For a decade now, we have been told again and again by the national media that New Orleans is a “miracle” district. City after city, state after state, wants to be like New Orleans. In Michigan, Governor Rick Snyder created the Educational Achievement Authority, which has been plagued with mismanagement and has shown no progress for the students in Detroit. Governor Snyder appointed an emergency manager for financially strapped, low-performing Muskegon Heights, and the emergency manager turned the students and schools over to a for-profit charter chain; after two years, the chain decamped when it was clear there would be no profit. Tennessee created the Achievement School District, where the state’s low-performing public schools were gathered, turned over to charter operators, and are supposed to be in the state’s top 20% by performance within five years; the clock is ticking, and there is no reason to believe that the five-year deadline will be met. The public schools of York City, Pennsylvania, have been promised to a for-profit charter chain.
And now Georgia’s Governor Nathan Deal has an idea. He wants Georgia to have a Recovery School District, just like New Orleans. Here is the formula: wipe out public education and replace it with privately managed charters; eliminate any teachers’ unions; fire veteran teachers and replace them with Teach for America. What could go wrong? Note in the linked article that the enrollment in New Orleans public schools fell from 65,000 before Hurricane Katrina to 25,000 or so today. This makes comparisons pre- and post- tricky to say the least.
No matter. The boosters are still claiming dramatic success.
But along comes Mercedes Schneider, who managed to get the full set of ACT scores for the state of Louisiana. For some reason, the State Department of Education was not eager to release those scores. You will see why.
Mercedes wrote more than one post. They are collected here. The details are in the individual posts.
She begins the second post like this:
It is February, and at my high school, that means scheduling students for the next school year. During two of my classes today, our counselors were in my room explaining to students the Louisiana Board of Regents minimum requirements for first-time college freshmen who wish to attend a four-year college or university in Louisiana. These requirement are the result of legislation passed in 2010 and phased in over four years, the Grad Act.
One requirement is a minimum score of 18 on the ACT in English and a minimum score of 19 on the ACT in math.
Even though Regents also has an ACT composite requirement, one can readily substitute a high GPA in place of a lacking composite.
However, that 18 in English and 19 in math is virtually non-negotiable. An institution might be able to conditionally admit some students in the name of “research”; however, there is not too much of this allowed, for Regents states that the two ACT subscores are the most widely acceptable, readily available evidence that a student would not require remedial college coursework in English or math– a rule effective for all Louisiana four-year institutions of higher education effective Fall 2014.
Thus, the first graduating class affected by this Regents rule is the high school graduating class of 2014.
Remember those numbers: 18 in English and 19 in math.
Schneider continues:
Some highlights from this data:
Of the 16 active New Orleans RSD high schools, five graduated not one student meeting the Regents 18-English-19-math ACT requirement. That’s no qualifying students out of 215 test takers.
Another six RSD high schools each graduated less than one percent meeting the requirement, or 16 students out of 274 (5.8 percent).
Out of a total of 1151 RSD New Orleans class of 2014 ACT test takers, only 141 students (12.3 percent) met the Regents requirement. Eighty-nine of these 141 attended a single high school (OP Walker, ACT site code 192113).
By far, OP Walker had the highest number of Regents 18-English-19-math-ACT-subscore-qualifying class of 2014 test takers (89 out of 311, or 28.6 percent).
If the OP Walker were removed from RSD-NO, then RSD-NO would be left with 52 qualifying students out of 840, or 6.2 percent.
Sobering.
Notice also that the average ACT composite scores of those meeting the Regents 18-19 requirement (column G) are all above the 18 that LDOE focuses on as a minimum mark of success.
Clearly the theory of “raise the bar and achievement will rise” is not playing out in the New Orleans RSD when it comes to meeting the Regents minimum requirement of an 18 in English and 19 in math on the ACT.
No miracle here. Only more data that Louisiana Superintendent John White wishes he could hide.
