The numbers can be confusing because of the many calculations the state uses to determine whether things are going well or not. But even people who like numbers can truly tell us the real picture. We will try to provide some clarification and of course we welcome anyone who can either say we are not looking at it correctly and learn more about what the district is not saying at all. They look at the overall but when you dig deep in then you see why some groups suffer more than others. We don't hear this rhetoric at board meetings they just put out the nice numbers and call it a day.
In this link you will find three documents that show the numbers and we will brief you on what each one represents and what we should be focusing on and they are not.
How the Numbers were crunched
In this document it shows how the state came up with the numbers regarding the different Indexes that the district needs to meet. Remember that we are still at the phase-in stages which means districts get time to understand the new system and tests before the state sets the real target. This year the target for most tests was 55% to meet standard. When you look at the number as a district you see that most students passed for most below 70% which this is the second year this occurs. When you start looking at students by race African American students are still behind most of the other groups. We don't hear Tatum or anyone else making a fuss even when Dansby was in charge.
The charts show you number of tests taken and when you see it that way, the picture gets real. Our students are not performing as they should from what we hear from Curriculum folks who are doing the same thing every year. When you start looking at Index 3 down the line, you see how students performed at the Phase-in satisfactory standard and it shows more than 55% on most. When you look by race our AA students are below met standard. Then take a look at the Advanced standard and the numbers are dismal. Our students to be college and career ready must be at least 50% or more advanced to be competitive. Yet no one speaks of that, they are happy with the minimum.
Go down to the last page 12 of 12 and you will see the picture of our graduates and how ready they are.
*Take a look at the Post-Secondary Readiness Standard, only 27% of students met it. Out of 45,957 students tested only 12,578 met that particular standard.
*The 4 year graduation rate for the Class of 2013 shows 82.1% for the district but our African American students are at 76% and our Asian students a bit below.
*The drop out rate for our African American students is at 4.2% twice what the district level is.
*The big one: College Ready Graduates the district is at 50% while African American Students are at 37%.
*Our Special Ed students are not meeting standard either.
You can read more and we can sum it up that the minimum will not get our students anywhere and that's how the programs and plans (if any) are set to fail our students. We have constantly reminded our administration that this won't cut it, even the curriculum audit said it and yet here we are, a few years from final standard.
NO Distinction Earned
On this page you see that the district is quite far from reaching this. Index 4 is dismal, with college ready graduates low, Advanced or Dual Credit Courses low, SAT, ACT, and on and on. They do not pay attention because they have no clue how to tackle it. What good are consultants when the results do not show. So when they talk about tying money to budgets and to the district new objectives, they don't match. All money spent should be tied to it and the results should show something but you don't see a report like that brought to the board and spoken of because they don't want to show that it didn't work. Believe me there are many things that are hidden from the board and because they also have no clue they don't ask.
Real Numbers
Here you will see the state set passing standard with the federal requirements. This shows that we have not met federal guidelines which are a better measure of students when it comes to how they should be performing. I am sure they will not talk about it much because it's time to celebrate the small amounts that mean nothing to the life of student who will leave unprepared for school.
You be the judge on whether we are truly focused on students or continue on the same path of giving favors to those that have no interest in our students. Why not ask Tatum for the results and how his interventions improved students. Where is the accountability here because I am sure with these results the district will say that there is much work to do and not change a thing. The same people will be in charge and the same thing will happen next year. Let's not be fooled folks.
Those of us who work in the classrooms know FWISD on NOT focused on students. Yesterday was more of the same. At least Ann and Ashley stood tall. That whole rat's nest on University should be cleaned out. Sorum, Kaufman, Medoza, Ray, every lying one of them should be thrown out on the street. The "Board" is a bunch of bitter senile idiots who are impressed with their own importance.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your support tonight. We needed that voice and know that Avila was wrong all the way, he just wanted to show how disrespectful he is and chauvinistic. Keep on letting them know that the failures now are not going to be cured by the same medicine. We have drank that kook-aid too long.
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