March 10, 2010

The State of Education in Rhode Island, Part 5

Carroll Andrew Morse

The same method that was applied to the changes between 8th an 11th grade NECAP results, to try to get a measure of the performance of Rhode Island's high-school systems taking into account the initial proficiency-level of the students, can also be applied to changes occurring between other grades.

The chart below is a 2D-index based on how well districts did in improving NECAP scores between the 5th and the 8th-grades...

edgraph11.jpg

Schools nearer the upper right-hand corner did well in both reading and math. Schools nearer the lower left-hand corner have showed declines in both areas. The charts below the fold present the underlying information on...

Details on the specifics of the methodology and its rationale is available, starting from here, then tracking backwards. As before, calling this plot an "index" literally means that the values associated with each city and town aren't as important as the information they can lead you to.

Two differences from the 8th-grade to 11th-grade results are immediately worth noting...

  1. Between the 5th and 8th-grades, some districts did succeed in improving their number of students proficient in mathematics, unlike between the 8th and 11th-grades, where every district showed a decline. (For this reason, change in students proficient or better, rather than partially proficient or better, is used as the mathematics index.)
  2. Reiterating once again that the results here are far from dispositive, it should be noted that there is a much stronger correlation here than at the high school level, between districts starting from low proficiency rates and the largest declines in proficiency. This suggests that students in Rhode Island's underperforming districts may be falling furthest behind somewhere before high school begins. Exploring this result further will require matching test results to the movement of students in and out of a district, between the starting and ending years of a measured test period.


edgraph11.jpg

Community # of '08/'09 8th-Graders, PoB at Reading # of '05/'06 5th-Graders, PoB at Reading Change in # PoB at Reading, between 5th and 8th Grades # of '05/'06 5th-Graders, LtP at Reading Change in # PoB at Reading, between 5th and 8th Grades, as % of '05/'06 5th-Graders LtP
Scituate 266 235 31 54 57.4%
Chariho 475 401 74 150 49.3%
East Greenwich 352 322 30 65 46.2%
South Kingstown 464 404 60 133 45.1%
Jamestown 91 78 13 29 44.8%
Middletown 289 227 62 146 42.5%
Narragansett 216 195 21 57 36.8%
Bristol-Warren 399 351 48 149 32.2%
Exeter-West Greenwich 255 228 27 95 28.4%
Coventry 662 586 76 277 27.4%
Barrington 479 467 12 47 25.5%
Tiverton 219 188 31 124 25.0%
Westerly 390 351 39 163 23.9%
Newport 212 180 32 158 20.3%
Smithfield 351 337 14 75 18.7%
Lincoln 445 424 21 115 18.3%
Johnston 376 341 35 219 16.0%
North Smithfield 213 199 14 91 15.4%
East Providence 526 480 46 341 13.5%
Portsmouth 353 338 15 116 12.9%
Little Compton 55 54 1 9 11.1%
Burillville 217 210 7 117 6.0%
Pawtucket 718 689 29 730 4.0%
North Providence 328 325 3 182 1.6%
Providence 1368 1338 30 2240 1.3%
Community # of '08/'09 8th-Graders, PoB at Reading # of '05/'06 5th-Graders, PoB at Reading Change in # PoB at Reading, between 5th and 8th Grades # of '05/'06 5th-Graders, LtP at Reading Change in # PoB at Reading, between 5th and 8th Grades, as % of '05/'06 5th-Graders PoB
Cumberland 587 591 -4 240 -0.7%
North Kingstown 530 534 -4 157 -0.7%
Warwick 1270 1290 -20 449 -1.6%
Cranston 1230 1252 -22 423 -1.8%
West Warwick 333 343 -10 216 -2.9%
Foster-Glocester 286 308 -22 93 -7.1%
Central Falls 192 208 -16 315 -7.7%
Woonsocket 390 433 -43 517 -9.9%

edgraph12.jpg

Community # of '08/'09 8th-Graders, PoB at Math # of '05/'06 5th-Graders, PoB at Math Change in # PoB at Math, between 5th and 8th Grades # of '05/'06 5th-Graders, LtP at Math Change in # PoB at Math, between 5th and 8th Grades, as % of '05/'06 5th-Graders LtP
Portsmouth 337 296 41 158 25.9%
Scituate 222 199 23 91 25.3%
Narragansett 169 142 27 110 24.5%
Barrington 463 448 15 66 22.7%
Middletown 278 250 28 125 22.4%
East Greenwich 323 305 18 82 22.0%
Chariho 404 365 39 188 20.7%
South Kingstown 435 411 24 130 18.5%
West Warwick 299 252 47 308 15.3%
Smithfield 307 291 16 121 13.2%
Jamestown 76 72 4 35 11.4%
Westerly 327 310 17 206 8.3%
Exeter-West Greenwich 234 226 8 97 8.2%
Bristol-Warren 334 323 11 177 6.2%
Coventry 545 536 9 324 2.8%
Community # of '08/'09 8th-Graders, PoB at Math # of '05/'06 5th-Graders, PoB at Math Change in # PoB at Math, between 5th and 8th Grades # of '05/'06 5th-Graders, LtP at Math Change in # PoB at Math, between 5th and 8th Grades, as % of '05/'06 5th-Graders PoB
Burillville 176 178 -2 148 -1.1%
Tiverton 213 216 -3 96 -1.4%
Cumberland 498 506 -8 327 -1.6%
Lincoln 376 383 -7 154 -1.8%
Little Compton 45 46 -1 17 -2.2%
Cranston 931 974 -43 708 -4.4%
North Smithfield 180 192 -12 98 -6.3%
North Kingstown 458 493 -35 198 -7.1%
Newport 141 155 -14 185 -9.0%
Warwick 972 1106 -134 637 -12.1%
Johnston 245 284 -39 277 -13.7%
East Providence 425 493 -68 330 -13.8%
Foster-Glocester 230 273 -43 127 -15.8%
Pawtucket 519 619 -100 820 -16.2%
North Providence 175 229 -54 281 -23.6%
Central Falls 139 184 -45 355 -24.5%
Providence 922 1236 -314 2412 -25.4%
Woonsocket 244 372 -128 587 -34.4%

