with special education students and others receiving
larger amounts;
3. Funding should arrive at individual schools in
real dollars, not in numbers of teaching positions or staffing ratios.
The experience with weighted
student formula also shows that one of the most important factors in the
success of schools is decentralized decision-making. As such, Snell finds
principals should have autonomy over their budgets and hiring teachers. This
local flexibility allows principals to tailor their schools to best fit the
needs of their students.
Houston Report:
http://reason.org/files/wsf/houston.pdf
Weighted Student Formula
Yearbook Online:
http://reason.org/files/wsf/yearbook.pdf
With
proper management and registered nurses on campus, the school absenteeism rate
for children with asthma can be reduced to that of non-asthmatic children,
according to a new study published in the journal CHEST, the official publication
of the American College of Chest Physicians. The study, conducted through the
Baylor Martha Foster Lung Care Center at Baylor University Medical Center at
Dallas and the Dallas Independent School District (DISD), found that the rate
of absenteeism between children with and without asthma symptoms has improved
such that they are nearly indistinguishable.
Lead
author and medical director of the Baylor Lung Care Center Mark Millard, M.D.,
says the implications of the study are far-reaching.
ÒWe
all know the devastating effect of untreated asthma on both academic and
athletic performance, but our data suggests that the tide has turned, and with
proper supervision and management, the impact of asthma can be minimized,Ó said
Millard. ÒParents should expect that their child with asthma should be able to
compete with the same degree of success as non-asthmatic peers, with current
asthma medications.Ó
Asthma
and Attendance
The
study is a result of an extensive survey of students in 17 of the DISDÕs more
than 200 schools. Students were studied with questionnaires and asthma
challenge tests to definitively identify this common medical condition, and
attendance rates of these students were compared with those of non-asthmatic
students.
No
statistical difference was discovered between attendance rates of the groups of
asthmatic students identified with that of their classmates.
School
Registered Nurses Play Critical Role
Baylor
Dallas has been partnering with the DISD since 1991 to improve school-based
monitoring of children with asthma. One of the hospitalÕs first interventions
was to provide peak flow meters for all DISD schools for monitoring and
assessing the severity of asthma symptoms. Using BaylorÕs work with the DISD as
a model, the American Association of Respiratory Care created the national Peak
Performance USA program, which provided peak flow meters for every school in
the country, upon request.
Almost all of the schools in the DISD
have registered nurses on campus, and Baylor has helped these nurses learn
about new medications and therapies for controlling asthma. Millard says the
supervision of the school nurses plays a critical role in decreasing
absenteeism of children with asthma.
ÒEven
children with more obvious symptoms that were identified by school RNs before
the screening missed no more school than the others, suggesting that the nurses
are properly identifying asthmatic children and working with parents and primary
care providers in achieving good asthma control,Ó he said.
Anna
Hilton, R.N., who had been the nurse director of the asthma management program
for the DISD prior to joining the Baylor team for this project agrees.
ÒHaving
RNs on campus to identify and help primary care providers to properly manage
children with asthma makes all the difference between a child missing critical
educational time and a child able to learn and participate,Ó she said.
Keeping
Kids in Class
Results
of the study point to the value of school nurses in helping children control
their asthma and stay in class.
ÒAny
child in any school district can achieve good asthma control, if there is
access to the right medications and oversight,Ó said Millard. ÒA well-trained
and empowered school registered nurse may be the best solution to deal with the
problem of uncontrolled asthma in children.Ó
The 52-report series from The Education Trust is
a tool for measuring the impact of federal stimulus funding on improving the
academic opportunities and outcomes for all of our nationÕs students
Last
month, Congress made an unprecedented commitment to AmericaÕs public schools,
passing the single biggest increase in federal education funding in our
nationÕs history. As the U.S. Department of Education begins to distribute the one-time
funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the
onus is on states to live up to that challenge and ensure that this investment
boosts overall achievement and closes gaps.
To
measure how effectively states are using the infusion of federal support, the
public will need accurate, reliable data. The Education TrustÕs Education
Watch series assembles some of the most critical indicators of
student achievement, attainment, and opportunity, providing a state-by-state
snapshot of public education in America.
The
data in these reports and the accompanying Òquick lookÓ chart
mark the starting line in AmericaÕs ÒRace to the TopÓ Ð the federal effort to
provoke bold, enduring progress in education. Education Watch reveals which states are
farthest along the course, which are gaining on those leaders, and which are
barely out of the starting blocks. Throughout the duration of ARRA spending,
The Education Trust will provide updates on state progress as new data become
available.
These
reports reflect the most up-to-date information available across states. While some states
may have more recent data on their own schools and reform efforts, Education
Watch
uses only data that are consistent across states. This allows for accurate
comparisons and the ability to identify and learn from the leaders on each
indicator. While no state is yet where it needs to be, especially in terms of
educating lower income students and students of color, some are doing a much
better job than others.
For
example, on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP):
á
In
eighth-grade math, Massachusetts leads the nation in gains overall since 2000, and
was among the top gainers for Latinos and lower income students. However, state
improvement among African-American students (6 points) lagged significantly
behind the national average (16 points), resulting in a widening of the
performance gap between African-American and white students. Massachusetts was
one of just two states in which an achievement gap between student subgroups
grew larger.
Though
each state is different, common patterns emerge from these NAEP data,
indicating just how far we have to go to ensure that all young Americans have
equal access to a high-quality education Ð especially lower income students and
students of color, who now comprise almost half of all students in our
nationÕs public schools. Student performance is too low overall, varying
dramatically between student groups, and the pace of improvement is far too
slow.
ÒThese
reports provide a sobering look at the challenging work that lies ahead,Ó said
Kati Haycock, president of The Education Trust. ÒOne thing is clear: To secure
our economic future, we must confront educational inequities head-on and ensure
that every school in America is ready to help every student advance farther,
faster. The federal dollars are not a license to do business as usual; they
come with a demand for change. We will never have this opportunity again, so
the pressure is on for states to invest big in what works for kids and stop
supporting the policies and programs that simply arenÕt getting the job done.Ó
When
evaluating student achievement data, many people are quick to attribute
performance to the home lives of students. But the variation of results among
states for the same groups of students proves that what happens in school matters immensely.
Texas
report:
http://www2.edtrust.org/edtrust/summaries2009/Texas.pdf