A Plan for Evaluating the District of Columbia's Public Schools From Impressions to Evidence (2011) / Chapter Skim
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6 School Quality and Operations Under PERAA: First Impressions
6 School Quality and Operations Under PERAA: First Impressions
Pages 89-128
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From page 89... ...
Others, such as the intellectual guidance of teaching and administrative staff and the responsibility for students' intellectual development, call for other capacities. To guide our examination of first impressions of the District's schools under the Public Education Reform Amendment Act (PERAA)
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From page 90... ...
; a study by the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs (2010) ; and two studies commissioned by DC educational agencies: one for the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, by the 21st Century School Fund, Brookings Institution, and Urban Institute (2008)
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From page 91... ...
. Participants included principals and school administrators; teachers; charter school representatives; special education providers; education providers for children and youth; representatives of colleges, universities, and job training programs; students; and parents.
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. This list, while far from comprehensive, suggests the range of what an evaluation should address (looking beyond test scores)
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From page 93... ...
Other assessment scores, e.g., AP, SAT, PSAT Course enrollment and completion Grade attainment in coursework Data sources: State or districts, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Educational Student and teacher attendance rates by grade from the district or Engagement NAEP background surveys Students' self-reports of engagement, including whether schools are safe and supportive places Teachers' self-reports of engagement, including whether schools are safe and supportive places Data sources: Districts, NCES Elementary Grade Grade progression in elementary grades and credit accumulation, Progression and including passing core subjects, for secondary grades On-Track High Data source: Districts School Credits Graduation Rates Graduation rate, longitudinal and cohort annual data Data sources: Districts, NCES Participation in Percentage of students entering postsecondary institutions, Postsecondary persistence, and completion postgraduation (by survey)
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From page 94... ...
and other resources public accountability and transparency) Review of documented responsibilities, inquiries and responses of government bodies Sources: District documents, district web services, surveys
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The trend in the private sector has been away from treating the financial bottom line as the primary performance measure -- a trend that could be seen as analogous to the trend in education away from treating test scores as the primary performance measure. The National Performance Review (1997)
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From page 96... ...
Decisions about which data to report might also influence the extent to which an indicator is seen as improving. For example, another annual measure used in the District is the number of students whom DCPS referred to nonpublic schools (that is, private schools that specialize in special education)
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From page 97... ...
and examples of what that behavior looks like (e.g., "successful classroom behavior management systems include norms and rules that are clear, age-appropriate, positively worded, and few in number") (District of Columbia Public Schools, 2009a, pp.
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From page 98... ...
. Defining teacher effectiveness and identifying the factors that contribute to it have been continuing challenges for researchers, but it is clear that differences among teachers can account for a significant degree of the variation in student outcomes, even within a school.
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From page 99... ...
. For example, a number of studies have pointed to the importance of such factors as sustained focus on student achievement, clear articulation of goals, informed use of student achievement data and other data to guide planning and instruction, and coordination among staff responsible for curriculum development, assessment, professional development, and other aspects of the system (see, e.g., Louis et al., 2010; Massell, 2000; Shannon and Bylsma, 2004; Waters and Marzano, 2007)
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From page 100... ...
Reports have documented the District's long-standing problems in managing its human resources (Council of the Great City Schools, 2004, 2005; DC Committee on Public Education, 1989; District of Columbia Public Schools, 2006b) , and the share of educators teaching core classes who are highly qualified has been among the lowest in the nation (55 percent)
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From page 101... ...
Government Accountability Office (2009) reported that DCPS could not assess changes in the quality of its teacher workforce because the existing evaluation system did not measure teachers' impact on student achievement -- and because "almost all teachers received satisfactory ratings" under the old system (p.
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From page 102... ...
Teacher dismissals have been a flash point in the city, and the fairness of IMPACT has been a frequent topic in letters to the editor of the Washington Post and other public forums. Another important development was DCPS's negotiation of a contract with the Washington DC Teachers' Union, which took effect in July 2010, and which DCPS described as "groundbreaking" (District of Columbia Public Schools, 2010a)
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. In its latest annual performance plan (District of Columbia Public Schools, 2010d)
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However, some districts have used the common core standards as a reform tool (see Bulkley et al., 2010; Goertz, 2000)
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From page 105... ...
