Three weeks ago NY State released the 2009 ELA scores, and I posted the results for New York’s Big Five city districts, noting how gains seem to have followed increases in funding under CFE for the second year in a row. I also pointed out that in NYC, students made greater gains in the two well-funded years than they had in the first four years of the Chancellor’s reforms.
Now we have the 2009 Math, and the pattern holds. First, here’s NYC:
NYC: Gains in the Percentage of Students Proficient
As the chart shows, New York City made greater gains both before Joel Klein’s Children First (when we had the Chancellor’s District that Chancellor Klein dissolved), and then again a full four years after Children First had been implemented (2008 and 2009), once the funds arrived. Gains were slower under the first four years (2004-2007) of Children First reforms.
I don’t especially trust the tests, and like many teachers I am slow to break out the champagne when I see large gains like the ones we saw in Math this year. Still, we have now seen strong increases in both the scale scores and the percent of passing students in two subjects over two years. And while I can’t say with any certainty that the money mattered in the scores, I am absolutely certain that it mattered in the schools.
Here are the details for the Big Five cities, all of which are in their second year of increased funding under CFE (keep in mind that these gains are in addition to those we already saw in year one of the funding):
Scale Score Increases in Year 2 of CFE Funding
|
|
Scale Gains Over One Year |
Starting/Ending Scale Score |
| Buffalo |
11 |
647/658 |
| Syracuse |
7 |
648/655 |
| NYC |
8 |
672/680 |
| Yonkers |
9 |
662/671 |
| Rochester |
7 |
650/657 |
| All state publics |
6 |
678/684 |
Increase in Percent Proficient in Year 2 of CFE Funding
|
|
One-year Change in % Proficient |
Starting/Ending Percent Passed |
| Buffalo |
13 |
50/63 |
| Syracuse |
8 |
50/58 |
| NYC |
8 |
74/82 |
| Rochester |
8 |
55/63 |
| Yonkers |
9 |
65/74 |
| All state publics |
5 |
81/86 |
Score data can be found here.
2 Comments:
1 Remainders: Chaos in the Senate and Duncan on charter schools | GothamSchools
· Jun 8, 2009 at 8:38 pm
[...] takes another look at this year’s math [...]
2 jd2718
· Jul 7, 2009 at 12:34 am
What’s ironic, looking back after a month, is that the money did make a difference… but most likely in training for the test, and far less likely in making any kids any smarter.
We have Eduwonkette talking about the predictability of the test, we hear about middle schools and elementary schools shutting down other subjects to concentrate on test prep in the weeks prior to the test… and we can wonder, rightly, what role the $ had in making this possible.
Jonathan