Shake Up at SSMA?

[Anonymous]

The thanks goes to one teacher in particular that had enrichment class every Wednesday to prep kids for the PARCC test; thus, the huge growth. If the new principle can institute some instructional leadership, maybe they have a shot. However, math is just awful. Just goes to show the PMF is not an indicator of what is really happening at schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shining Stars is a Tier 1 school now!

https://www.dcpcsb.org/more-students-ever-attend-top-ranked-public-charter-school

"Ten schools made the jump from Tier 2 to Tier 1 this year, with Shining Stars Montessori Academy PCS improving by 31 points"

This is great news for the future of SSMA.

The only sour note for me -- and the reason I am posting it on this thread - is that the "Shake Up at SSMA" last year was clearly totally unjustified. I don't know why the last director of education left the school. But hats off to her. She did a remarkable job for SSMA. If you're reading this - Ms. W - Thank you!

I remember the low score being a lot because of attendance. What's the jump attributable to? Better attendance is less impressive than perhaps other markers.

Compare the last two year's reports for yourself. You can see what improved - not just attendance (although that was up).

http://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/2017-11-8%20PMF%20Score%20Card%20SY16-17_Shining%20Stars%20Montessori%20Academy%20PCS_2017.pdf
https://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/2018-10-29%20Shining%20Stars%20Montessori%20Academy%20PCS%20PK3-8%20PMF.pdf

I'm not clear on the exact weighting, but, the main difference really is the re-enrollment and attendance. Should those really matter THAT much?!

They also had no growth score last year. But their growth scores this year are uneven.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shining Stars is a Tier 1 school now!

https://www.dcpcsb.org/more-students-ever-attend-top-ranked-public-charter-school

"Ten schools made the jump from Tier 2 to Tier 1 this year, with Shining Stars Montessori Academy PCS improving by 31 points"

This is great news for the future of SSMA.

The only sour note for me -- and the reason I am posting it on this thread - is that the "Shake Up at SSMA" last year was clearly totally unjustified. I don't know why the last director of education left the school. But hats off to her. She did a remarkable job for SSMA. If you're reading this - Ms. W - Thank you!

I remember the low score being a lot because of attendance. What's the jump attributable to? Better attendance is less impressive than perhaps other markers.

The academic scores generally went up. But the dramatic improvements in tiering came from the scores for attendance and re-enrollment. See here:

https://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/2018-10-29%20Shining%20Stars%20Montessori%20Academy%20PCS%20PK3-8%20PMF.pdf

and compare the numbers to the year before:

https://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/2017-11-8%20PMF%20Score%20Card%20SY16-17_Shining%20Stars%20Montessori%20Academy%20PCS_2017.pdf

Last year, SSMA got 0.9 out of 18 points for attendance and re-enrollment. This year: 13.6. That counts for 12.7 points of the 12.8 points of improvement (24.4 to 37.2) that were assessed last year. So almost ALL of the increase came from those two areas, relative to last year.

The academic scores did go up from 13.5 to 14.5, which is a big rise. But that rise was evened out by lower CLASS scores, so that it was attendance and re-enrollment that made the difference. But because SSMA is old enough as an institution, it was also graded on two new components. It was graded on a 55 point scale last year. But this year it was graded on a 90 point scale because 35 new tiering points came from 'growth' in Math and English scores.

If you do the math though, SSMA IS STILL A TIER 2 SCHOOL: 54.7 out of 90 is 60.7%, not 75.4% as it now reads on the school quality report. SOMEONE WILL FIGURE OUT THAT THEY SCREWED UP THE MATH and drop SSMA back to Tier 2.

What's more, the attendance numbers are clearly bogus. There's no way attendance was 94.8% at Shining Stars last year. No way. The ED knew she needed to get the number up and submitted a high number for that reason. But she cooked the books. It's a fake number.

Given what I know about SSMA: huge teacher turnover (which will affect academic scores) and lower re-enrollment, expect the tiering numbers to drop down next year.

So, in sum, the Tier 1 rating is a math error that they will correct. The improvement based on attendance is bogus. And the improvement based on re-enrollment will be reversed next year. The only good thing about the PMF IN REALITY is the increased academic scores. Let's hope the new education director can build on the success of the last on that score. But with such a huge turnover in guides, don't count on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shining Stars is a Tier 1 school now!

https://www.dcpcsb.org/more-students-ever-attend-top-ranked-public-charter-school

"Ten schools made the jump from Tier 2 to Tier 1 this year, with Shining Stars Montessori Academy PCS improving by 31 points"

This is great news for the future of SSMA.

