Love the DC Schools Lotteries? Me Neither! You can Help!

[Anonymous]

DC Families,

I'm on my 3rd round w/ DC schools lottery and I suspect I have 3 more rounds ahead of me, as my children get older. How crazy is it that we have to win the lottery to get a good education? (and even as I give offerings to the lottery gods, I am not sure which school - whether charter or DCPS - I think is the right one!)

The reality is that there are two systems and that choice is really just choice to gamble... I haven't seen much in way of coordinated support from DCPS/PCSB to address this world of 'choice', so I'm taking this problem to science - data science.

In order to make this work, volunteer data scientists and programmers need data (our data, about our children's schools) that OSSE makes partially public. I asked the Mayor yesterday for support in opening up the data in time for an event this weekend, where volunteer data scientists and developers can spend 24 hours working on education problems.

It's an incredible opportunity for the Mayor and city leadership committed to education to take advantage of an army of volunteers (260 so far!) with results by Sunday! It's also an opportunity for Mayor Gray to make good on his commitment to transparency.

I'm hoping to get your help in supporting this. Please reach out to the Mayor, to OSSE and to city council asking for them to provide this data. Nothing is sensitive nor does it compromise privacy of students.

My letter to the Mayor + council and OSSE (w/ their contact info) is posted here: http://chpspo.org/2013/02/19/open-data-day-and-dc-education-open-letter-to-mayor-gray%E2%80%8F-by-sandra-moscoso/

Grateful for your help in reaching out, supporting, and sharing with everyone you know who thinks educating our children should be a given, not left to lotteries.

Thank you!

Sandra
(mom to 2 children in DC Public Schools)

http://chpspo.org/2013/02/19/open-data-day-and-dc-education-open-letter-to-mayor-gray%E2%80%8F-by-sandra-moscoso/

[Anonymous]

Any chance you could get a look at this:

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-03-27-school-test-table_N.htm

I'd love to see the test scores on the non-cheating schools.

How about analyzing the non-erasing schools. Who are they? What did student achievement look like? Where were they? I'd especially be interested to look at student achievement in the non cheating schools east of the park.

The DCCAS data is severely compromised during the Rhee years and that should be adjusted for, no matter what you are analyzing. (Example: JO Wilson. Soaring test scores didn't make affluent Capitol Hill parents run to enroll their children. However if you questioned the scores you were a racist who didn't believe AA children could achieve.)

Let's use the data to cut through the rhetoric and see what really happened during Rhee's tenure.

[Anonymous]

What data are you analyzing and for what purpose, specifically?

[Anonymous]

Fascinating! I can pitch it to the geeks, but will say I'll be looking to solve today's problems.

Anonymous wrote:Any chance you could get a look at this:

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-03-27-school-test-table_N.htm

I'd love to see the test scores on the non-cheating schools.

How about analyzing the non-erasing schools. Who are they? What did student achievement look like? Where were they? I'd especially be interested to look at student achievement in the non cheating schools east of the park.

The DCCAS data is severely compromised during the Rhee years and that should be adjusted for, no matter what you are analyzing. (Example: JO Wilson. Soaring test scores didn't make affluent Capitol Hill parents run to enroll their children. However if you questioned the scores you were a racist who didn't believe AA children could achieve.)

Let's use the data to cut through the rhetoric and see what really happened during Rhee's tenure.

[Anonymous]

Great idea -- I hope you manage to get the data you've requested. I'm pretty sure this info could be FOIA'd if you built in enough lead time.

It comes as little surprise to me that parents are having to do DCPS's data crunching and analysis for it. Maybe they do this behind closed doors?

Whatever the results are they won't be perfect, but at least you might create more substantive information from which to build in the future.

[Anonymous]

DCPS/OSSE used to publish DC-CAS data in greater detail then they did this year. I am fairly it has been a conscious decision to not release the data - it is scary and does DCPS no favor for people to dig into it.

See data on this site: http://nclb.osse.dc.gov

For some reason they decided not to publish data for 2012.

You can go into the school profile section pages of individual schools and glean some data about a school's performance, but no where near the amount or quality that used to be published.

We have made repeated attempts to get the data, and we were repeatedly rebuffed at the highest levels. I cant say that if I was in charge I wouldn't do the same thing - it's realpolitik.

[Anonymous]

tell them to publish demographic data for entering years at elementary schools regardless of testing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
See data on this site: http://nclb.osse.dc.gov

For some reason they decided not to publish data for 2012.

We have made repeated attempts to get the data, and we were repeatedly rebuffed at the highest levels. I cant say that if I was in charge I wouldn't do the same thing - it's realpolitik.

