Comments on: CSD Reconfiguration Adult Showcase This Week

By: foodie

foodie — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 05:29:09 +0000

The state reports on the percentage of students each grade who met or exceeded the standards in reading language arts, math and social studies as measured by the CRCT.

So, in 3rd grade, the percentage of Decatur students who met or exceeded is 73%, but the percentage statewide is 63%, so Decatur is +10%. It’s important to compare to the state, because sometimes an entire grade can be low statewide. For example, you might look at the 5th grade and 8th grade Decatur pass rates (70.2% and 71.5% respectively) and think they are giving you the same message, but when you compare to the state pass rates (66.6% – 5th grade and 56% – 8th grade) you see that the 5th grade Decatur pass rate is slightly above the state pass rate, but 8th grade pass rate is way above the state pass rate.

There’s tons of data on the Georgia OSA site. I just went to the front page condensed information because I wasn’t planning to do any data mining. With this big push to maintain the 4/5, I just wanted to see if something popped out about the 4/5 one way or the other.

By: decaturdad

decaturdad — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 19:08:34 +0000

Oops… I meant thank you ahead of time for clarifying. The way I worded it make it sound sarcastic… no sarcasm intended .. just a thanks.

By: decaturdad

decaturdad — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 19:07:32 +0000

Foodie, what do those percentages mean? They aren’t fail rates b/c if there were.. then the 4/5 is actually doing better than the other grades. What do those percentages represent. Thanks for clarifying ahead of time.

By: village

village — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:28:56 +0000

well the educators and school leaders are the reason diveristy/tolerance is valued/taught in our schools. It takes a village folks and when we start giving credit to one we should give credit to all. We are who we are because of all of us. Reconfiguration is not easy…I rest easy knowing our leaders and community care and are informed enough to make a tough choice.

By: foodie

foodie — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:25:29 +0000

decaturdad,

So glad you agree on the construction…here is the 4/5 data on achievement

3rd grade +10.3% Decatur
4th grade + 5.5% Decatur
5th grade + 3.6% Decatur
6th grade +8.6 % Decatur
7th grade + 17.6% Decatur
8th grade + 15.2% Decatur

The transition to 4/5 lowers achievement which recovers in 6th grade and takes off in 7th and 8th

By: Obama Biden is still in my yard!

Obama Biden is still in my yard! — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:39:53 +0000

Waiting a whole day….wow. I am sure he/she has nothing else to do.

By: decaturdad

decaturdad — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:00:58 +0000

Foodie, I would argue that scores are so high at Renfroe b/c of the 4/5. That being said, if CSD truly is in the financial straits that it keeps claiming to be in… it has absolutely nooooo business entering into any major construction project. If the very existence of CSD is at risk – as some school board members seem to hint is the case… CSD has also has no business paying out the big bucks for IB to begin with.

IB is valuable.. the 4/5 academy appears to be valuable… but is it worth losing the school system over? Is it worth $10 million or more of debt?

By: foodie

foodie — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:20:55 +0000

No matter how you slice it, preserving the 4/5 will cost a lot of construction dollars. I looked up K-4 schools in Google. There are a ton of them as well as a ton of 5-8 middle schools. So the “Showcase” idea that K-4, 5-8 is an unusual configuration just isn’t true.
I don’t see any data from CSD to support the 4/5, only anecdotal. Here’s data…look up on the Georgia OSA site and compare Decatur scores to state scores. We do great in 3rd, 6th, 7th and 8th scoring 9 – 15% better than the state. So, student achievement isn’t better at the 4/5. What about stats on teacher retention and/or student retention at the 4/5? How do they compare to the other CSD schools? What about talking to the middle school students? How do they view the 4/5 compared to Renfroe? What about a qualitative set of data from them?