AYP,
statistics, testing, and NCLB
Inaccurate
school statistics
It is difficult to attribute misinformation to its
primary source, but Granite School District maintains detailed student and
financial records for its schools and shares such data with state and other
agencies as appropriate. Student Tracker is a national system of
student data collection drawing from colleges across the country, a system
in which Utah participates. According to Student Tracker, the
following accurately represents the numbers of Cottonwood High School
graduates who go on to attend, though not always during the autumn
immediately following graduation, a college or university:
|
year
|
# of graduates
|
# of graduates entering college
|
% of graduates going on to
post-secondary education
|
|
2005-2006
|
373
|
229
|
61.39% *
|
|
2004-2005
|
366
|
254
|
69.40% *
|
|
2003-2004
|
441
|
319
|
72.34%
|
|
2002-2003
|
432
|
333
|
77.08%
|
* We expect that the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 percentages
will increase as did previous years as graduates return from LDS missions
and enter higher education institutions.
Asked at Cottonwood High School community meeting, October
17, 2007
Top
Granite finds the positive in
NCLB
With the reauthorization of the Elementary Secondary
Education Act which resulted in federal legislation known as the No Child
Left Behind Act, Granite School District acknowledged the broad goals of the
legislation as similar to those of our own education community: increase
student achievement and close the gap between subgroups in language arts and
math, increase acquisition of English and performance in core subjects among
the limited English proficient, ensure safe and drug free schools, and
increase high school graduation rates. Although we find many of the
details mandated in the federal regulations unrealistic, Granite
District is committed to accountability for increased results in student
achievement, has increased the flexibility and control available at the
school level, continues to provide more information and options for parents,
and emphasizes the use of proven instructional strategies and educational
programs in our schools.
Annual AYP designations may suggest that a school has not
yet met a particular standard for a particular sub-group; however, they also
indicate that a myriad of school efforts are increasingly focused and
fostering academic success for each and every student. As Utah’s
population becomes increasingly diverse, we embrace the notion that every
child, regardless of circumstance or condition of life, shall receive a
quality education. Rather than anticipate every student meeting the
same academic standard by 2014, Granite District believes every student
should make at least a year’s academic progress every 180 days he or she is
in attendance. Due to the exemplary efforts of our teachers and
administrators, no child in Granite District will be left behind.
Asked at Granger High School network meeting, October 23,
2007
Top
Testing and Student
Achievement
There is some confusion about the amount and types of testing that impact
students in Granite School District. Some assessments, often called summative in
nature, are mandated by the Utah State Office of Education. These include “high
stakes” tests like the end-of-level CRT’s, the Direct Writing Assessment, the
IOWA norm-referenced test, and the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test (UBSCT);
they are all tests used to determine such things as a school’s NCLB and UPASS
status, ranking of the school in comparison to others in the state and nation,
student proficiency in the state core curriculum, and eligibility for high
school graduation.
Some other assessments, however, have been mandated by Granite District.
Formative in nature, such assessments as Yearly Progress Pro (YPP), the math
benchmark tests, and DIBELS are meant to focus on individual students’ progress.
Some are 15 minutes in length and administered weekly or bi-weekly, and others
are administered quarterly or two or three times a year. All of these
assessments are meant to inform (hence formative in nature) teacher instruction
- to identify for the teacher particular concepts or objectives in reading
and/or math with which a a particular student is struggling, thereby allowing a
teacher to focus additional, different, intensive instruction in a personalized
way. It is these types of assessments that most contribute to increased student
success and which provide immediate and timely information to teachers who
desire to target the specific needs of their students in their classroom and
small group instruction.
Some concern has also been expressed that the district focus on literacy and
numeracy is diluting instruction in other content areas and that important
programs are being ignored in our elementary schools. In grades K-6, teachers
must spend three hours on literacy instruction, but that means that in addition
to teaching reading specifically, they address reading skills as they cover
other content areas such as social studies, health and science. One and a half
hours’ math instruction is also required; that might include teaching math
concepts in relation to science core concepts or applying them in completing an
art project.