Actually, this very same data is available, just not in as palatable format. Here: http://osse.dc.gov/accountability
The nclb site you mention above was no longer fed with data after DCPS got the nclb waiver. I don't understand why because the only problem with it was that the "report cards" printed out whether AYP was met. I can't imagine there would be too much programming needed to change those few letters. The rest is just data all around and was really much nicer and easier to use than leafing through the spreadsheets and PDFs that are posted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
See data on this site: http://nclb.osse.dc.gov

For some reason they decided not to publish data for 2012.

We have made repeated attempts to get the data, and we were repeatedly rebuffed at the highest levels. I cant say that if I was in charge I wouldn't do the same thing - it's realpolitik.

Actually, this very same data is available, just not in as palatable format. Here: http://osse.dc.gov/accountability
The nclb site you mention above was no longer fed with data after DCPS got the nclb waiver. I don't understand why because the only problem with it was that the "report cards" printed out whether AYP was met. I can't imagine there would be too much programming needed to change those few letters. The rest is just data all around and was really much nicer and easier to use than leafing through the spreadsheets and PDFs that are posted.

The data provided with the link you provided doesn't tell one as much as the NCLB site used to.

For example, what is the breakdown (below basic, basic, proficient, advanced) for math for econ-disadvantaged sixth graders at Hardy in 2012?

Why does a waiver mean that DCPS doesn't provide the same level of detail as it used to.

[Anonymous]

PP here: After reading the open call, let me take this back. The old NCLB website is actually precisely not what Sandra has in mind and I agree with her. For anybody who wants to do meaningful analysis that site is of no use. I for example once spent hours trying to track a couple of schools over time and tentatively correlate that with SES composition - admittedly very rudimentary analysis but still interesting - and really hit a wall because none of the "open" data comes in spreadsheet format, which is what you need to produce trendlines and charts. I typed it all in by hand...
This is a totally exciting project. Go for it! I just wish that they were given more lead time to seriously considering opening their doors to it. It'll be so easy to say "Forget it, too short a notice."

[Anonymous]

I don't understand the overall purpose of this request.

What data exactly are you looking for?

How are you thinking gathering that data (whichever data it is) will change the lottery process?

We currently have a public school system that is NOT income-based and, as it improves and the economy continues to struggle, there is far more demand for good schools than there are slots. So whatever data you are gathering, what is it you think you will learn that will somehow either increase the number of good slots or increase the demand?

Or is there another angle towards a solution that you are envisioning and if so, what is it?

[Anonymous]

I'm going to guess (not OP) that the hope for this is much greater transparency across all levels of school data, enabling ALL parents to have access to the same information and consistent school evaluations. DCPS is going to make testing results even murkier as it eliminates DC-CAS and moves to PARCC testing. This would be a great time to hold feet to the fire and get some good benchmarking.

New data and analysis could appear that'll turn some heads, but I think the most important takeaway would be to level the playing field so that we can all make the best decisions for our families. (Not those of us who devote a lot of time to researching individual schools, calling principals, etc.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the overall purpose of this request.

What data exactly are you looking for?

How are you thinking gathering that data (whichever data it is) will change the lottery process?

We currently have a public school system that is NOT income-based and, as it improves and the economy continues to struggle, there is far more demand for good schools than there are slots. So whatever data you are gathering, what is it you think you will learn that will somehow either increase the number of good slots or increase the demand?

Or is there another angle towards a solution that you are envisioning and if so, what is it?

Yeah, I don't get this either.

[Anonymous]

I think the idea is to know as much as possible about what's going on in the lotteries. Sometimes when the data is organized properly, problems--and potential solutions--make themselves very clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the idea is to know as much as possible about what's going on in the lotteries. Sometimes when the data is organized properly, problems--and potential solutions--make themselves very clear.

That's why I'm asking what data she's looking for? And since OP hasn't responded, in the other PPs speculation about what she's trying to achieve (including your post), it ranges from a bigger agenda of more transparency and trying to improve schools overall (which, if schools were improved overall, would make more quality slots available), or is it specific to improving the lottery process as you yourself are thinking?

I wish OP would respond again, because I'm all for improvements in both the schools themselves and the admissions processes, but I don't understand what data she's after and what her goal is, which is key to me in whether I invest my time. Not that she needs my time in particular, but since she did advertise it here, and I'm supportive of the fuzzy concept, just asking for actual clarity. Maybe she'll get dramatically greater support (and other ideas) if she can be clearer about her goal...