The only sour note for me -- and the reason I am posting it on this thread - is that the "Shake Up at SSMA" last year was clearly totally unjustified. I don't know why the last director of education left the school. But hats off to her. She did a remarkable job for SSMA. If you're reading this - Ms. W - Thank you!

I remember the low score being a lot because of attendance. What's the jump attributable to? Better attendance is less impressive than perhaps other markers.

You wrote a book sheesh
The academic scores generally went up. But the dramatic improvements in tiering came from the scores for attendance and re-enrollment. See here:

https://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/2018-10-29%20Shining%20Stars%20Montessori%20Academy%20PCS%20PK3-8%20PMF.pdf

and compare the numbers to the year before:

https://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/2017-11-8%20PMF%20Score%20Card%20SY16-17_Shining%20Stars%20Montessori%20Academy%20PCS_2017.pdf

Last year, SSMA got 0.9 out of 18 points for attendance and re-enrollment. This year: 13.6. That counts for 12.7 points of the 12.8 points of improvement (24.4 to 37.2) that were assessed last year. So almost ALL of the increase came from those two areas, relative to last year.

The academic scores did go up from 13.5 to 14.5, which is a big rise. But that rise was evened out by lower CLASS scores, so that it was attendance and re-enrollment that made the difference. But because SSMA is old enough as an institution, it was also graded on two new components. It was graded on a 55 point scale last year. But this year it was graded on a 90 point scale because 35 new tiering points came from 'growth' in Math and English scores.

If you do the math though, SSMA IS STILL A TIER 2 SCHOOL: 54.7 out of 90 is 60.7%, not 75.4% as it now reads on the school quality report. SOMEONE WILL FIGURE OUT THAT THEY SCREWED UP THE MATH and drop SSMA back to Tier 2.

What's more, the attendance numbers are clearly bogus. There's no way attendance was 94.8% at Shining Stars last year. No way. The ED knew she needed to get the number up and submitted a high number for that reason. But she cooked the books. It's a fake number.

Given what I know about SSMA: huge teacher turnover (which will affect academic scores) and lower re-enrollment, expect the tiering numbers to drop down next year.

So, in sum, the Tier 1 rating is a math error that they will correct. The improvement based on attendance is bogus. And the improvement based on re-enrollment will be reversed next year. The only good thing about the PMF IN REALITY is the increased academic scores. Let's hope the new education director can build on the success of the last on that score. But with such a huge turnover in guides, don't count on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shining Stars is a Tier 1 school now!

https://www.dcpcsb.org/more-students-ever-attend-top-ranked-public-charter-school

"Ten schools made the jump from Tier 2 to Tier 1 this year, with Shining Stars Montessori Academy PCS improving by 31 points"

This is great news for the future of SSMA.

The only sour note for me -- and the reason I am posting it on this thread - is that the "Shake Up at SSMA" last year was clearly totally unjustified. I don't know why the last director of education left the school. But hats off to her. She did a remarkable job for SSMA. If you're reading this - Ms. W - Thank you!

I remember the low score being a lot because of attendance. What's the jump attributable to? Better attendance is less impressive than perhaps other markers.

You wrote a book sheesh
The academic scores generally went up. But the dramatic improvements in tiering came from the scores for attendance and re-enrollment. See here:

https://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/2018-10-29%20Shining%20Stars%20Montessori%20Academy%20PCS%20PK3-8%20PMF.pdf

and compare the numbers to the year before:

https://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/2017-11-8%20PMF%20Score%20Card%20SY16-17_Shining%20Stars%20Montessori%20Academy%20PCS_2017.pdf

Last year, SSMA got 0.9 out of 18 points for attendance and re-enrollment. This year: 13.6. That counts for 12.7 points of the 12.8 points of improvement (24.4 to 37.2) that were assessed last year. So almost ALL of the increase came from those two areas, relative to last year.

The academic scores did go up from 13.5 to 14.5, which is a big rise. But that rise was evened out by lower CLASS scores, so that it was attendance and re-enrollment that made the difference. But because SSMA is old enough as an institution, it was also graded on two new components. It was graded on a 55 point scale last year. But this year it was graded on a 90 point scale because 35 new tiering points came from 'growth' in Math and English scores.

If you do the math though, SSMA IS STILL A TIER 2 SCHOOL: 54.7 out of 90 is 60.7%, not 75.4% as it now reads on the school quality report. SOMEONE WILL FIGURE OUT THAT THEY SCREWED UP THE MATH and drop SSMA back to Tier 2.

