Quick Thoughts on CHCCS 2022-2023 School Performance Grades
As we all know, performance grade data was released earlier this week. I have not had the opportunity to do a deep dive into that data, but I did want to point out a few relevant top line items that should concern us all:
Three schools dropped an entire letter grade, each going from B schools to C schools, while only one school went from a B school to an A School.
When looking at growth status, 7 schools dropped, 9 schools remained the same, and only 2 schools went up.
Of the 7 schools that dropped, 4 went from exceeded growth to met growth, 1 went from met growth to did not meet growth, and 2 dropped from exceeded growth to did not meet growth.
When looking at growth rates for reading alone, which seem to be calculated only for elementary and middle schools, 3 schools dropped from exceeded growth to met growth, 2 schools dropped from met growth to did not meet growth, and 1 school dropped from exceeded growth to did not meet growth.
The district’s reading growth score for elementary and middle schools dropped by 22.9 points from 2021-2022 to 2022-2023.
When looking at growth rates for math alone, which again seem to be calculated only for elementary and middle schools, 6 schools dropped from exceeded growth to met growth, 1 school dropped from met growth to did not meet growth, and 2 schools dropped from exceeded growth to did not meet growth. Five schools remained the same year over year, and only 1 school improved from met growth to exceeded growth.
For growth rates in math in elementary and middle schools in 2021-2022, 12 schools exceeded growth and 3 schools met growth; no schools did not meet growth. In 2022-2023, in contrast, 5 schools exceeded growth, 7 schools met growth, and 3 schools did not meet growth. This seems to be a fairly precipitous fall.
The district’s math growth score for elementary and middle schools dropped by 144.0 points from 2021-2022 to 2022-2023.
These numbers are obviously problematic and need to be addressed. I hope that the Board of Education is paying attention.
When I have the time I plan to dive into the data on subgroups to see how their performance stacks up year over year. The preliminary data shown above does not instill confidence.
I also worry about what the reorganization of the Exceptional Children department, recently the source of some conflict and opposed by parents, teachers, and administrators alike, will do to these numbers.
Finally, I would like to point out that when the district falters, as clearly happened last year, the most vulnerable students are the ones who suffer the most. We continually talk about helping these children, about equity and closing the achievement gap. That rhetoric rarely matches the outcome, however. Systems and procedures have to be rationally designed and implemented with fidelity, and I am afraid the district is failing on both counts. No matter how lofty and soaring our words and how wonderful our strategic plan, without the ability to translate words and goals into concrete results, failure is the likely outcome.
Hope is not a strategy.
This post will also be shared as a public comment on the Board of Education meeting occurring on Thursday, September 7, 2023.
Very much appreciate a point you well articulate here: We must be realistic about the actual outcomes - both short term AND long term! - of our policy choices on the most vulnerable students who depend on a functioning system of public education.
One real challenge with equity-focused approaches is that - IF/when implemented and communicated poorly - they run a high risk of pushing "privileged" families out of a system whose overall functioning IS dependent on the resources (material, financial, and participatory) they contribute. Especially in a state like NC (which is moving towards more voucher-based funding for education), this is a serious risk that I hope our decision makers have on their radar.
At the end of the day, even the most liberal leaning parents will do what is best for their own children to the best of their ability...
It seems that perhaps your September 7 public comment was erased from the district's website!