Texas is into this madness as well. I posted the following ALERT this morning on our Facebook page for Texas Kids Can’t Wait:
Senate Bill 520, authored by Sen. Royce West, was filed last week, and it is one we must do everything we can to defeat. It establishes the Texas Opportunity School District, which is exactly the same thing as last session’s proposed Texas Achievement School District and New Orleans’s Recovery School District. There is ZERO credible research that such a strategy works for any kid anywhere. It would take out of school district local control every low-performing school (that is, schools with high rates of poverty, as we all know) and turn it over to a charter school management company under the “supervision” of the Commissioner. Local taxpayers have to continue paying for this great gift to charter companies; the buildings are turned over to the Charter companies; and the local taxpayers must maintain them. What a deal, huh? Yeah, for the charter companies. But a terrible thing to do for kids, families, neighborhoods, and communities.
High schools in urban areas will be the biggest losers of this proposed scheme since disproportionate numbers of high schools are on the low-performing list. But there would also be many middle schools and many elementary schools in the scheme as well. See why we call the charter schools the gateway drug for school privatization? There will never be enough charter schools for the privatizers. And they want taxpayers to foot the bill for this nonsense at increasing rates since they are determined to cut and eliminate business taxes. You can read the bill here: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/…/84R/bill…/pdf/SB00520I.pdf…
Bonnie A. Lesley, Ed.D.
This would be even more powerful if we could compare these ACT scores with those of public schools for the state and comparable school districts.
Hyrum….I am not sure just what you are saying….how you are using the word powerful……and how easy it would be to match up the public schools and comparable districts…..I do not rule out that you are re-enforcing Schneider, nor can I rule out that you are sort of ridiculing her. Sorry about my lack of knowledge.
In Diane Ravitch’s blog, there is a continuing effort to disparage anything about standardized testing. And yet when this blog wants to make a case about the failures of charter schools, the first thing they do is go to the standardized test numbers to make the case.
This is total hypocrisy. If you believe the numbers are not worthwhile for any purpose, it is totally hypocritical to use them for the purpose stated above.
Many in education want to disparage standardized testing while avoiding the issue that results have as much to do with IQ as what happens in the classroom. ACT and SAT are aptitude tests and thus highly sensitive to IQs.
Let’s put our heads together to create a new metric for highly performing urban schools, because we all know that some are well-run and some are disasters, in both the public school and the charter school worlds. And that metric must measure culture, safety, student attendance, time spent on task, amount of homework completed, etc.
If you truly want to abolish testing, stop using test results to make ANY case.
You have to be kidding me. Do you understand that the sole purpose of the RSD was to increase test scores. By the metrics they hold dearest, they have failed with resounding triumph. If the one trick pony can’t even muster up one mediocre trick, what is it good for?
Tim, it is appropriate that the opponents of public schools, the evaluate by test crowd, should be hoisted upon the petard of the only mark they recognize. By their own measure they have failed, will they disband as the demanded the public schools do? We cite these things because our opponents have made it the be all and end all. They must concede at some point that they are wrong. Once this notion of testing as meaningful measure ends, then we can pursue constructive avenues of true reform. This is not the intent of our opponents, they simply use tests to destroy us. They should also be subject to their weapon of mass deception.
I see your point. I am just advocating a new measurement of school success. In the public high school where I work in Philadelphia, students cut classes and roam the halls, regularly swear at teachers without consequence, rarely do homework, and regularly show up to class without paper and pencil. Some charters in Philadelphia have similar situations while others have successfully addressed these issues. These are all factors controllable by teachers and administrators that maximize the learning experience in students, and have nothing to do with the natural intelligence of students or their economic circumstances. I think the positive step forward is to push a new metric for school excellence, regardless of whether the school is public or charter, that takes into account factors that are controllable.
Enough metrics. I am so accountable now to numbers, I should be a CPA. I am not sure what you do in the schools, but don’t you think there is an aspect of student behavior established outside the schools? By your logic, we should blame prison guards for not releasing inmates as reformed pillars of the community. Or maybe blame the police for crime to begin with.
