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Smarter Comparisons

March 31, 2016 in ALEC, Charter Schools, Classical Education, Common Core, Corporatization of Education, Dave Sokola, Department of Education, DSEA, Earl Jacques, education, Frederika Jenner, good teachers, Governor Markell, Jack Markell, public schools, Race To The Top, Rodel, Smarter Balanced Assessments, Standardized Testing, teachers, Teaching Latin, Uncategorized, Wilmington, Wilmington School Distirct | Tags: , , , , , , | 1 comment

Smarter Comparisons ELA

Charts courtesy of Education Reform Now

Delaware’s Rankings by Grade Levels in ELA  Among Smarter Balanced States

Grade 3:  2nd (Tied with Connecticut)

Grade 4: 4th

Grade 5:  5th

Grade 6:  7th

Grade 7: 7th

Grade 8: 7th

Grade 11: 7th

Smarter Comparison Math

And in math:

Grade 3:  2nd

Grade 4:  3rd

Grade 5:  5th (tied with I da ho)

Grade 6:  8th

Grade 7:  7th

Grade 8:  7th

Grade 11:  7th

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But before one can jump on Delaware’s poorer showing, one must take into account a very glaring factoid totally ignored by those intent of foisting corporate reforms on public schools….

That is:

Delaware has one of the highest proportion of its students (all the highest quality) in private schools; completely outside of public education….

Private enrollment

Map and Charts Courtesy of The Atlantic CityLab.com

Over 15% of all our state’s children are taught in our private schools.  That has to suck a lot of cream off the top of  overall test scores…. Kids whose parents have a college or graduate degree are much more likely to go to private school. Their lack of impact in the public school system, should hit Delaware hard when comparing scores across states.

Particularly when Greater Wilmington Metro Area

Wilmington Private Enrollment

…. is ranked 6th in the nation for highest private school enrollment and we have one zip code, 19807 =  Greenville.………..

Private enrollment by zip

…. fourth highest in the nation at a whopping 78%..….

I’ll do the calculations at another time but with math we can begin to predict based on some assumptions, where if we had fewer of our best in private schools how that would stack our state up against other states.

Bottom line:  if you trim a tree at its first branch, it will not be as tall as those allowed to grow naturally….

A common sense explanation for Delaware’s low scores.  (And none of these private schoolers have to undergo Common Core)  None.