DC CAS Subgroup Data

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:...and Deal beats all Charters, not all other charters.

Deal didn't score "a lot better" than Basis. Deal came in only a few points higher on reading and was actually one point lower than Basis on math. But consider also that Deal has a very different demographic - mostly Ward 3 high-SES white, and they manage to keep out a huge number of FARMS students. Basis on the other hand has a much more diverse student body drawing from all across the city, with twice the percentage of FARMS students, to the point of qualifying as Title I. Deal also has more resources and funding per student than Basis. Yet Basis, as promised, still did quite well - I wouldn't at all be surprised if their scores surpass Deal's next year. Also, unlike most DCPS schools, Basis does not spend anywhere near as much time working on DC-CAS test prep. Their philosophy is to have a strong curriculum in the first place, rather than teaching to the test the way DCPS does.

I don't have a child in either school, but I will look at both when the time comes for DCs, and we are fortunate to be IB for Deal. What matters to me is the number of students scoring Advanced. I would have expected BASIS to have more based on its philosophy, or Latin based on what parents say about it, but Deal does.

Latin Advanced Math 31% Reading 22%

BASIS Advanced Math 44%, Reading 23%

Deal Advanced Math 53% Reading 36%

So Deal is a very big school, but more than half of the students are scoring Advanced in math. I realize that DC CAS is not really a marker of what the advanced kids know (my second grader got 100% on the DC CAS math, and said it was all review, so I get that it is not a hard test for an advanced kid - and they do not do much, if any, prep before the test). But it does give a sense of the cohort. DC1 is in a grade that had even higher percentages of advanced-scoring students than Deal, and nearly all of that cohort will go on to Deal. It is a strong grade in the other feeder schools I've looked at as well, so when these kids all come together at Deal, they will be among a very strong group of learners. BASIS seems like a great school, but given the drawbacks (commute, sports), it would have be far superior to our neighborhood school for us to consider it. That's not bashing BASIS or Latin, they both certainly have aspects to recommend them and friends with kids at each speak highly of them, this is just one more factor in the balance like size, commute, activities, class choices, high school options, etc. If Deal were not an option, or if we feel the need for a smaller school, these would be very attractive options.

This is an misreading of the stats and I wish I had the time to break them down more. For example, when you compare Deal's sixth graders with BASIS sixth graders, the advanced scorers are 49% at BASIS and 53% at Deal. To me, the only class that will begin to show anything about BASIS is the graduating class of 2020, since that will be the first class to get full BASIS instruction from 5th grade on.

When you compare all of Deal with all of BASIS, you are comparing grades 6-8 out that were fed from the highest SES families in DC to grades 5-8 from a cohort of all different types of schools and SES. For BASIS to even come close to Deal says a lot in favor of BASIS.

BASIS is doing great, no doubt, and I'm glad DC finally has other good options. I'm just saying I don't see a reason to try to lottery into BASIS and take away spot from someone who is not IB for Deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a Basis parent and am SICk of hearing about Basis! I am so much more interested in what our CITY is going to do to narrow the racial proficiency gap-44% AA proficiency vs 92% Caucasian is just despicable and it needs to be dealt with now!

There is a gap no matter which DC school and no matter if we're talking about a group of kids in the exact same classroom with the exact same teachers and supports. That demonstrates that the achievement gap extends well beyond the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing to special about Basis. The school just happened to be populated by students who were proficient/advanced students from other schools. Ask any parent who enrolled their student at Basis from Watkins, SH, LT, or any other school whether their child was proficient/advanced prior to Basis, and the answer is likely to be yes. A true test of Basis is how well they move students from basic to proficient/advanced. From what I hear, parents are asked to find another school if their child can't cut it. What is left is essentially the cream of the crop. Saying that Basis is extraordinary because test scores are high is like claiming Harvard is great because the have a lot of students who score high on the SAT/ACT. To put it in local terms, look at the DC-CAS results for Banneker. No doubt Banneker graduates the most academically prepared students from DCPS. However, Banneker only accepts proficient and advanced students. Despite the quality of education and caliber of rigor at Banneker, you be hard pressed to find white parents willing to consider Banneker as an option for their DC.

