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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > March > 13 > Entry
Scott Elliott: State’s school report cards should list poverty rates
Researchers have told us for decades that wealth and school performance are strongly connected, but it’s still pretty amazing when you look at the numbers.
For all the pressure on teachers and schools to raise test scores, the fact is the impact of formal education is strongly overshadowed by factors outside of school.
For this reason, Ohio ought to acknowledge poverty rates on state report cards, which are intended to represent how well schools did educating kids. As reported now, test scores alone do not give a complete picture.
Poverty is one of the easiest outside factors to measure and a useful stand-in for a variety of other non-school impacts on learning. Among the many disadvantages for kids from low-income families are problems like weaker health care and less enriching interactions from parents who are, themselves, not well-educated. Many poor kids grow up in broken homes headed by one overburdened parent, adding to the challenge of making time for learning at home.
The statistics, in this case, are based on averages. Certainly not all poor families are unhealthy or uneducated. Not all fail to provide enriching home lives for their kids. But across a large population, like a school district, the impact of the many disadvantages of living in poverty will push average test scores down.
The most commonly discussed poverty measure for schools is the percentage of kids in the district who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. To be eligible, a family of four can earn no more than $41,000 a year.
The Ohio Department of Education also tracks the percentage of students in each district who come from families receiving public assistance, which also would seem to be a fair indicator of how much poverty there is in the schools. Another good measure is the median income of tax returns filed for residents who live in each district, which is tracked by the state treasurer’s office.
Last month the Education Writers Association’s held a statistics training seminar where journalists are paired with experts in data analysis to study a problem. I took a look at these poverty measures and how strongly they correlated to test performance.
All were strong predictors of test scores. But the percentage of kids eligible for free and reduced-price lunch was the strongest. The connection was so strong, that the percent of kids receiving lunch assistance could fairly be said to explain about two-thirds of the variation in test scores.
Studies have repeatedly shown between 60 and 70 percent of a school’s or school district’s standardized test score is connected to its poverty rate.
Good teaching and good schools do move the needle in the right direction. But consider the instructional challenge where there is more poverty — it’s just tougher. When comparing test results of districts, the poverty level must be taken into account to get the full picture.
Consider two high-performing local school districts that this year achieved the state’s highest report card rating of “excellent with distinction.” Centerville earned that rating with an impressive “performance index score” of 105.4. (With a top possible score of 120, this index is a measure of test performance across all tests taken.) Right next door, Miamisburg’s index score was 99.
But Miamisburg achieved its high rating even though about 30 percent of its kids are poor enough to qualify for free and reduced-price lunch. For Centerville, that figure is just 5 percent. Shouldn’t Miamisburg be recognized in some way for the greater “degree of difficulty” its teachers face?
Adding a poverty measure to the state report card wouldn’t be making an excuse for low performance. High expectations for all kids to score well shouldn’t be diminished. But right now, tremendous performance by high-poverty schools that get kids to score is obscured.
Showing the percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch would make the data more meaningful.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: Columns, Education, Scott Elliott
Comments
By dps educator
March 13, 2010 6:25 AM | Link to this
For us at DPS, that is a huge “No Joke, Scott & Company” We’ve been saying that forever. Take those teachers from Centerville and place them in DPS classrooms, the test scores will not change significantly - if at all. They’re still teaching the same students w/ the same issues. As long as this country thru NCLB or Obama’s vision of education insists on teaching kids the same, our education system is going to continue to fail our children. The needs in DPS are not the same as the needs in Centerville/Oakwood, or the needs in the rural areas of Appalachia in SE Ohio. BTW, I do believe the state reports the percentage of students on reduced/free lunch program. There’s your data for the poverty rate of the district.
By IT'S GREAT IN DAYTON!!
March 14, 2010 9:49 PM | Link to this
In all fairness, the problem at DPS is (for the most part) not the teachers.
By IT'S GREAT IN DAYTON!!
March 14, 2010 9:56 PM | Link to this
This scenario, from DDN (pasted below) is illustrative of how far Dayton proper has descended. A dead body lies for several days in the yard of an abandoned house until it is discovered by schoolchildren. This is the type of thing that happens in THIRD WORLD NATIONS.—————DAYTON — Homicide detectives were summoned to the rear of an abandoned Warder Street house on Sunday, March 14, after five young boys playing nearby spotted a woman’s body in the back yard. Investigators believe the woman, who had no identification, was dead a few days before being found behind 58 Warder St. shortly before 3 p.m. The boys spotted her lying face up in the back yard below a rusted metal fire escape and near a rundown garage. She had been bleeding from the left eye and her pants were partially undone, neighborhood residents said. The house has been abandoned for at least eight years, said Victoria McNeal, president of the Riversdale Neighborhood Association. Its front porch is crumbling, its windows broken and its interior is gutted. Three houses next to it also are dipilated and boarded up. One bears the scars of a recent fire. The boys who made the discovery — ages 6 to 9 — were running behind one of the adjacent abandoned houses when they spotted the body McNeal said keeping drug users, children and vagrants away from the abandoned properties is a constant struggle. “It’s horrible, people get in there and do whatever,” she said, adding that there are at least 200 abandoned properties in the area. She said it was tragic that the boys made the discovery. “They are just babies. They don’t need to see something like this,” she said.
By fortressdayton
March 15, 2010 12:53 PM | Link to this
I agree with many of the points made, but absolutely refuse to lay the blame primarily on ‘poverty’. The main problem is also not teachers - it is parents. Whether or not they are involved in their childrens’ education is paramount. Many parents have ow want no more involvelment than creating these poor kids. The schools are then tasked with raising them. Any good done at school is then undone at home. There is no excuse that our children cannot read and write at an appropriate grade level. NO EXCUSE. They only thing we don’t have in common with the third world, as IGID mentions, is the childrens’ yearning to attend school.
By drunken orangetree
March 16, 2010 11:11 AM | Link to this
fortress, the obvious question to ask would be what kind of background those parents had. I think it’s more than likely that they were also brought up in poverty. And so their kids are going to grow up in poverty. And what happens to the children of these kids? When are we finally going to try to do something about poverty?
By truthdoctor
March 16, 2010 11:49 AM | Link to this
Scott Elliot and DDN are enablers. For some people this world will never be right as we continue to make excuses for them! Abe Lincoln was raised in a log cabin and decided to make something of himself regardless of his family economic situation. Make folks face reallity and they will respond in their own self interest. Eliminate entitlements and they will fight for survival and not live in the fake world of pity and reliance on others. What nonsense.
By drunken orangetree
March 16, 2010 12:46 PM | Link to this
Good idea, truthdoctor. We should tell those little kids to get off the wagon and start pushing.
By IT'S GREAT IN DAYTON!!!
March 16, 2010 10:54 PM | Link to this
The center city of Dayton has reached the point of no return. The downward spiral can no longer be reversed. The suburbs should do what they can to stay disconnected from Dayton, and stand clear as it hits bottom. Once things truly bottom out for Dayton, MAYBE a salvage effort can begin.
By wow
March 17, 2010 6:09 PM | Link to this
Wow! what a great idea; move the teachers from a high performing school to a low performing school and measure the change. Teachers have transportation (no busing) and that would settle the issue regarding teachers vs students being the issue. Go for it ..