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Message |
    
Joan Auer
Citizen
Username: Joan
Post Number: 23
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, January 24, 2004 - 5:14 pm: |     |
I just read the results from the 4th grade test for 2003 at ACE's website and having a new kindergartener at Tuscan they have me somewhat worried. It shows that Tuscan has substantially more partially proficient students in both language arts and math than the other schools. This holds true for both black and white students, but the gap is especially large between white students at Tuscan and white students at the other schools. For instance, there are almost four times as many partially proficient white students at Tuscan than at Seth Boyden, Jefferson, and Clinton, and twice as many as at South Mountain. Does anyone know why this is happening? The results are below. (A better chart can be found at www.allchildrenexcelling.org)
Summary of School Performance
Spring 2003, New Jersey Statewide Testing System
NJ Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK)
Grade 4: South Orange-Maplewood
District Summary
Language Arts Literacy Partially Proficient Proficient Advanced Proficient
black students 27.7% 67.3% 5.0%
white students 8.6% 79.5% 11.9%
Mathematics
black students 46.4% 35.5% 18.2%
white students 9.1% 34.4% 56.5%
Clinton School
Language Arts Literacy Partially Proficient Proficient Advanced Proficient
black students 32.7% 67.3% 0.0%
white students 4.3% 82.6% 13.0%
Mathematics
black students 50.0% 36.5% 13.5%
white students 8.7% 39.1% 52.2%
Jefferson School
Language Arts Literacy Partially Proficient Proficient Advanced Proficient
black students 25.5% 69.1% 5.5%
white students 3.5% 82.5% 14.0%
Mathematics
black students 36.4% 38.2% 25.5%
white students 5.3% 22.8% 71.9%
Seth Boyden
Language Arts Literacy Partially Proficient Proficient Advanced Proficient
black students 24.6% 71.9% 3.5%
white students 5.6% 88.9% 5.6%
Mathematics
black students 49.1% 40.4% 10.5%
white students 5.6% 61.1% 33.3%
South Mountain School
Language Arts Literacy Partially Proficient Proficient Advanced Proficient
black students 16.0% 60.0% 24.0%
white students 8.7% 80.4% 10.9%
Mathematics
black students 40.0% 24.0% 36.0%
white students 8.7% 32.6% 58.7%
Tuscan School
Language Arts Literacy Partially Proficient Proficient Advanced Proficient
black students 38.7% 61.3% 0.0%
white students 19.5% 68.3% 12.2%
Mathematics
black students 58.1% 29.0% 12.9%
white students 16.7% 38.1% 45.2%
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Joan Auer
Citizen
Username: Joan
Post Number: 24
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, January 24, 2004 - 5:21 pm: | |
I just want to add that I love my child's teacher and I like most of what I have seen at Tuscan so far, but I am wondering if they have some sort of a curriculum problem there that is keeping the children from doing well. |
Cedar
Citizen
Username: Cedar
Post Number: 111
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, January 24, 2004 - 5:48 pm: | |
Joan - I don't feel it's a curriculum problem specific to Tuscan, rather a curriculum problem district wide, where socioeconomics have to be factored in. the curriculum doesn't seem to serve all kids well, just depends on how your child may learn best. It also, IMHO, the curriculum doesn't seem to serve the majority of children in the district as well as any other curriculum may. |
Montagnard
Citizen
Username: Montagnard
Post Number: 377
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, January 24, 2004 - 10:34 pm: | |
From what I've seen, the quality of instruction at Tuscan varies widely. Some teachers are very good, but others are totally ineffective.
There has also been a lack of consistency in the school leadership due to resignations, transfers, and the abolition of the assistant principal's position in one of the last budget cutbacks.
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fringe
Citizen
Username: Fringe
Post Number: 278
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, January 25, 2004 - 8:53 am: | |
Comparisons of scores between SOMSD elementary schools is fraught with danger for at least two reasons.
* The populations are so small that a difference in one or two students has a major impact on the percetage calculations.
* The district has so manipulated the enrollments that, despite the some likeness in racial make-up, the underlying academic preparedness and socio-economic factors are vastly different. Also, there is evidence that some low scoring students who reside in the Seth Boyden attendance zone were transfered to Tuscan.
Finally, if one focuses on the difference in racial scores by school, be aware that these include all students for the particular race. Schools that are top heavy in Special Education and ESL students (Tuscan and Clinton) are disproportionately effected by the inclusion of these scores in the computations.
JTL |
Morrisa da Silva
Citizen
Username: Mod
Post Number: 11
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, January 25, 2004 - 9:06 am: | |
Joan- The results you've presented certainly provoke questions. The NJ ASK is a new test and as such certain anomalies might be expected, but the big gap in performance for white students at Tuscan compared to other district schools is eye-opening.
My Son graduated Tuscan last year, and my experience with the school while mostly a positive one for him is that there has been a lot of staffing upheavals. The building has a lot of new staff. Some just new to Tuscan but many new to teaching. Every year because of either poor planning or circumstance there always seems to be a flurry of last minute hiring. (i.e the week before school starts). There was even a 3rd grade teacher that although hired just before the start of the year, she could not contractually leave her old position until a month or so into the school year. In addition to this kind of stuff there is the usual amount of shifting caused by maternity leaves and such. Tuscan has utilized it's share of long term subs to cover these events and most of these subs have been excellent (some gone on to become fulltime teachers) but these upheavals have taken it's toll.