edgraph11.jpg

Community # of '08/'09 8th-Graders, PwD at Reading # of '05/'06 5th-Graders, PwD at Reading Change in # PwD at Reading, between 5th and 8th Grades # of '05/'06 5th-Graders, Prof. at Reading Change in # PoB at Reading, between 5th and 8th Grades, as % of '05/'06 5th-Graders LtP
East Greenwich 151 54 97 268 36.2%
Scituate 117 51 66 184 35.9%
Jamestown 43 24 19 54 35.2%
Middletown 82 29 53 198 26.8%
Chariho 177 101 76 300 25.3%
Tiverton 51 22 29 166 17.5%
Exeter-West Greenwich 70 37 33 191 17.3%
South Kingstown 170 128 42 276 15.2%
Barrington 237 196 41 271 15.1%
Narragansett 65 42 23 153 15.0%
Smithfield 138 103 35 234 15.0%
Newport 47 30 17 150 11.3%
Portsmouth 103 78 25 260 9.6%
North Providence 65 47 18 278 6.5%
Coventry 192 167 25 419 6.0%
Lincoln 144 129 15 295 5.1%
East Providence 103 84 19 396 4.8%
Providence 188 164 24 1174 2.0%
Johnston 59 55 4 286 1.4%
Central Falls 22 21 1 187 0.5%
Burillville 27 27 0 183 0.0%
Westerly 87 87 0 264 0.0%
Community # of '08/'09 8th-Graders, PwD at Reading # of '05/'06 5th-Graders, PwD at Reading Change in # PwD at Reading, between 5th and 8th Grades # of '05/'06 5th-Graders, Prof. at Reading Change in # PoB at Reading, between 5th and 8th Grades, as % of '05/'06 5th-Graders Prof.
North Kingstown 152 153 -1 381 -0.7%
Bristol-Warren 95 96 -1 255 -1.0%
North Smithfield 46 47 -1 152 -2.1%
Pawtucket 88 90 -2 599 -2.2%
Woonsocket 60 64 -4 369 -6.3%
Cranston 303 340 -37 912 -10.9%
Foster-Glocester 81 92 -11 216 -12.0%
Cumberland 132 153 -21 438 -13.7%
Little Compton 18 21 -3 33 -14.3%
West Warwick 67 79 -12 264 -15.2%
Warwick 283 381 -98 909 -25.7%
Comments, although monitored, are not necessarily representative of the views Anchor Rising's contributors or approved by them. We reserve the right to delete or modify comments for any reason.

Andrew,
There is a factor that you must consider when rendering an opinion on test scores……the change in attitude between the 8th and 11th grade. Younger students tend to want to try their best on these test just to please their parents and teachers. 11th graders, not quite the same! They are at a point where they tend to think independently, they want immediate gratification, and really do not see any point, or anything to gain, from these test and as a result many do not try. The state test does not affect their grade; it does not affect their status with the schools they are applying to, so why should they try? Plus, they are now entering adult life and they have grades, sports extra curricular activities, part time jobs and most important of all, their social life. These tests are viewed, by many HS students as an unnecessary nonsense. I work with high school students and they dread the state testing. Many of them, because I am approachable, will tell me they do not care one bit how they do on NECAP and they are not going to waste hours of their time on something that is useless, from their perspective. If they bomb it, they are allowed alternative pathways to prove proficiency, graduate, and they know it.

Now, factor in the lives, that some of our urban students live. Some our out on the street corner until 2 am because their own parents, who have “activities” going on, won’t let them in the house. Others, like one young man I had in my summer program, was involved in a dispute that included gang members had trouble concentrating because he had been shot at the night before. People say, “the urban line is just an excuse” but they really don’t know, what goes on in these kids lives. Sadly, the circumstances are not the students fault. But, if you had to live their life, NECAP wouldn’t be your priority. Survival, a roof over your head, and food would be a bit higher on your list!

Just a thought, I think we should take all the time and money spent on improving test scores and put it towards the “college within a high school” concept. Let the students earn more college credits in high school, enter their first year of college as a sophomore and families would forgo one year of college tuition. Furthermore, high school would have more meaning to the student and some would be more motivated.

Posted by: ed davis at March 11, 2010 9:38 AM

Ed,

One main problem with what you are arguing is that, in least in terms of total numbers, the high schools seem to be doing better than the junior highs (and the end of middle school). Woonsocket was +112 students proficient in reading between grades 8 and 11, but -43 students proficient between grades 5 and 8. Providence was +634 8-to-11, but only +30 5-to-8. Central Falls was +40 8-to-11, but -16 5-to-8.

It could be, I suppose that "student mobility" is somehow impacting younger students more seriously than older ones. Or maybe there are many students that come from private K-8 systems into public high schools (but then why do the numbers in mathematics all fall off so badly?). But it could also be possible that the real crash in our educational system is happening somewhere before high school, and the high-schools are starting to pick up the pieces.

Posted by: Andrew at March 11, 2010 6:15 PM
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