DC CAS results are posted...

[Anonymous]

Check the OSSE website for the results.

[Anonymous]

thx OP, do you have a link?

[Anonymous]

http://www.nclb.osse.dc.gov

[Anonymous]

Wow! Eaton has made huge gains. It leapfrogged over Murch and Key and now has the 4th highest scores in the city (slightly behind Mann, Lafayette, and Janney). And it has, by far, the most diverse student body of any of these schools. Goes to show the difference a motivated principal can make.

[Anonymous]

And 22% of the children at Eaton who took the DC-CAS are on a free or reduced price lunch. Eaton is still a "rich" school, by DCPS standards, but I'm happy to see they made gains.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow! Eaton has made huge gains. It leapfrogged over Murch and Key and now has the 4th highest scores in the city (slightly behind Mann, Lafayette, and Janney). And it has, by far, the most diverse student body of any of these schools. Goes to show the difference a motivated principal can make.

I don't get your comparisons -- what do you mean by "4th highest"? Do you mean that the percent of kids above below basic (i.e. basic, proficient or advanced) is the fourth highest? If so, this is not much of a measure of the school. I would prefer to look at the splits in basic/proficient/advanced. I would expect any upper NW school, including Eaton, to have a very low percentage of below basic students. What is more telling as to quality of academics is the split between proficient and advanced. For example, Eaton has around 66% of kids at advanced in reading and 18.5% in advanced while Janney has about 59% proficient and 31% advanced. For me, that does not qualify as being "slightly behind" Janney, etc. There are large gaps between the number of students performing at advanced levels at Eaton and some other schools. Perhaps this is because Eaton does not offer advanced instruction, nor do they group kids by skill level and teach to the individual's skill level. By contrast, Janney does offer advanced instruction to kids who demonstrate ability/skill.

Eaton's reading scores actually appear to be a little worse than Key's, although the two are pretty similar at the below basic and proficient categories. Key appears to have done better in reading by pushing approximately 6% of their kids from the proficient to advanced categories. I don't think that's anything for Key to crow about, and certainly doesn't qualify to describe Eaton as "leapfrogging" Key.

Having said that, Eaton's scores have improved from last year and the school does deserve credit for that. I just don't think it qualifies as "huge" gains, nor a "wow"! Eaton can and should be a much better school than it is.

And, frankly, I don't think it's relevant that Eaton has the "most diverse" student body of these schools. Why is it that Eaton's diversity is always offered as an explanation as to why it's behind schools like Lafayette and Janney? Eaton is more diverse, has got a higher FARMS rate and LEP rate, but the percentages in these categories are not so large as to present insurmountable problems for instruction. Eaton's "diverse" students come from very motivated and caring families and they should enjoy a level of instruction commensurate with schools like Janney and Mann, etc.

[Anonymous]

Look at Wilson's improvement -- 17% advanced to 33%. I don't claim to understand the ins and outs of the DC-CAS; anyone have any info on how Wilson improved so dramatically?

[Anonymous]

PP here -- that improvement was in reading; math stayed the same. The reading improvements were across black, Hispanic, and white students.

[Anonymous]

I think the Eaton poster may be looking at this list:

http://www.nclb.osse.dc.gov/schoolsSummaryReports.asp

[Anonymous]

I have a degree in statistics and can attest that the metrics used by 19:06 are skewed. In comparing test scores in order to gauge quality of instruction, it is essential to compare test scores by race. Blacks have lower test scores in general so, in comparing scores, the whites at each school should be compared to each other and then the blacks should be compared. Using this correct metric, Eaton is first in the city in three of the four categories.

Reading - Whites
Eaton - 96.5
Mann - 95.9
Lafay - 95

Reading - Blacks
Eaton - 83.8
Janney - 83.6
Lafay - 83.3

Math - Whites
Eaton - 94.8
Key - 94.5
Lafay - 93

Math - Blacks
Lafay - 83
Eaton - 73.7
Janney - 72.7

If we use the percentages in the advanced category as advocated by 19:06, Eaton still comes out ahead of Janney. For example, 55% of Eaton's white students are advanced in math while 51% of Janney's white students are advanced. 32% of Eaton's black students are advanced in math while 16% of Janney's black students are advanced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a degree in statistics.

Could you comment of the validity of these tests.

[Anonymous]

Congratulations to all of the families of upper northwest public schools, where DC-CAS results show that, just like in Lake Wobegon, all the children are above average.

[Anonymous]

I'm curious if the statistical degree poster would give an opinion on whether the scores quoted are statistically different. I took a statistics course 15 years ago, and 25 years ago.

It seems to me that except for the Math, Black, where Lafay is 10 points ahead of the other 2, that difference between the scores is likely not significantly different.

Isn't it something like dividing by the square root of the number of observations?

[Anonymous]

13:00 - You provide a very interesting analysis. I hadn't thought of your analysis before but your methodology makes perfect sense. Congrats to Eaton for establishing itself at the upper echelon of D.C. elementary schools - very impressive gains over the past 2 years.

[Anonymous]

Stats aside, what do Eaton parents attribute changes to?