Thursday, February 23, 2012

I'm Tired of Hearing BVP Ads on NPR and WEEI All Day

Blackstone Valley Prep:

Blackstone Valley Prep (BVP) Mayoral Academy data shows significant growth for 6th grade scholars after only one (1) year at the school. Teaching year data, which RIDE uses to evaluate the performance of all public schools, including charter schools, revealed that 86% of BVP 6th graders scored proficient or better in English Language Arts and 89% of 6th graders scored proficient or better in math.

For all I know, RIDE does use teaching year deep in the bowels of their AYP calculations (I guess they do), but I have never seen a district or state official or website refer to the "teaching year" scores. Of course, I've been critical of this all along, so I don't really have a problem with BVP or RIDE coming around to my way of thinking. However, if you go to, say, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary's Infoworks Live! page, you see the much worse "testing year" data, which includes an influx of kids from other schools.

Also, BVP's "teaching year" numbers may include students who are no longer at BVP. If a student left BVP and went to another RI public school, their scores should still show up in BVP's "teaching year" numbers. I don't know where the cut-off is for students who leave mid-year.

Finally, not mentioning at all the at least 17% attrition rate in discussing gains in percentage of students meeting proficiency is just dishonest.

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