Oh, for god's sake. The people at Basis wouldn't consider it if it didn't provide a unique service. Basis provides badly needed acceleration and challenge, no matter what it's detractors say, and it has proven itself. I'm sorry if it threatens your school, but Basis is here to stay, and is extraordinary because of its achievements, challenge, and help in educating kids who would be ignored in DCPS.

There is a statistic that OSSE computes, the Median Growth Percentile, which claims to capture the individual student growth. This tells how well the school raises the achievement of each student rather. It attempts to isolate the teaching quality of the school and capture how well teachers are able to advance their students regardless of where the student starts in their classroom.

Basis does not show any MGP numbers this year. Deal's MGP is impressive.

Median Growth Percentile (Math)
Deal 57 Basis - Latin 48 Hardy 45.5

Median Growth Percentile (Reading)
Deal 60 Basis - Latin 51 Hardy 48

It is a shame that OSSE doesn't provide a download capability or a spreadsheet with all the numbers and breakdowns by subgroups.

Interesting... BASIS is too new to have those stats. I'd have to go back and look at last year but I thought Latin did slightly better than BASIS - but now BASIS is doing better than Latin?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a Basis parent and am SICk of hearing about Basis! I am so much more interested in what our CITY is going to do to narrow the racial proficiency gap-44% AA proficiency vs 92% Caucasian is just despicable and it needs to be dealt with now!

You assume that the school system has been remiss in dealing with the achievement gap and that it could narrow the gap if it tried. In fact, in DCPS, they fired a boatload of supposedly ineffective teachers and set up an evaluation system that indicates that the vast majority of teachers are effective (if not, they are fired) and still there is an achievement gap. This suggests it's not the teachers - but DCPS cannot admit they were wrong about this. Nonetheless, it must be something else.

The families? The poverty? These are things people don't like to address. They'd rather bash teachers -- or just complain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a Basis parent and am SICk of hearing about Basis! I am so much more interested in what our CITY is going to do to narrow the racial proficiency gap-44% AA proficiency vs 92% Caucasian is just despicable and it needs to be dealt with now!

You assume that the school system has been remiss in dealing with the achievement gap and that it could narrow the gap if it tried. In fact, in DCPS, they fired a boatload of supposedly ineffective teachers and set up an evaluation system that indicates that the vast majority of teachers are effective (if not, they are fired) and still there is an achievement gap. This suggests it's not the teachers - but DCPS cannot admit they were wrong about this. Nonetheless, it must be something else.

The families? The poverty? These are things people don't like to address. They'd rather bash teachers -- or just complain.

Where did I say anything about teachers, let alone bash them? I don't blame them.

Unclench and stop reading things that aren't there.

[Anonymous]

Actually my issue here is the data is no longer in a spreadsheet. Lots can be hidden by fancy graphics.

[Anonymous]

Very good article in today's Post, See the link.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/08/05/if-this-isnt-school-reform-failure-what-is/

[Anonymous]

Catania was right not to commit to Henderson as his next chancellor if he is elected mayor. If he wins, I hope that he is smart enough to appoint a REAL superintendent of schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a Basis parent and am SICk of hearing about Basis! I am so much more interested in what our CITY is going to do to narrow the racial proficiency gap-44% AA proficiency vs 92% Caucasian is just despicable and it needs to be dealt with now!

You assume that the school system has been remiss in dealing with the achievement gap and that it could narrow the gap if it tried. In fact, in DCPS, they fired a boatload of supposedly ineffective teachers and set up an evaluation system that indicates that the vast majority of teachers are effective (if not, they are fired) and still there is an achievement gap. This suggests it's not the teachers - but DCPS cannot admit they were wrong about this. Nonetheless, it must be something else.

The families? The poverty? These are things people don't like to address. They'd rather bash teachers -- or just complain.

First off, it's a bit too simplistic to say the source of the achievement gap is wholly outside the school setting; there's been a fair amount of research suggesting bias influences expectations and outcomes.

Still, it's fair to say poverty and lousy family situations play a significant role.

