I read recently that you might be joining Governor Deal on a tour of the "miracle" that is the New Orleans Recovery School District, the model for his Georgia schools takeover and turnover plan.. This time of year must be very busy for you, so I took the liberty of collecting some background readings on the Recovery School District you might be visiting.
1, Be prepared for lots of discussions of "failing" schools being transformed. The Christian Science Monitor laps up the New Schools for New Orleans narrative and regurgitates it well: "One measure regularly used in Louisiana is the Growth School Performance
Score, which is based on test scores, graduation rates, and other
factors. Based on those scores, in 2004-05 only 12 percent of students
in New Orleans attended 'A' or 'B' schools while nearly 75 percent
attended 'F' schools, reports New Schools for New Orleans (NSNO), a
nonprofit that incubates and supports charter schools. By 2012-13, just
17 percent of students were in 'F' schools, while 34 percent were in 'A'
or 'B' schools."
New Orleans goes all in on charter schools. Is it showing the way?
Quite the rosy picture painted by New Schools for New Orleans. Which is why you should read this, by statistician and Louisiana educator Mercedes Schneider: New Schools for New Orleans: Don’t You Believe It
[Mercedes Schneider is the woman you should meet to talk about Recovery Schools Districts and the statistical manipulation that props up its "success." She delves into the data from the Louisiana DOE and finds reality doesn't always match the narrative you might hear.]
Quite the rosy picture painted by New Schools for New Orleans. Which is why you should read this, by statistician and Louisiana educator Mercedes Schneider: New Schools for New Orleans: Don’t You Believe It
[Mercedes Schneider is the woman you should meet to talk about Recovery Schools Districts and the statistical manipulation that props up its "success." She delves into the data from the Louisiana DOE and finds reality doesn't always match the narrative you might hear.]
Rep, Abrams, you also should give Georgia State prof Kristen Buras a call, She can give you the full rundown on the shifting definition of "failing" for Louisiana schools. Prior to Katrina, "failing" was 60 on the State Performance Scores. Only by raising failing to 87.4 could the state capture all the schools it wanted for the New Orleans RSD. Or as Professor Buras aptly put it: "'The success of the New Orleans charter school movement has been legislatively defined. If you treat standards of what constitutes status of failure like a ping pong ball and continuously move it, then you can generate success or failure by shifting the definition."
Rep Abrams be very wary when someone compares the number of failing schools now to 2005 or to any time for that matter. If you are still interested in school letter grades, the appendix of this report from the Cowen Institute provides the latest, readjusted, inflated scores.
2. When you start hearing a litany of statistics, listen closely for times when persons say "the New Orleans graduation rate" or "the New Orleans ACT scores."
For example, here Schneider takes Leslie Jacobs to task for willfully conflating New Orleans with RSD schools and citing a misleading 76,5% graduation rate:
"First, one must consider the unclear term, “New Orleans.” This is the name of a city, not a school district. There is Orleans Parish Public Schools (those operating under the authority of the elected Orleans Parish School Board), and its 2010-11 graduation rate was 93.5 percent. This begs the question: Why focus on 76.5 percent as the evidence of “New Orleans success” instead of Orleans Parish Public Schools’ 93.5 percent? Furthermore, the OPSB received an “A” on its 2012 district report card. Why not highlight the achievements of OPSB?
The answer: The success of the OPSB schools only serves to underscore the failure of the state-run counterpart, RSD-NO."
New Orleans Recovery School District: The Lie Revealed, Part III
3. So what is the graduation rate for the RSD? To tell the truth, that's up for debate. A student leaving a school does not count as a dropout if the school has a record of the transfer actually happening. On a state audit of exit codes, 0% of the RSD exit codes for transfers to another school could be documented. None of them.
School transfer data raises questions about accuracy of Louisiana dropout rates
So what would an RSD graduation rate be if the average is 76.5 and and OPSB graduation rate is 93.5%? The author of New Orleans high school exam results, graduation rate near state average observes: "The decline in the city's 2013 four-year graduation rate was due entirely to the Recovery district schools [graduation rate of 59.5%]."