What's more, the attendance numbers are clearly bogus. There's no way attendance was 94.8% at Shining Stars last year. No way. The ED knew she needed to get the number up and submitted a high number for that reason. But she cooked the books. It's a fake number.

Given what I know about SSMA: huge teacher turnover (which will affect academic scores) and lower re-enrollment, expect the tiering numbers to drop down next year.

So, in sum, the Tier 1 rating is a math error that they will correct. The improvement based on attendance is bogus. And the improvement based on re-enrollment will be reversed next year. The only good thing about the PMF IN REALITY is the increased academic scores. Let's hope the new education director can build on the success of the last on that score. But with such a huge turnover in guides, don't count on it.

So the math is wrong? Someone should flag to DCPCSB (and they should take it out of their press release because that's pretty embarassing.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shining Stars is a Tier 1 school now!

https://www.dcpcsb.org/more-students-ever-attend-top-ranked-public-charter-school

"Ten schools made the jump from Tier 2 to Tier 1 this year, with Shining Stars Montessori Academy PCS improving by 31 points"

This is great news for the future of SSMA.

The only sour note for me -- and the reason I am posting it on this thread - is that the "Shake Up at SSMA" last year was clearly totally unjustified. I don't know why the last director of education left the school. But hats off to her. She did a remarkable job for SSMA. If you're reading this - Ms. W - Thank you!

I remember the low score being a lot because of attendance. What's the jump attributable to? Better attendance is less impressive than perhaps other markers.

The academic scores generally went up. But the dramatic improvements in tiering came from the scores for attendance and re-enrollment. See here:

https://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/2018-10-29%20Shining%20Stars%20Montessori%20Academy%20PCS%20PK3-8%20PMF.pdf

and compare the numbers to the year before:

https://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/2017-11-8%20PMF%20Score%20Card%20SY16-17_Shining%20Stars%20Montessori%20Academy%20PCS_2017.pdf

Last year, SSMA got 0.9 out of 18 points for attendance and re-enrollment. This year: 13.6. That counts for 12.7 points of the 12.8 points of improvement (24.4 to 37.2) that were assessed last year. So almost ALL of the increase came from those two areas, relative to last year.

The academic scores did go up from 13.5 to 14.5, which is a big rise. But that rise was evened out by lower CLASS scores, so that it was attendance and re-enrollment that made the difference. But because SSMA is old enough as an institution, it was also graded on two new components. It was graded on a 55 point scale last year. But this year it was graded on a 90 point scale because 35 new tiering points came from 'growth' in Math and English scores.

If you do the math though, SSMA IS STILL A TIER 2 SCHOOL: 54.7 out of 90 is 60.7%, not 75.4% as it now reads on the school quality report. SOMEONE WILL FIGURE OUT THAT THEY SCREWED UP THE MATH and drop SSMA back to Tier 2.

What's more, the attendance numbers are clearly bogus. There's no way attendance was 94.8% at Shining Stars last year. No way. The ED knew she needed to get the number up and submitted a high number for that reason. But she cooked the books. It's a fake number.

Given what I know about SSMA: huge teacher turnover (which will affect academic scores) and lower re-enrollment, expect the tiering numbers to drop down next year.

So, in sum, the Tier 1 rating is a math error that they will correct. The improvement based on attendance is bogus. And the improvement based on re-enrollment will be reversed next year. The only good thing about the PMF IN REALITY is the increased academic scores. Let's hope the new education director can build on the success of the last on that score. But with such a huge turnover in guides, don't count on it.

I have no clue how SSMA got a 75.4% rating to get Tier 1 because if you look at the scores, the only things above 75.4% are growth in English, attendance and emotional support. That's it. Everything else is below the 75.4% number that ranks Shining Stars Tier 1. Something's wrong with that.

[Anonymous]

I just looked at Roots, which is scored on the same 90 point scale:

https://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/2018-10-29%20Roots%20PCS%20PK3-8%20PMF.pdf

And they got 33.7 out of 90 which is 37.4%, just as it says on their PMF. The math for SSMA should be the same and it's not.

SSMA got 60.7% and that's Tier 2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just looked at Roots, which is scored on the same 90 point scale:

https://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/2018-10-29%20Roots%20PCS%20PK3-8%20PMF.pdf

And they got 33.7 out of 90 which is 37.4%, just as it says on their PMF. The math for SSMA should be the same and it's not.

SSMA got 60.7% and that's Tier 2.

I think you are right- at first I thought maybe the "additional measures" on page 2 of the PMF scoring sheet factored into the score at Shining Stars, but Roots has a similar page 2 with "additional measures" and it doesn't include those scores in the overall score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just looked at Roots, which is scored on the same 90 point scale:

https://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/2018-10-29%20Roots%20PCS%20PK3-8%20PMF.pdf

And they got 33.7 out of 90 which is 37.4%, just as it says on their PMF. The math for SSMA should be the same and it's not.

