Comments on: NEW-ish! Report Cards and Graduation Rates http://www.edwize.org/new-ish-report-cards-and-graduation-rates Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:46:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: jd2718 http://www.edwize.org/new-ish-report-cards-and-graduation-rates/comment-page-1#comment-5320 jd2718 Sat, 13 May 2006 13:43:20 +0000 http://edwize.org/new-ish-report-cards-and-graduation-rates#comment-5320 Thanks Maisie, the problem with requesting data, is that I don't know what I am looking for. I like having a mass of raw data and playing with it, looking at it sideways, noticing patterns, anomalies. But if I do have particular questions, at least I can use that number. Thanks Jonathan Thanks Maisie,

the problem with requesting data, is that I don’t know what I am looking for. I like having a mass of raw data and playing with it, looking at it sideways, noticing patterns, anomalies. But if I do have particular questions, at least I can use that number. Thanks

Jonathan

]]> By: Maisie http://www.edwize.org/new-ish-report-cards-and-graduation-rates/comment-page-1#comment-5258 Maisie Thu, 11 May 2006 19:08:11 +0000 http://edwize.org/new-ish-report-cards-and-graduation-rates#comment-5258 Sorry for the late answer to Jonathan's question, but no, to my knowledge the DOE does not provide school report card or graduation data in Excel or any other spreadsheet form. Why would they? Then we could actually do some of our own research. Both of these reports are available only as PDFs on the web site. However, researchers do get hold of the data in usable form. Just don't say you're from the UFT when you call the Division of Assessment and Accountability at 212-374-3990. Sorry for the late answer to Jonathan’s question, but no, to my knowledge the DOE does not provide school report card or graduation data in Excel or any other spreadsheet form. Why would they? Then we could actually do some of our own research. Both of these reports are available only as PDFs on the web site. However, researchers do get hold of the data in usable form. Just don’t say you’re from the UFT when you call the Division of Assessment and Accountability at 212-374-3990.

]]> By: Neil http://www.edwize.org/new-ish-report-cards-and-graduation-rates/comment-page-1#comment-5184 Neil Tue, 09 May 2006 17:42:10 +0000 http://edwize.org/new-ish-report-cards-and-graduation-rates#comment-5184 I find the school report cards valuable, yet frustrating. They're certainly clearer than the eye-blurring Excel spreadsheets that DOE also posts, but they're so darn bureaucratic. They don't give any indication of what's really happening in a school, what their program is like or, if there's an improvement or a slump in achievement, what was responsible for it. Alerted by Maisie's entry, I went looking for the report card of a school that I'm curious about. At the School Accountability Status bar at the bottom of page 1, I saw that it had received a Year 1 warning (God bless NCLB). Why, I wondered. Plowing through to page 13, I found that the reason was that it had fallen 2 percentage points below having 95% test participation by fourth-grade English language learners. What the heck does that mean in real life? Are we to assume that this school is in trouble -- /deep trouble/ -- because only 93% of the 146 fourth-grade ELLs (of whom only 62 were continuously enrolled from the previous October) took the test? Still, the report card says, the Performance Index for this group is 132, higher than the minimum 119 Annual Measurable Objective that had been set for them. /So the ELL kids who took the test in fact did better than the minimum, yet the school has gotten a warning./ So what do the Year 1 warning and these data tell us? About zippo, as far as I can see. Maybe all that the alleged minimal shortfall in test participation means is that a few kids were absent due to unexcused illness or family problems that day. I'm sure that the staff at this school are in a lather about the warning, but maybe all they have to do is get a few more kids to show up for this year's test. I'll check back next spring to see if the warning is gone and I should watch the night sky for fireworks announcing that the Klein-Bloomberg approach has worked for this school. I find the school report cards valuable, yet frustrating. They’re certainly clearer than the eye-blurring Excel spreadsheets that DOE also posts, but they’re so darn bureaucratic. They don’t give any indication of what’s really happening in a school, what their program is like or, if there’s an improvement or a slump in achievement, what was responsible for it.

Alerted by Maisie’s entry, I went looking for the report card of a school that I’m curious about. At the School Accountability Status bar at the bottom of page 1, I saw that it had received a Year 1 warning (God bless NCLB). Why, I wondered. Plowing through to page 13, I found that the reason was that it had fallen 2 percentage points below having 95% test participation by fourth-grade English language learners.

What the heck does that mean in real life? Are we to assume that this school is in trouble — /deep trouble/ — because only 93% of the 146 fourth-grade ELLs (of whom only 62 were continuously enrolled from the previous October) took the test? Still, the report card says, the Performance Index for this group is 132, higher than the minimum 119 Annual Measurable Objective that had been set for them. /So the ELL kids who took the test in fact did better than the minimum, yet the school has gotten a warning./

So what do the Year 1 warning and these data tell us? About zippo, as far as I can see. Maybe all that the alleged minimal shortfall in test participation means is that a few kids were absent due to unexcused illness or family problems that day.

I’m sure that the staff at this school are in a lather about the warning, but maybe all they have to do is get a few more kids to show up for this year’s test.

I’ll check back next spring to see if the warning is gone and I should watch the night sky for fireworks announcing that the Klein-Bloomberg approach has worked for this school.

]]> By: jd2718 http://www.edwize.org/new-ish-report-cards-and-graduation-rates/comment-page-1#comment-5127 jd2718 Sat, 06 May 2006 15:56:51 +0000 http://edwize.org/new-ish-report-cards-and-graduation-rates#comment-5127 Maisie, I always find the lag in data to be frustrating. And, boy, would I love to get this stuff in a different format, so I could play with the numbers. Instead I looked at the static portrait of my school, and a couple others. Do you know if they make the system-wide data available in excel or access? jonathan Maisie,

I always find the lag in data to be frustrating. And, boy, would I love to get this stuff in a different format, so I could play with the numbers. Instead I looked at the static portrait of my school, and a couple others.

Do you know if they make the system-wide data available in excel or access?

jonathan

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