{"id":970,"date":"2015-12-01T14:54:06","date_gmt":"2015-12-01T19:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acutabove.wpengine.com\/?p=970"},"modified":"2015-12-03T15:22:08","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T20:22:08","slug":"scorecard-ranks-schools-from-top-to-bottom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=970","title":{"rendered":"“Scorecard” ranks schools from top to bottom"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bry Leach<\/strong>
\nThe Comets’ Tale
\nGrand Ledge HS
\n1st Place
\nDivision 1, News Writing
\nNews Analysis
\n<\/p>\n

According to the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), GLHS is worse than 74 percent of schools in the state.<\/p>\n

Principal Steve Gabriel, however, would disagree.<\/p>\n

The 2013-2014 Top to Bottom scores, released at the end of August this year, show a ranking of every school in Michigan \u2013 from kindergarten to high school and even including GED centers that a district (like GLPS) might run. The list is compiled of important information regarding a school\u2019s success: the individual school\u2019s improvement over time, dropout rates, standardized test scores and attendance among other things.<\/p>\n

At the surface, the scores represent a school in it\u2019s entirety and can be used to choose where to live or send a child to be educated. But delving in deeper, it bewilders some, such as Gabriel.<\/p>\n

When President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, the State of Michigan was required to develop a system to rank schools. It set the stage for schools to not only focus on their best students and majority populations, but also the worst students and minorities.<\/p>\n

Although the ACT as a whole is not included in TTB scores, certain components of the test are counted as part of the MME. For example, out of 60 math questions administered on day one of three for juniors\u2019 testing, 45 of them will count towards their MME score when the state goes to grade schools. These are the questions regarding algebra and geometry, classes required by the Michigan Merit Curriculum. Pre-calculus and higher level math problems that are not required by state standards are omitted from the scores.<\/p>\n

A problem that many see with the Top to Bottom system is that it is hard to explain. Education consultant at the MDE Dan LaDue said the formula used to compose the scores is too complicated to describe over the phone.<\/p>\n

Gabriel is not even sure of the exact formula the state uses to generate the scores. A power-point he created to educate teachers on the subject lends some insight, but still leaves the nagging question: how is GLHS ranked so low?<\/p>\n

On the subject of improvement<\/p>\n

ACT scores and MME scores have both gone up at GLHS. The scores actually average about 20 percent higher than the state\u2019s average.<\/p>\n

When Top to Bottom was introduced as a new grading system two years ago, they incorporated the NCLB principals – one way of doing this is by giving schools subcategories for their minority populations – breaking a school up further by ethnicity or disabilities when about 30 or more of their students fall into one of the subcategories. Along with that, all schools are given another subcategory solely for their bottom 30 percent of students.<\/p>\n

This is where GLHS falls short.<\/p>\n

For GLHS, 120 students were in the bottom 30 percent out of 401 tested in the MME last year. Of these students, none scored proficient in the social studies section. Whether it be because they did not know the material or because they did not try, on this thought to be \u201cmeaningless\u201d exam that fell on the last day of a long three, the poor scores took a hit to GLHS\u2019 rankings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more diverse your school is, the tougher it is to get it covered,\u201d Gabriel said. \u201cWe get hurt by the student proficiency in subgroups and students who do not graduate in four years.\u201d<\/p>\n

When there are more factors going into a school\u2019s ranking, it can be harder to get a better score, and most of the higher ranking schools are in smaller districts – whereas GLPS covers 125 square miles, with students commuting to GLHS from Eagle, Charlotte and Lansing.<\/p>\n

According to LaDue, the Top to Bottom rankings are based on how other schools are doing, which is a key aspect that\u00a0K-12 stakeholders wanted when the system was made.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to understand the system is normative,\u201d LaDue said. \u201c99 percent of the reason is that it\u2019s political in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another component of NCLB was a standard set for schools to be at 100 percent proficiency in a certain period of time, challenging GLHS to increase by an average of 4.85 points in math, writing, reading, science and social studies scores. By 2014, there should have been 100 percent proficiency, but at 58.29 percent, it is expected now to be at 85 percent in 2021.<\/p>\n

Our district in the Red Zone<\/p>\n

Although all of GLPS\u2019 elementary level schools are in the 50-60th percentiles of Top to Bottom rankings, the district as a whole is in the Red Zone under the Accountability Scorecard rankings.<\/p>\n

According to Gabriel, the Accountability Scorecard is based on student participation and proficiency on state assessments, graduation or attendance rates, and the school must prove that all teachers have been evaluated as well as report a School Improvement Plan and diagnostic report yearly. LaDue says the same students who are counted in Top to Bottom Rankings are used for the Accountability Scorecard, which is only Full Academic Year students (students who did not transfer schools at any time during said school year).<\/p>\n

GL\u2019s rendering of the GED program on Saginaw Highway was a weight to that score this year. Students up to the age of 22 who attend there are counted as students in the district. When they decide not to test at the end of their courses, GLPS loses points because these students count as dropouts and 5-year students.<\/p>\n

\u201c99 percent of these students are not from Grand Ledge,\u201d Gabriel said.<\/p>\n

For the students who are under 23, GLPS gets some state funding – which is why their lack of testing effects the scores. This year, nine did not show up on their GED test day.<\/p>\n

Compared to other schools<\/p>\n

Although GLHS has higher scores in many of the fields considered, Potterville is the only other school in Eaton county that is ranked lower. There are many cases in the state where schools with better scores overall end up with a lower score, as shown in the graphics. LaDue could not comment on the topic, but did comment on school performance in the state overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d be surprised at how many schools are not doing well,\u201d LaDue said.<\/p>\n

Still, Gabriel holds strong in his view that GLHS stands apart from other schools, no matter what ranking they receive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it fair to compare us to Grand Haven?\u201d Gabriel said. \u201cI don\u2019t think so. I don\u2019t think we should be compared to Potterville. We should be compared to us. Whether it ever gets changed in my career, I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bry Leach The Comets’ Tale Grand Ledge HS 1st Place Division 1, News Writing News Analysis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[53,4],"tags":[48,20],"class_list":["post-970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-newsanalysis","category-nw","tag-48","tag-division1","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kelsey Parkinson","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=3"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-fE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}