I'm not blaming anything on new teachers, because my son's experience has been very positive with many of those that were new to teaching but I believe new teachers need a strong building leader and good mentoring, which may not be the case at Tuscan.
My experience has been that Tuscan's principal Pat Browne is not very hands on when it comes to disciplinary issues in the classroom and I'm not sure she is much more involved when it comes to delivery of curriculum. Mentoring is done through veteran teachers (lead teachers in the grade) and in at least one case someone came in (a newly retired teacher) for a short time to mentor a new teacher.
I believe that some answers are needed from district staff as to what can be done to support Tuscan. When the redistricting occurred Tuscan's school population both increased and shifted demographically. At that time Tuscan lost some veteran staff (some to Boyden) and changed it's Pricipal and Assistant Principal. And of course subsequently lost it's Assistant principal along with all the elementary schools with the latest round of budget cuts.
One last thought, I wonder whether Tuscan's large number of special ed students are a factor in the numbers? |
Joan Auer
Citizen
Username: Joan
Post Number: 25
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, January 25, 2004 - 11:22 am: | |
Thanks so much for everyone's responses. The gap in test scores between Tuscan and the other elementary schools is so large that it seems to me that there must be some sort of a curriculum or management problem going on there. I know that Tuscan has a disproportianate number of special ed students but so does Clinton and their scores are much better. I also realize that Tuscan's population has shifted demographically, but once again so has Clinton's. Is there any way to find out what is really going on with the school and to become involved with improving things there if need be? Does the PTA have any influence? Is joining ACE the way to go? Any suggestions?
Also, every year the New York Times publishes the test results for all the schools in New York City. For one of the scores, they use some sort of a formula that takes into account the number of students with free or reduced lunches. It shows you how the school is doing academically in relation to the economic background of its students. It is a very helpful tool. Is there anything similar available for the elementary schools here?
And once again, with relation to test scores, does the administration look at what is working at one school and try to implement it in others? And vice versa, does it look at what is not working and try to improve it, or is everything left to the discretion of the individual principals? |
Morrisa da Silva
Citizen
Username: Mod
Post Number: 12
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, January 25, 2004 - 12:08 pm: | |
Joan - I think a lot more fact finding needs to go on to get to the bottom of "Whats going on at Tuscan". Being active in the PTA gives you access to some inner workings and certainly puts you in contact with parents in a position to know things, but my experience is that Tuscan's PTA tends to shy away from the controversial.
That said, I would still recommend networking with other parents and bringing up your concerns with the PTA-for a start. I also think that Tuscan can do more with the volunteer efforts of parents. Tuscan parents are very involved and bring alot of skills with them that should be utilized to a greater extent then they are. I'm thinking of more homework clubs, afterschool tutoring etc. My experience with Mrs. Browne is that she tends to promote an atmosphere that does not really welcome volunteerism of that nature.
If there is a problem we need to know the nature of the problem. Is it a behavior issue, or a curriculum issue,or perhaps Tuscan teachers don't get enough support from either the Principal or district administration. I don't know the answers but these are all good questions that should be addressed.
Just my opinion, hope you find it helpful. |
Joan Auer
Citizen
Username: Joan
Post Number: 36
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, March 7, 2004 - 10:24 pm: | |
fringe, your comment that Tuscan's large special ed population could skew the scores seemed to make sense until I looked at the NJASK results. The number of "students with disabilites" tested for Language Arts last year for each school were: Tuscan-12; Seth Boyden-13; Jefferson-14; South Mountain-16; Clinton-13. Is there something that I'm missing here? |
J. Crohn
Citizen
Username: Jcrohn
Post Number: 961
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Monday, March 8, 2004 - 1:51 am: | |
Joan, try also comparing the sizes of the cohorts tested. (I haven't looked yet, or I'd cough up the figures for you.) For instance, if the number of white 4th graders tested at Tuscan is much lower than the number of whites tested at Clinton, then one or two kids having a bad day (or a bad life) will impact the percentage that much more profoundly.
I had a similar reaction to yours when I saw the percentage of black students at South Mountain scoring part proficient had tripled over last year--as had the percentage of black students scoring advanced proficient! (See my posts on the anomaly over in the "Test Scores for SOM- in Star Ledger" thread.) Looking more closely, it turned out the test cohort was tiny, about half that of the other schools'.
Which are all too small to make much of anyway, at least in any given year.
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Rudbekia
Citizen
Username: Rudbekia
Post Number: 14
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Monday, April 19, 2004 - 3:16 pm: | |
Sorry to see this so late, but the numbers here strike me as being very wacky, and not just those noted by Joan. If we're asking, why not also ask why only 5.6% of Seth Boyden white students scored in the "advanced proficient" literacy zone while the percentage for white students at the other 4 schools who scored in the advanced proficient range were between 10.9 and 14%? Does that mean that the other 4 schools have twice as many students who read at an advanced level? Has anyone found out what's up with these numbers? |
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