All elementary schools in Granite District use Interconnections, a thematic
curriculum model that integrates social studies, science and a variety of life
skills in a focused, engaging, rigorous way. The curriculum lessons and
materials were created by Granite District, and specialists have been augmenting
the model recently with additional lessons that infuse the fine arts.
Asked at Hunter High School community meeting, November 7, 2007
Top
Focus on low-performing students
With the reauthorization of the Elementary Secondary Education Act which
resulted in federal legislation known as the No Child Left Behind Act, Granite
School District acknowledged the broad goals of the legislation as similar to
those of our own education community: increase student achievement and close the
gap between subgroups in language arts and math, increase acquisition of English
and performance in core subjects among the limited English proficient, ensure
safe and drug free schools, and increase high school graduation rates. Although
we find many of the details mandated in the federal regulations unrealistic,
Granite District is committed to accountability for increased results in student
achievement, has increased the flexibility and control available at the school
level, continues to provide more information and options for parents, and
emphasizes the use of proven instructional strategies and educational programs
in our schools.
Annual AYP designations may suggest that a school has not yet met a particular
standard for a particular sub-group; however, they also indicate that a myriad
of school efforts are increasingly focused and fostering academic success for
each and every student. As Utah’s population becomes increasingly diverse, we
embrace the notion that every child, regardless of circumstance or condition of
life, shall receive a quality education. Rather than anticipate every student
meeting the same academic standard by 2014, Granite District believes every
student should make academic progress over each school year. It is also
committed to maintaining the same rigorous academic standards for all students
and will not lower its expectations as the federal bar is raised every two
years. Due to the exemplary efforts of our teachers and administrators, no child
in Granite District will be left behind.
Asked at Olympus High School network meeting, November
28,
2007
Top
Purposes of so much testing
There is some confusion about the amount and types of testing
that impact students in Granite School District. Some assessments, often called
summative in nature, are mandated by the Utah State Office of Education. These
include “high stakes” tests like the end-of-level CRT’s, the Direct Writing
Assessment, the IOWA norm-referenced test, and the Utah Basic Skills Competency
Test (UBSCT); they are all tests used to determine such things as a school’s
NCLB and UPASS status, ranking of the school in comparison to others in the
state and nation, student proficiency in the state core curriculum, and
eligibility for high school graduation.
Some other assessments, however, have been mandated by Granite District.
Formative in nature, such assessments as Yearly Progress Pro (YPP), the math
benchmark tests, and DIBELS are meant to focus on individual students’ progress.
Some are 15 minutes in length and administered weekly or bi-weekly, and others
are administered quarterly or two or three times a year. All of these
assessments are meant to inform (hence formative in nature) teacher instruction
- to identify for the teacher particular concepts or objectives in reading
and/or math with which a particular student is struggling, thereby allowing a
teacher to focus additional, different, intensive instruction in a personalized
way. It is these types of assessments that most contribute to increased student
success and which provide immediate and timely information to teachers who
desire to target the specific needs of their students in their classroom and
through small group instruction.
Some of these assessments are delivered online and require students to
participate in the school computer lab. In order to still maintain computer lab
access for students to work on projects, do research, etc., all schools have at
least two computer labs, some have more, and Granite District is providing more
flexibility and adding computer access in schools with portable wireless
laptops.
Asked at Olympus High School network meeting, November
28,
2007
Asked at Skyline High School community meeting, January 16,
2008
Asked at Taylorsville High School community meeting, January
22,
2008
Top
US trails internationally
As the press has suggested recently, US students do not score as well on
tests administered internationally as do students from some other countries.
It is difficult to make those comparisons equitable given the many variables
at play in educational systems worldwide. While there may be some indication
that some students do better on some tests than some students in the US, it
is important to note that many of the countries with which the US is
compared do not educate ALL their children nor does as great a percentage of
total population go on to post-secondary educational opportunities as do US
students.
Asked at Olympus High School network meeting, November
28,
2007
Top