from Kevin
From WA Parent: Curious about Kevin’s (and others’) response to Connecticut receiving a C- and ranking of 26 out of the 50 states on the national report card that was published in the Bulletin and many other sources yesterday. Connecticut has one of the highest average teacher salaries in the country. (I believe only California is higher.) Is it reasonable to expect better results? Tops in spending for an average grade doesn’t seem right.
From JK: WA Parent, I believe the C- rating for teachers was a bit misleading. The rating was for laws related to teaching and teacher evaluations.
That’s a fair question. For those of you who may not have it, here is a link to the report in question:
http://www.edweek.org/media/qualitycounts2012_release.pdf
We are listed as a B+ and ranked fourth for school finance so that is certainly true. As you state we are also a C- in K-12 Achievement as well. Looking at that, two questions immediately come to mind:
- Is a C- particularly bad for K-12 Achievement when compared to the other states?
- What exactly does K-12 Achievement mean in this paper?
To answer the first question we find our C- K-12 Achievement rank is 16th in the nation. Not great but well about the nation’s average score. Most states were in the Ds with only three states in the Bs.
The second question is much more interesting. How does this paper define K-12 Achievement? The paper states:
The K-12 Achievement Index, which evaluates state educational performance on 18 individual indicators that measure: current achievement, improvements over time, and poverty-based disparities or gaps.
So this isn’t just test scores. It is things like funding distribution disparities and improvements over time. Everyone also may not know this but each state has their own standardized tests. That means for any the NCLB tests it is impossible to try and compare scores because the tests are of different difficulty levels.
What I do find very interesting is the category of “Chance for Success.” This is defined as:
The Chance-for-Success Index, which grades the nation and states on 13 indicators capturing the critical role that education plays as a person moves from childhood, through the K-12 system, and into college and the workforce.
Wow, that’s the category I’m interested in. Test scores and funding distribution is all well and good but I want to know how successful we are being in moving the children through the educational system, college and ultimately into their careers. Incidentally Connecticut’s score is a B+, ranked #4 in the nation.
It has always been my position the adequate funding is necessary but not in and of itself sufficient.
Thanks,
Kevin
This post represents my personal opinions and in no way should be considered an official act of the BoE or that I am speaking on behalf of the BoE in any way.
http://www.conncan.org/
Some interesting information on the ConnCan site. ConnCann is an educational advocacy group. Each year it puts out a report card on Ct. schools.
Here is how Woodstock ranked in 2011 for overall performance (keep in mind that we are one of the lowest spending schools in CT.):
WES: B- rank 150/572
WMS: A- rank 51/297
WA: C rank 66/134
Now as Kevin points out, what determines overall performance is vague. However, the numbers are interesting to look at. I was pleasantly surprised to see the WMS ranking, but a bit alarmed to see the WA rank.
Certainly we would like to see straight across A++ for ALL of our schools. Although we still rank overall above average, there is much room for growth an improvement. So, How do we best achieve higher ranking?
Do we need more money? More teachers? Better teachers? Higher paid teachers? Invest in a Football program? Lay off curriculum coordinators? Do we get a new Superintendent or make him part-time when our WMS ranks at an A- and WES B- (still above state avg.)? Do we introduce new programs? Foreign language?
There are many options and opportunities.
The ball is in the Republican court on the WBOE now. For years they were the leading critics, but now they are in control. Let’s see how they do. Let’s watch very closely to their approach in improving these scores. I am willing to give them a chance-but we’ll be watching!
….just a quick note that the Weston, Ct Middle School got an A- grade as well. Woodstock should be very proud that our middle school has the same ranking as Weston, Ct.-one of the wealthiest towns in the nation.
So let’s get the WES and the Academy up there too. We can do it.
libdem, what are the “wealthy” towns in Connecticut and where does Weston rank on a nationwide list?
http://weston-ct.patch.com/articles/weston-ranks-26th-in-america-s-richest-zip-codes
Can you read libdem, I asked “what are the ‘wealthy’ towns in Connecticut?” it was a two part question. It would be interesting to know what the other “wealthy” towns are because Weston is not on the top of the list, I can guarantee that and what their scores are.
You really need to do a little more fact verification in the future in order to give you some credibility because at the moment, you don’t have much.