The problem isn't that people "don't like to address them" -- the problem is there's wild disagreement about *how* to address them. What some Americans consider an obvious, common-sense solution, others say is the road to ruin. (And that absolutely goes in both directions.)

[Anonymous]

My concern is the total arrogance of DCPS. Instead of working closely with parents DCPS dictates to parents and families at all income levels. This top down approach alienates good principals and teachers and breaks the partnership between families which is required to improve performance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Umm, Deal gets kids from BOTH sides of the park and ALL SORTS of schools, not just the "highest SES families in DC"-the highest SES kid in Deal district probably go private, to be perfectly honest.

At some point higher SES doesn't really translate into better academics. I mean are the kids of lawyer-lobbyists really smarter/better prepared than the kids of high ranking civil servants and think tank types?

Both if those qualify as high SES. It's not purely income. It's educational attainment and other forms of social capital as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a Basis parent and am SICk of hearing about Basis! I am so much more interested in what our CITY is going to do to narrow the racial proficiency gap-44% AA proficiency vs 92% Caucasian is just despicable and it needs to be dealt with now!

You assume that the school system has been remiss in dealing with the achievement gap and that it could narrow the gap if it tried. In fact, in DCPS, they fired a boatload of supposedly ineffective teachers and set up an evaluation system that indicates that the vast majority of teachers are effective (if not, they are fired) and still there is an achievement gap. This suggests it's not the teachers - but DCPS cannot admit they were wrong about this. Nonetheless, it must be something else.

The families? The poverty? These are things people don't like to address. They'd rather bash teachers -- or just complain.

Where did I say anything about teachers, let alone bash them? I don't blame them.

Unclench and stop reading things that aren't there.

Was not blaming you -- was providing information about DCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Umm, Deal gets kids from BOTH sides of the park and ALL SORTS of schools, not just the "highest SES families in DC"-the highest SES kid in Deal district probably go private, to be perfectly honest.

At some point higher SES doesn't really translate into better academics. I mean are the kids of lawyer-lobbyists really smarter/better prepared than the kids of high ranking civil servants and think tank types?

Both if those qualify as high SES. It's not purely income. It's educational attainment and other forms of social capital as well.

Correct - many highly educated people in DC choose lower paying civil service jobs. They are just as likely to contribute to their children's education as people with similar education attainment who took corporate jobs and are just as likely to have stable home environments and live in safe neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Civil service pays more than our dual nonprofit family income. But we both have masters degrees, go to the library, read to our children, go to museums, have books and talk to our kids even as babies. We are high Socio Economic Status, though we are not making private sector or even GS salaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing to special about Basis. The school just happened to be populated by students who were proficient/advanced students from other schools. Ask any parent who enrolled their student at Basis from Watkins, SH, LT, or any other school whether their child was proficient/advanced prior to Basis, and the answer is likely to be yes. A true test of Basis is how well they move students from basic to proficient/advanced. From what I hear, parents are asked to find another school if their child can't cut it. What is left is essentially the cream of the crop. Saying that Basis is extraordinary because test scores are high is like claiming Harvard is great because the have a lot of students who score high on the SAT/ACT. To put it in local terms, look at the DC-CAS results for Banneker. No doubt Banneker graduates the most academically prepared students from DCPS. However, Banneker only accepts proficient and advanced students. Despite the quality of education and caliber of rigor at Banneker, you be hard pressed to find white parents willing to consider Banneker as an option for their DC.

Beg to differ re the true test of BASIS. One true test of the quality of a public high school, particularly an urban school, is how well they can can move their best students to elite colleges. We need far more politicians, parents and educators to think in such terms in a city that lacks a TJ, Boston Latin, Stuyvesant or BASIS Tuscon for that matter. You can back up a claim that an Ivy League school is great because it generates more National Science Foundation fellows, Fulbright winners and Rhodes and Marshall Scholars per capita than the competition on much firmer ground than one touting high school achievement.

What are you smoking? Banneker doesn't graduduate the most academically prepared DCPS students in the aggregate; SWW and Wilson do. Banneker's tradition is to education students of color. The philosophy may be behind the times in the extreme, but it is what it is.