Efforts in the District of Columbia Reports that span more than 20 years (Council of the Great City Schools, 2005; DC Committee on Public Education, 1989, 1995; District of Columbia Public Schools, 2006a, 2006b) have described the urgent need for redesigning teaching, curriculum, and testing with the goal of improving students' academic performance.
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From page 106... ...
36 19 14 33 49 38 40 44 237 NOTE: Several schools were not included in this analysis; see 21st Century School Fund, Brookings Institution, and Urban Institute (2008) for details.
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From page 107... ...
A 2008 study (21st Century School Fund, Brookings Institution, and Urban Institute, 2008) found that the District's current system of choice does not meet many families' demands for quality schools (21st Century School Fund, Brookings Institution, and Urban Institute, 2008)
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From page 108... ...
exam; • Student engagement score (derived from student responses to a district-wide survey) ; • retention rate of effective teachers; • share of first-year 9th grade students who are promoted to the 10th grade; • average daily attendance rate; • suspensions and expulsions; • student re-enrollment; • number of serious incidents at schools (e.g., behavior infractions or violence)
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From page 109... ...
Academic achievement gaps only widen as children progress through school, and risk factors that affect individuals, schools, and communities play a role. Strategies for supporting students with multiple risk factors are an important district responsibility.
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From page 110... ...
Districts face the challenge of continuing to build these students' skills and knowledge in every subject while they are improving their facility with academic English. Efforts in the District of Columbia Special Education Many studies have documented problems with the District's capacity to serve and support special education students (Council of the Great City Schools, 2005; DC Committee on Public Education, 1989; District of Columbia Public Schools, 2006a, 2006b)
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From page 111... ...
111 SCHOOL QUALITY AND OPERATIONS UNDER PERAA BOX 6-1 Special Education in the District It is difficult to overstate the extent of the problems the DC public school system has had in identifying and educating students with special education and related needs (Parrish et al., 2007; DC Appleseed Center, 2003; Washington Lawyers' Committee, 2010)
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From page 112... ...
. DCPS reports that it provides a variety of resources for vulnerable students, including alternative programs and schools in every ward (District of Columbia Public Schools, 2010e)
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From page 113... ...
Although the costs of both transportation and tuition for serving special education students in private settings remain very high, the report found that DCPS had been able to move 155 of these students from private settings to public schools by 2010. Family and Community Engagement Relationships between public schools and the communities and families they serve are intuitively recognized as important.
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DCPS outlined goals for improving family and community engagement in its 5-year action plan (District of Columbia Public Schools, 2009b)
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. DCPS regularly fields several stakeholder surveys to collect opinions from students, parents, teachers, administrations, and staff about perceptions of school safety, school quality, and other issues (District of Columbia Public Schools, 2010g)
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15 The Public Charter School Board (PCSB) is also reporting some limited data on community involvement and engagement (District of Columbia Public Charter School Board, 2010)
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. As described in Chapter 4, the new Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization (OPEFM)
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From page 118... ...
For example, the 21st Century School Fund (2010) , an independent advocacy organization focused on the infrastructure of DC schools, has argued that Wards 2 and 3, the most affluent sections of the city, have received the most funding for school improvements.
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From page 119... ...
• Publicly available, aggregate data suggest that there has been modest improvement in student test scores, but they do not support any conclusions about the effectiveness of PERAA in improving student learning. To draw any conclusions about this will require
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From page 120... ...
. District of Columbia Public Schools: While Early Reform Efforts Tackle Critical Management Issues, a DistrictWide Strategic Education Plan Would Help Guide LongTerm Efforts.
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Washington, DC: Author. District of Columbia Public Charter School Board.
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. Working Draft: Making Student Achievement the Focus: A FiveYear Action Plan for District of Columbia Public Schools.
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From page 123... ...
Working Paper #34. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.
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Com mittee on Minority Representation in Special Education.
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. Special Education Financing Study for the District of Columbia.
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. Special education atop DC's to-do list: City must curb costs, fulfill needs.
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From page 127... ...
. 21st Century School Fund, Urban Institute, and Brookings Institution.
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From page 128... ...
PowerPoint presentation to the Committee on the Independent Evaluation of DC Public Schools, March 8, National Research Council, Keck Center, Washington, DC.
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