Student Success vs Gamesmanship

At the June 26th Monroe County School Board workshop, the recently released  2017-2018 State Assessment Scores were discussed. Despite profound impacts by Irma, Monroe had some successes and, also, some areas for improvement. On the positive side, Geometry EOC scores were #1 in the State with an overall passing rate of 73% (including 70% for high school test takers, 100% for middle school). The Board was cautioned that these incredible results were likely the result of the district’s innovative plan to improve Algebra 1 passing rates, and thus graduation rates, which created a lag in the number of students taking Geometry this year. 

Let me explain. Passing the state mandated Algebra 1 End of Course exam (or obtaining a concordant score on a state approved assessment) is required for high school graduation in Florida and can be a major road block for struggling math students. Last year, Monroe began enrolling struggling 9th grade math students in a foundational math class, designed to prepare the students for the rigors of Algebra 1 during their sophomore year. As a result, last year’s overall Algebra 1 passing rates soared (rising from 52% in 2016 to 85% in 2017). The 9th grade Algebra 1 passing rates were even more impressive (increasing from only 36% in 2016 to 76% in 2017). At the time, the Board was cautioned that the 2017 Algebra 1 scores did not include scores from their most struggling math students (who had been enrolled in the foundational math class). The Board would have to wait until 2018 to see if the District’s intervention was successful for those targeted students.

This year’s Algebra 1 scores were a pleasant surprise for the Board. It was expected that passing rates would decline somewhat, now that the “struggling students” were back in the calculation, but the decline was modest. The 2017 passing rate (overall) for Algebra 1 was 77%, down from 2017’s 85% but significantly better than the previous 52%. The program appears to be a success.

Sitting in the audience during the workshop, I knew the improved Algebra 1 passing rates, and the resulting improved graduation rates, would improve school and district grades. Some might call that “gaming” the School Grade system. However, by giving these students the foundational skills to needed to be successful in Algebra and, therefore, make them more likely to graduate high school, giving them more opportunities in life, it seems like Monroe is making decisions in the best interests of these at-risk students. I applaud them for their innovation.

The following morning, the Florida Times Union, reported that the Florida Coalition of School Board members, a group of politically conservative, school choice advocating, school board members, “want the state to hold back school report card grades for Duval, Polk and Manatee middle schools and to examine whether they manipulated civics test results.” 

“The group, Florida Coalition of School Board Members, says those districts made dramatic improvements in civics tests this spring, but the results are suspect because they occurred at schools that saw large drops in the numbers of students taking civics tests. Also many of those schools have high numbers of poor and minority students.

The coalition noted that about 2,900 fewer Duval students — or about a third fewer — took the civics exam last spring than the year before.

“That particular drop is likely the major source of the district’s gains,” said Bridget Ziegler, president of the coalition and vice chairwoman of Sarasota County’s school board.

For example, Duval’s JEB Stuart Middle went from a 45 percent passing rate to a 98 percent passing rate in one year, but the number of students who took the test declined by 120 students, from 163 in 2017 to 43 students taking it in 2018.”

The Herald-Tribune reported that Ziegler is questioning Civics participation in neighboring Manatee County, asking the State to determine why nearly 1,000 fewer seventh-grade students took the civics end-of-course exam in Manatee this year.

The Manatee Superintendent insisted they had done nothing wrong:

“Manatee school officials say the decrease is because they allow struggling students to take the test as eighth graders rather than seventh graders. Superintendent Diana Greene said Manatee followed the lead of several other districts — including Sarasota — in deciding to allow struggling readers take the test as eighth-graders. The roughly 1,000 students who didn’t take the test this year will take it next year.”

The strategy, which apparently was used in Duval and Polk Counties as well, seems nearly identical to Monroe’s strategy to improve Algebra 1 passing rates: allow struggling readers to delay Civics until 8th grade, providing them time to develop the skills necessary to be successful on the Civics End of Course exam. 

Is it gaming the system or is it in the best interest of struggling students?

One has to wonder why the Florida Coalition of School Board members were so quick to yell “fraud,” calling for a state review? Allowing poor readers another year before taking the Civics EOC seems like an appropriate way to allow these students to be successful. Perhaps, the FCSBM should rethink their motto, “Relentlessly Dedicated to Student Success,” because, in this case, it appears they are not. For the record, the Florida Coalition of School Board members is a tiny, politically well connected group that works in concert with Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Florida’s Future and Foundation for Excellence in Education to advance education policy (learn more here). The A-F School Grade system that the coalition claims districts are “gaming” is the centerpiece of Jeb’s reform efforts.

To be clear, Florida’s A-F School Grade system is a game: there are rules, schools earn points for certain actions and are rewarded when they collect enough points. Since test scores reflect socioeconomics, the game, by design, labels schools in less advantaged neighborhoods as “failing.” Failing public schools are essential to promoting school choice (Ask Eric Fresen, he publicly explained the importance of A-F school grades to expanding school choice during one of Jeb’s Excelined Summits). Members of the FCSBM are fully aware of how the system works. You cannot create a game, reward the winners and, then, complain that the participants are playing the game. 

And in these cases, where struggling students are provided the skills necessary to pass state exams by allowing them an extra year to prepare… is that really “game playing” or is it an appropriate way to help struggling students be successful?