The blog consistently focuses on the flaws and absurdity of using the RESULTS of standardized tests. Mercedes points out how the tests are being selectively used for political and monetary gain. A corrollary to her post might be how poverty factors in. Standardized tests themselves are not the issue. It is how they are now used as weapons to punish and eliminate teachers rather as diagnostic tools to improve learning. We can give a patient a battery of medical diagnostic tests, but why fire the doctor if they reveal a condition? Teachers should be allowed to use standardized tests, but always with the freedom to exercise judgment and critical thought, knowing the actual student.
IQ is a metric from a test, nothing more. Yes, there are physiological conditions affecting learning, but human intelligence is a complex concept. ACT/SAT are not about innate ability as much as preparation, which is why wealthy students score higher with access to test prep and tutors. Many high performing urban schools simply exclude students that are difficult to teach. So your metric might be student departures.
The purpose of standardized testing is certainly a credible debate. What is even more disturbing is the false metrics that are a big part of the debate. VAM and a Common Core cut score designed to fail two out of three students are two outrageous,unscientific notions. These are arbitrary rather than statistical creations, and they are designed to deliberately destroy public education. This is not metrics; it is a political railroading of public schools to turn them into money making machines for corporate America.
Daniel Spaniel & Old Teacher: thank you for your missives from Planet Reality. It is readily apparent that you are not affected by Rheeality Distortion Fields…
Perhaps because you are using logic, good sense, and facts.
Old Teacher: if I may be so presumptuous, your last sentence may be missing a word— “They should also be subject to their OWN weapon of mass deception.” *Please consider accepting my addition knowing that I have the very same thing.*
Keep writing. I’ll keep reading.
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¿? As in, I should have written “*Please consider accepting my addition knowing that I have DONE the very same thing.*”
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“In Diane Ravitch’s blog, there is a continuing effort to disparage anything about standardized testing.
You have hit upon the truth, Tim.
Good to see that you focus on one narrow part of the post rather than consider it as a whole. David Coleman would be disappointed in your close reading skills.
Raj, if you’re going to post here, engage in actual debate. These short pithy responses are asinine.
Typical straw man argument.
If test results are not credit worthy, then what’s the point in crediting standardized testing?
You will never know how hypocritical your statement above is.
Pity.
Give me your definition of standardized testing. And who is saying those test score results have “as much to do with IQ”?
Sorry, Tim, but the ACT and SAT are most certainly not “aptitude tests.”
And if those tests are sensitive to anything, it’s to family income.
Would agree that SAT is designed to serve as an admissions tool–appropriate for projection of early success in college. ACT is a more curriculum based test on which students who take advanced courses perform better.
and neither one is very good….
I think there’s some law of physics or thermodynamics that says, If it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true. And here it is, proven once again, the miracle that wasn’t.
By definition, a “miracle” violates the laws of physics.
The only thing miraculous about the “New Orleans charter miracle” and so many other Reformiracles is that anyone believes them.
Where is Geoffrey Canada and his cries of “failure factories!”
This is a plea from a charter school supporter that charters be judged individually. on their own merits.
http://www.phillymag.com/citified/2015/02/17/plea-src-evaluate-school-individual-merits/
It’s just hard to take after a 20 year campaign to bash all public schools and label all of them as failing.
Actions have consequences. When they went for a scorched earth strategy to achieve their goals. did they not anticipate that not all charters were going to be wonderful. and they would be judged the same way they’ve judged public schools?
Of course they want to be judged individually now. The miracle claims fell apart. Why did they make them in the first place?
Chiara: as you know better than I, the “thought leaders” of corporate education reform like to double down on the side of—
Double talk. Double think. Double standards.
On the side of facts, logic and decency—where’s the $tudent $ucce$$ in that?
Thank you for your comments.
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Sagar: This is total hypocrisy. If you believe the numbers are not worthwhile for any purpose, it is totally hypocritical to use them for the purpose stated above.
