If you’ve got a child in public school as young as third grade, you’re already starting to feel the testing frenzy. School administrators, teachers, and your child are all feeling the pressure to take and live up to state and national standards of learning. Those test results will be published in your local paper, appear on websites, and will be incorporated into every school rankings publication that exists.
What’s the Purpose of School rankings?
If you’re not familiar with the term, school rankings is the generic title give to any number of compilations of school assessments on the Internet, or in magazines and newspapers around the nation. Sometimes you’ll get a very specific set of school rankings, like Newsweek Magazine’s annual list of the best high schools in the country. Other times you’ll get a broader overview of the school demographics, test scores, ratios and facilities. The basic purpose of all of these is to help parents understand how well their child’s school is doing or to evaluate prospective new schools.
Test Scores and School rankings
How test scores impact school rankings depends on the specific assessment that it’s applied to. In a forum that attempts to compare schools across the nation, school rankings run into a very basic problem of apples and oranges. Because each state issues its own standardized test there’s no good way to compare a “B” rated school in Florida with a “B” rated school in New York State. For this reason test results for school rankings are a lot more useful when comparing schools at a local level.
Now throw private schools into the mix and your ability to decipher school rankings seems even more complicated. But here, you really just need to know what information you want. Some school rankings can be very useful for learning about the socio-economic status of a specific school. Another area I always recommend you check out in school ranking for k-12 gen interest is teacher turnover. This rate will tell you more about the overall climate of the school than any other.
Keep in mind that school rankings won’t always account for the special populations reported on the school’s testing. An inner city school that houses a magnet school may have high test scores for its magnet students, but a lower overall score because of the low-income neighborhood kids who attend. Sad- but a real factor of poverty that impacts school rankings k-12 gen interest.
You can use school rankings to help you evaluate schools in several ways. But just like any test the school gives your child, it’s one part of a bigger picture.
By: Patricia Hawke
Posts Tagged ‘Socio Economic Status’
How Test Scores Affect School Rankings
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010Sacramento Schools Find the Perfect Partner
Sunday, December 27th, 2009Corporate sponsorship of public education has become an incredible boost for districts trying to meet stricter federal and state mandates on tight budgets. Organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, and the Ford Foundation have invested billions of dollars in the nation’s public schools. While this is essential, the Sacramento Schools are focusing on an even more important partner in public education. The Parents.
Importance of Parent Involvement in Sacramento Schools
Sacramento Public Schools are under the usual pressure to raise test scores, meet budget requirements, and improve graduation rates of its students. And there are many methods that they are using to do it. But a look at the parent education program of the Sacramento Schools highlights an awareness of the importance of the home environment that often gets lost amidst the frenzy for higher test scores. Numerous studies have proven the correlation between parent education, involvement, and socio-economic status to student academic success. And recent attention on the alarming achievement gap between minority and white students is warranted. But where does the solution begin?
For the Sacramento Schools- it begins at home. Teachers in the Sacramento Schools are quick to point out that, as early as the pre-school years, an involved parent has a direct impact on a child’s success in school. Parents who don’t speak English, are high school drop-outs, or have financial problems are less able to support their children.
Programs for Parents at the Sacramento Schools
The Parent Support Services of the Sacramento Schools offers a variety of programs to improve parenting skills, help parents understand the educational system, teach English skills to speakers of foreign languages, and assist parents with skills needed to create a stronger family unit.
The first way of connecting parents with the Sacramento Schools is Parenthaven, an educational television show that parents can access without even stepping foot outside of their home. However, the goal of Sacramento Schools is to attract parents to the schools. The Parent Project Jr.® and the Parent Project Sr.® are classes offered to teach parents methods for improving family communications, and working with “strong-willed or out of control children.” The junior class is for parents of 5-10 year olds, and focuses on choosing appropriate friends, family communication, and improving school performance, among other topics. Some of the issues addressed in the senior classes are dealing with children who hit or use drugs, gang involvement, and truancy.
Another outreach program is the Parent Teacher Home Visit Project. This is a joint effort of the local teacher’s union, a faith based community group, and the Sacramento Schools. The goal is to get past the blame and distrust that often exists between faculty and low-income families. Another community-based program for parents in the Sacramento Schools is Parent University. Over 70 different classes on topics from money management to family arts appreciation are offered throughout the year.
While high socio-economic status has always been associated with student achievement in the Sacramento Schools, administrators acknowledge that the education and involvement that comes with that status is more important that the actual income of a family. The Sacramento Schools is making a wise, long-term investment into the success of its students, by putting a focus on their most important partners- the parents.
By: Patricia Hawke