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« Opinion
Test numbers distort truth
Test numbers distort truth
EDITOR:
I was disappointed in The Vindicator’s choice on Jan. 17 to base a news story on information provided by the Alliance of Public Charter Schools in promotion of their member schools. The article titled, “Charter schools top city’s in performance,” was deceptive in the way it presented data called Value Added Ratings from the Ohio Department of Education. The O.D.E. never intended for this rating to be used in isolation, without reference to students’ actual scores, as was done by the Alliance.
Value Added Scoring was added by the state in an attempt to improve fairness to schools in impoverished areas. It reports the gains that students made from one year to the next, even when they continue to fail to reach proficiency. The Alliance for charter schools (and The Vindicator) reported charter school gains without reference to the fact that while the students gained points, most still failed the test.
Many of the public schools listed actually had better scores than the charter schools. In Value Added Ratings a school may actually suffer as a result of its own success. The ratings are based on the difference in scores between two years. As a simplified illustration, a student who completed 100 percent of items correctly in the first year has nowhere to go but down in the second. Even if he achieves a high score, it will be reported as “expectations not met,” because the expectation is that his score will improve. However a student who failed with 40 percent in the first year and failed with 55 percent in the second year could show a gain of 15 points, at which point the Jan. 17 article would laud his “success” of “expectations exceeded.”
In this story, The Vindicator succeeded in obscuring the meaning of success, and failed an ethical test of journalism.
PEGGY PALMA
Youngstown
X The writer is a representative of the NEOEA, the northeast district of the Ohio Education Association.
Dollar figures distort story
EDITOR:
The Jan. 7 article, “City schools lose 1,726 students in 3 years,” propagates a serious distortion of what happens to public school finances when students taking advantage of school choice programs leave traditional public schools.
The story says that 3,500 Youngstown schoolchildren have exercised the School Choice option, taking with them to their new schools the amount of the state subsidy (up to about $7,000 each).
While that statement is accurate, it’s only part of the story. It’s also true that those same students leave behind them the share of school funding that comes from local taxes, meaning that the school district has more money per student to educate remaining children.
In the years since school choice programs (public charter schools, vouchers, and open enrollment) first started in Ohio, per pupil spending in Youngstown schools has risen from $7,192 per year (1994-95) to $14,862 per year (2006-07). That’s a staggering increase of 106 percent, or 74 percent when adjusted for inflation, the largest per pupil expenditure of any urban school district in Ohio.
And these figures do not count the $192 million in tax funds being spent on school buildings.
For years, traditional school educators have repeated the misrepresentation that school choice students hurt districts financially. Taxpayers may want to inquire what they are getting for a real increase in per pupil spending of 74 per cent in just over a decade.
RON F. ADLER
Maimisburg
X The writer is president of the Ohio Coalition for Quality Education.
- Requires free registration.
Comments
The second letter here shows exactly what our public schools are up against with these burgeoning charter enterprises. Why do you think an observer from Miamisburg, wherever that would be, would be so interested in the local schools?
He represents the "Ohio Coalition for Quality Education", yet another association of charter schools.
If he was more familiar with our area, he might have realized that Youngstown City Schools can raise very little funding through local property taxes. Only about 30% of Youngstown funding is local, and that is offset by their increased costs of (forced) transportation of charter school students across town.
In addition, in the exact time period cited by the author, the city schools have been required by the state and federal governments to provide all sorts of expensive intervention programs to their students because of lagging test schools. Those lagging scores are not a low of course as the local charter school scores -- though the charter schools have no such consequences attached to performance.
As a working teacher, it is impossible for me to spend my days spinning data as these hired guns for Charter Associations do. I am left with the conclusion that the whole testing circus, costing by the way, millions more than the yearly budget of YCS, was only implemented in the first place to secure a footing for charter schools to establish themselves in our state. The potential profits of charter schools as they replace public schools seems to be great enough to justify great amounts of investments in political campaigns, in charter school associations, and in propping up the funding of the pioneer schools. Before voters get excited about the lower cost per pupil provided by charter schools, they need to investigate their funding a little more closely. The larger charter schools receive extra funding from the federal government grants, grants from conservative foundations like the Fordham Foundation here in Ohio, and contributions from private sources, like the Christian school supporters of Eagle Heights. When the public schools are gone -- there will be no longer be a need to supplement the funding. It will come from the taxpayer.
Wouldn't you like to attend a charter school board meeting? – although of course board members are not elected, and owe their loyalty to the company, not the citizens. Good luck finding one. Eagle Heights is at 10 A.M. and after you take the day off, is likely to go into "executive session."
I have to trust that someday the voters will become aware of the game that Taft's administration and legislature has played in education “improvement”. But my gut feeling is that this will take place as they remember public schooling with nostalgia.
Sincerely,
Peggy Palma
I wouldn't send my children to a charter school if it was the only school available. They provide a second rate education with second rate teachers and zero oversight. Just like everything else, when the Republicans "privatize" and make something "for profit" you can rest assured it'll be a mess. But of course charter school owners like David Brennan in Akron contribute to the Republican party and profits handsomely from his charter schools that are routinely rated at or near the bottom.
I have to apologize for typos in my post. In line 11, I meant to say we have lagging scores, not lagging schools. In the same line, our scores "are not as low" as those in charter schools.
Readers should know that the "No Child Left Behind" legislation stipulates that public schools must have teachers rated as "highly qualified" by the standards of the federal government. I heard today that this requirement does not apply to charter schools.
The demands placed on public schools are just constant. Why are charter schools, which use taxpayer funds, given a free pass in so many ways?