The original schools were deemed failures based on standardized test scores. That is what brought about the reform paradigm. Isn’t it only fair to judge the reform paradigm by those standardized tests to see if any improvement was made?
To all charter supporters:
Whether you are parents or TFAers, please be honest to each other that the bottom line of PUBLIC EDUCATION is about the back bone of democracy, and is FUNDED from the pool of all tax payers to CULTIVATE the civility as the primary learning in ALL CHILDREN regardless of their socio-economic background.
For this sole reason, education promotes JOY of LEARNING for life. Remember that one hour plus (75 minutes) in class test per day for 9 continuous days to 8 years old child of grade 3 DOES NOT PROMOTE a joy of learning.
Moreover, these CCSS were not prepared by educational EXPERTS, but rather by MONEY MINDED scheme from billionaire corporate/individuals whose aim is to loot our public fund, to destroy our civil rights (= destroy union), last but not least to destroy the spirit or joy of learning and the creativity in all American Children.
In honoring the freedom of choice, all charters SHALL NOT be funded by PUBLIC FUND without following public regulation regarding members in board of education, teachers with teaching degree and certificate, superintendent, principals within public domain.
Therefore, it is ridiculous for Charters that want semi-private for profit and self-control and semi- public for looting public tax money.
If wild animals like lions and tigers can be trained to well behaved in a crowd of children like in a circus, then teachers should be required to obtain Master in Education with at least one year internship in order to qualify to be an EDUCATIONAL PRACTITIONER to inspire and to instill young children the joy of learning and the dream to be an innovator in the future. Back2basic
Mercedes Schneider can’t even get her facts straight about the RSD’s scores: http://peterccook.com/2015/02/19/about-those-act-scores/
Any way you spin it Peter, even the state evaluation metrics consider your RSD a dismal failure, among the worst in your state. No matter how you spin it, you haven’t improved a thing. You should get out of the game and admit defeat before people catch on and really despise your actions.
Let’s see how she will respond this weekend. It’s been almost ten years since Katrina, so those who claim New Orleans Miracle should be able to prove a substantial progress in RSD. The data didn’t prove to that level. It’s NO MIRACLE. Like a tale of phony recovery story covering up the dismal reality of abandoned cities and people evacuating cities after Fukushima nuclear meltdown in March 2011.
Compelling data…results align closely with those in NY City where kids attending the highly publicized Success Academy Cheater Schools (with schools claiming to have outstanding results on NY State Grade 3-8 ELA and Math tests) just cannot seem to do well on the entrance exams for slots in NYC competitive admission high schools. Last year—not one Success student was able to obtain entrance based upon performance on a competitive exam. Being unfamiliar with New Orleans I have to speculate, is Mercedes skeptical that the results of OP Walker HS may reflect some undue assistance on these exams? Or might OP Walker be a magnet site that draws a higher achieving population? I suspect we will see a lot of Michelle Rhee/Rod Paige testing/reporting procedures in place in New Orleans soon in response to Mercede’s exposing these miserable outcomes! Hope the ACT monitors testing practices closely in NO!
Here’s what one commenter wrote on Mercedes Schneider’s second post about ACT scores in Louisiana:
“SAT and even COMPASS scores can be used in place of the ACT to determine if a student is college-ready in math and English. Not just ACT. But since Louisiana is an ACT state and all our students now take the ACT, the vast majority of students are using those for college admission and not other test scores.”
What no one has said, including Schneider, is that the ACT and the SAT are very poor predictors of college performance (not to mention that ACT, Inc. and the College Board were instrumental in making the Common Core and have “aligned” their products to it).
College enrollment experts and consultants routinely find that the SAT only predicts between 3 and 14 percent of freshman-year college grades. Thee ACT is only marginally better. So too, Accuplacer and Compass, commonly used to “place” students in community college courses, are notoriously flawed.
One has to wonder why we keep using some really bad tests to determine whether or not students are “ready” for college.