4. So are there any objective or national measures? Well, there is the ACT which is high stakes for Louisiana. A score of 17 qualifies a student for the TOPS scholarship and entrance to a two-year college, and a 20 qualifies a student for a TOPS scholarship entrance to a four-year university. Four out of five RSD takers of the ACT failed to qualify for any college. As Mercedes Schneider observes, "This. Is. Not. Success" and she has posted an article addressed to you and your colleagues on this very point:
To Georgia Lawmakers: Louisiana Scholarship Eligibility Isn't Happening for State-run New Orleans Recovery School District (RSD) Graduates
3. So what is the graduation rate for the RSD? To tell the truth, that's up for debate. A student leaving a school does not count as a dropout if the school has a record of the transfer actually happening. On a state audit of exit codes, 0% of the RSD exit codes for transfers to another school could be documented. None of them.
School transfer data raises questions about accuracy of Louisiana dropout rates
So what would an RSD graduation rate be if the average is 76.5 and and OPSB graduation rate is 93.5%? The author of New Orleans high school exam results, graduation rate near state average observes: "The decline in the city's 2013 four-year graduation rate was due entirely to the Recovery district schools [graduation rate of 59.5%]."
4. So are there any objective or national measures? Well, there is the ACT which is high stakes for Louisiana. A score of 17 qualifies a student for the TOPS scholarship and entrance to a two-year college, and a 20 qualifies a student for a TOPS scholarship entrance to a four-year university. Four out of five RSD takers of the ACT failed to qualify for any college. As Mercedes Schneider observes, "This. Is. Not. Success" and she has posted an article addressed to you and your colleagues on this very point:
To Georgia Lawmakers: Louisiana Scholarship Eligibility Isn't Happening for State-run New Orleans Recovery School District (RSD) Graduates
5. I know Governor Deal is on his high horse about "failing" Georgia schools and their profligate spending of over $8400.00 per student. [You know, what Politifact Georgia called Half-True]. Can we know how much the RSD spends per child?
Based on 2010 NCES records, education.com reports, "The Recovery School District spends $16,885 per pupil in current expenditures. The district spends 41% on instruction, 55% on support services, and 4% on other elementary and secondary expenditures." The Tulane University Cowen Institute mingles Orleans Parish and RSD schools into one report, the State of Public Education for New Orleans and states a more modest $13,203.00 per student per year. Makes $8400.00 seem like a bargain, doesn't it?
Rep Abrams, this should give you something to review on your flight. I hope you are joining the Governor to make your own determination of the facts. The RSD has had almost a decade to improve the educational opportunities for these children, and that opportunity has been squandered.
I am sure there will be photo opportunities at which the governor's staff will maneuver you close behind him, as they did for the photos after your bipartisan collaboration on the two-tier HOPE program. I trust that this time you distance yourself from this governor and his plans to reenact the turnover of public schools to corporate charters and that you act decisively for the best interests of Georgia's students by working with the Georgia Senate Democrats on their alternative bill to improve student chances for success.
Based on 2010 NCES records, education.com reports, "The Recovery School District spends $16,885 per pupil in current expenditures. The district spends 41% on instruction, 55% on support services, and 4% on other elementary and secondary expenditures." The Tulane University Cowen Institute mingles Orleans Parish and RSD schools into one report, the State of Public Education for New Orleans and states a more modest $13,203.00 per student per year. Makes $8400.00 seem like a bargain, doesn't it?
Rep Abrams, this should give you something to review on your flight. I hope you are joining the Governor to make your own determination of the facts. The RSD has had almost a decade to improve the educational opportunities for these children, and that opportunity has been squandered.
I am sure there will be photo opportunities at which the governor's staff will maneuver you close behind him, as they did for the photos after your bipartisan collaboration on the two-tier HOPE program. I trust that this time you distance yourself from this governor and his plans to reenact the turnover of public schools to corporate charters and that you act decisively for the best interests of Georgia's students by working with the Georgia Senate Democrats on their alternative bill to improve student chances for success.
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