SSMA got 60.7% and that's Tier 2.

I think you are right- at first I thought maybe the "additional measures" on page 2 of the PMF scoring sheet factored into the score at Shining Stars, but Roots has a similar page 2 with "additional measures" and it doesn't include those scores in the overall score.

So does the SSMA administration ethically flag this to the DCPCSB. I notice they haven't pushed out the Tiering on their social media. I wonder if that's why. And DCPCSB used SSMA growth as a talking point. Hard to put this one back in the bag

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just looked at Roots, which is scored on the same 90 point scale:

https://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/2018-10-29%20Roots%20PCS%20PK3-8%20PMF.pdf

And they got 33.7 out of 90 which is 37.4%, just as it says on their PMF. The math for SSMA should be the same and it's not.

SSMA got 60.7% and that's Tier 2.

I think you are right- at first I thought maybe the "additional measures" on page 2 of the PMF scoring sheet factored into the score at Shining Stars, but Roots has a similar page 2 with "additional measures" and it doesn't include those scores in the overall score.

So does the SSMA administration ethically flag this to the DCPCSB. I notice they haven't pushed out the Tiering on their social media. I wonder if that's why. And DCPCSB used SSMA growth as a talking point. Hard to put this one back in the bag

I'm disappointed SSMA isn't actually Tier 1. But, truth be told, it never felt like a Tier 1 school. The ED and her minions are really unorganized and non-responsive.

Anyway, this is not SSMA's screw up. It's on the Charter School Board. But, you know full well SSMA isn't going to 'ethically' flag this. They (the ED) submitted fake attendance numbers to boost their score. They are not ethical people.

[Anonymous]

The schools got their scores and sheets on Monday, they were just embargoed until yesterday. If SSMA knows or noticed, they would have had a couple days to clear it up before DCPSCB released

[Anonymous]

One way to look at this is that - academically - SSMA is a borderline Tier 1 school. Yes, it has faults on the academic side. But the old education director and the guides worked hard last year on that score.

But, administratively, SSMA is a disaster. And it makes sense that they didn't do well on the things like attendance and re-enrollment which are directly affected by that disorganization. I mean, even the new bi-lingual program is a joke - all because of their lack of organization.

Organization is job 1 in education. Organization is important because children need routines to do well. And SSMA has been poor at providing them the constancy their students deserve.

It's simply not a Tier 1 school. It's not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One way to look at this is that - academically - SSMA is a borderline Tier 1 school. Yes, it has faults on the academic side. But the old education director and the guides worked hard last year on that score.

But, administratively, SSMA is a disaster. And it makes sense that they didn't do well on the things like attendance and re-enrollment which are directly affected by that disorganization. I mean, even the new bi-lingual program is a joke - all because of their lack of organization.

Organization is job 1 in education. Organization is important because children need routines to do well. And SSMA has been poor at providing them the constancy their students deserve.

It's simply not a Tier 1 school. It's not.

The rumor about the bilingual program is that the guide SSMA hired wasn't getting paid (surprise!!) and she was angry. So, you talk about disorganized, there you go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just looked at Roots, which is scored on the same 90 point scale:

https://www.dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/2018-10-29%20Roots%20PCS%20PK3-8%20PMF.pdf

And they got 33.7 out of 90 which is 37.4%, just as it says on their PMF. The math for SSMA should be the same and it's not.

SSMA got 60.7% and that's Tier 2.

I think you are right- at first I thought maybe the "additional measures" on page 2 of the PMF scoring sheet factored into the score at Shining Stars, but Roots has a similar page 2 with "additional measures" and it doesn't include those scores in the overall score.

So does the SSMA administration ethically flag this to the DCPCSB. I notice they haven't pushed out the Tiering on their social media. I wonder if that's why. And DCPCSB used SSMA growth as a talking point. Hard to put this one back in the bag

Parents were emailed about the ranking this am.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I have no clue how SSMA got a 75.4% rating to get Tier 1 because if you look at the scores, the only things above 75.4% are growth in English, attendance and emotional support. That's it. Everything else is below the 75.4% number that ranks Shining Stars Tier 1. Something's wrong with that.

There's no way SSMA could get a 75.4% if only three measures are above 75.4%. And those aren't even the most important measures. Yes, attendance, emotional support and growth are important. But there's no way they pull the whole score up to 75.4%.

The math is definitely wrong.