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Good scores
don't always cost; Schools with goals, expectations do best
by Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki and Lori Higgins, Detroit Free
Press, February 4, 2003
For more articles visit
www.bridges4kids.org.
More money doesn't necessarily buy high scores on Michigan's
MEAP test.
Schools with clear goals -- and a little bit of classroom risk
taking -- can do well despite lower spending, according to a
new study released Monday.
Students in 171 of Michigan's 554 school districts are earning
above average MEAP scores, while their districts are spending
less than the state average on each pupil, according to the
study.
But 92 districts, including Detroit, spend more than the
average while their students' scores are below average.
"I think there is a mixed story," said William Cox, managing
director of Standard & Poor's School Evaluation Services which
produced the study. "We see pockets of improvement."
Schools that did well on the MEAP test with less money had
three things in common, Cox said:
Teachers were highly trained and very focused on their goals.
The community had high expectations for schools and students.
District leaders had very clear goals and continually measured
whether schools and students were meeting those goals.
And, Cox added, school districts can't achieve these three
things over night. It can take years.
The state average passing rate for the MEAP is 50.9 percent
per district. On average, 50.9 percent of the students in each
school district in Michigan pass the MEAP. The average per
pupil spending is $7,764, according to Standard & Poor's.
Detroit Public Schools chief executive officer Kenneth Burnley
confirmed that Detroit schools spend more on each student than
the state average while scoring lower than the state average
on state assessment tests.
But, he said the district has outlined a new school
improvement plan."We hope to begin to see trend lines move up
as early as this spring, but the key is hitting annual yearly
progress," he said.
Students in Chippewa Valley Schools beat the state average on
MEAP scores, while their district spent less than the state
average. Superintendent Patricia Kennedy said teachers there
are willing to try new ideas.
"We've always had a cutting-edge kind of staff and they tend
to get very creative," said Kennedy.
"We don't try everything that comes down the pike. What we do
try are those things that in the literature or in research
demonstrate that they can be effective," Kennedy said.
Huron Valley Schools in Oakland County is another school
district that's shattering the notion that you have to spend
more to get academic results. There, MEAP scores have seen
steady growth in recent years.
The district has a strategic plan, now in its third year, that
spells out where the district wants to go academically and
financially and how it wants to get there. "It gives us a
blueprint," said assistant superintendent Nancy Coratti.
Allen Park Public Schools in Wayne County succeeded with less
money by focusing on a limited number of goals at one time,
said Judy Pizzuti, assistant superintendent for curriculum.
"There are so many mandates and so much that we must do now,
it's overwhelming for teachers," Pizzuti said. "You need to
concentrate on a few basic things and let the staff do what
they do best."
Still, some school districts, including Ann Arbor Public
Schools, have a significant gap between the scores of minority
and majority students, despite overall high spending and high
scores, Cox said.
"Overall, there is particular concern in the minority
community, where progress seems to be slower," Cox said.
Not surprisingly, most school districts that didn't fare well
also had high percentages of low-income students.
Oak Park had above-average spending and below-average MEAP
scores. But 42 percent of the district's students are
considered low income, so Superintendent Alex Bailey said it's
not fair to draw comparisons with districts with few
disadvantaged children.
"We're not looking for excuses. But people who look at this
must look at it with the correct lens," Bailey said.
He said nearly half of the students in most Oak Park
classrooms have some type of disadvantage. "We have kids with
higher and more severe needs. It's not like we're all starting
at the same starting gate."
Socioeconomic status is the key to interpreting the study's
results, said Gayle Green, assistant superintendent for
instruction at the Macomb Intermediate School District.
She says that of the 554 state school districts, those "with
above-average MEAP scores and above-average student poverty --
there are 28," Green said.
Green said the MEAP is nationally recognized as a very
difficult test.
"We're measuring gains against a very difficult test," Green
said.
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