Well, it appears as Todd is back again. First it was crazy implications that the school board needed the referendum to pay Stan's retirement packet. Now we have some test scores to talk about.
So again, over at 281 Exposed we have Todd's letter again.
The results of this year's No Child Left Behind scores are simply frightening. Only 47 percent of Armstrong and 35 percent of Cooper 11th grade students passed math?
Imagine an airline pilot being correct 35 percent of the time; imagine a brain surgeon being correct 47 percent of the time; imagine a pitcher throwing strikes 35 percent of the time - none would have a sustaining career.
Alright, so I really like Todd's poetic writings but we aren't exactly comparing apples to apples now are we. First, let's be clear about something. Having a district average of 11th graders of 39.6% isn't something we should write home about - 100% would be great but sometimes we need understand the entire scope of things.
Let's start by looking at statewide numbers and break them down. So Robbinsdale had a 41.7% district numbers of those who meet or exceed standards. Statewide is 41.1%. So the district is actually a little better than state averages.
So my curiosity continued. How did Robbinsdale stack up against other large school districts. I see some schools scored 100% but they had 4 people take the exam. So looking at schools with 500+ test takers. Robbinsdale had 858 for comparison. That leaves 28 districts. This is where Robbinsdale takes a hit - 20th out of those 28 districts. Average scores of those 28 schools is 46.0. Top school out of that group is 74.4 (Edina) and bottom is 22.6 (St. Paul).
So digging through the state department information there are some interesting notes I think the district has to focus in on. First, if you look the breakdown by ethnicity we see a swing of 47% to 11%. ELL students, 3.1%.
So what we know are this. Could Robbinsdale be doing better - yes. Is it time to throw out every teacher and call them bad. Nope. Robbinsdale is pretty much middle of the pack. So what can we do? Over the next month I'll start posting some ideas that I think make some sense. Of course, I could just complain about things. Tood - any ideas?
DJ