Reply to Entering Oyster as Spanish-dominant -- Spanish proficiency test?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have no dog in this fight. We bombed on the LAMB lottery and my child is too young for Oyster.

But I do hate it when people misuse data and that is what I feel is going on here in comparing these scores point blank. See the current Hardy thread on a 'dispassioned' evaluation of Hardy for a better analysis. But here is my crude analysis looking into the data on LAMB vs. Oyster.

[u]2014 Test Scores - students scoring proficient or advanced[/u]
LAMB:
Math - 69.64
Reading - 73.21
Composition - 83.33
Science - 83.33

Oyster:
Math - 79.59
Reading - 79.8
Composition - 78.05 
Science - 78.47

Oyster scores better in key areas of math and reading. Interestingly, though, LAMB scores better in composition and science. It is probably differences in curriculum and approach that account for that.

Now, more importantly than the face value test scores, let's look at the median growth percentile (MGP) for both schools. MGP is a better measure of school performance because it shows how much the kids are learning at school rather than how high of an income they have. High income brings up test scores across the board. (Again, see Hardy thread for an explanation of this). See http://greatergreatereducation.org/post/18970/heres-the-dc-school-ranking-you-should-be-looking-at/.

MGP Math:
Oyster - 51 (2014)
LAMB - 61 (2013)
*Same year data was not available.

MGP Reading:
Oyster - 52 (2014)
LAMB - 59 (2013)
*Again same year data not available.

So, while Oyster kids are scoring higher on the tests in math and reading, LAMB kids are improving more each year. This could indicate that LAMB kids are learning more in school compared to Oyster kids. Looking over time, these trends seem to have continued for several years with Oyster having higher overall scores and LAMB having higher MPGs. For comparable information from a couple of years back, see http://osse.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/osse/release_content/attachments/DC%20Schoolwide%20Growth%20Data%20Report_0.pdf.

Why would LAMB students score lower on the tests when they appear to be improving more on average each year? There could be a variety of reasons. One reason could be demographics since LAMB has a slight higher FARMs percentage and perhaps a more diverse population since you don't have to buy a million dollar home to get in, just win a school lottery (equally hard?). Another reason could perhaps be different teaching methods - it would be interesting to see how other Montessori schools stack up and whether Montessori teaching methods may play a role in the different scores. Finally, there are more ELL students at LAMB which could bring down their scores in the early years with some catch up to play in the later years.

All I want to point out here is that you have to look more deeply into the data when comparing schools rather than just look at straight up test scores. Beyond the analysis above, it is also useful to disaggregate by subgroup.

Regardless of all of this discussion, both LAMB and Oyster are great schools and I would give my left arm for my child to be accepted at either one of them. [/quote]

As you said, the key scores are math and reading...on pretty much every standardized test (not just DC CAS).  So it's nice that LAMB's students have done well in composition and science, but it really doesn't matter much.
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