Is there any (even partially) objective way to rate the quality of various state and local school systems?
This has come up recently in a couple of discussions with colleagues, wherein there seems to be a sort of “Lake Woebeggon Effect”, that all people believe that their schools are good but that schools in general are below average.
I tried to Google this but got a lot of noise and no data. One set of information that I found claimed that you couldn’t use State’s SAT rankings since the percent of students taking the test skews the curve (the lower the percent taking, the better the state scores, at least at the extremes). AFAIK there are no national standardized tests that test all students. Even if there were, my colleagues claim that states with high recent immigrant populations would skew this data.
Here is how it is done in Texas. Texas Accountability Ratings This is a link to the Texas Education Agency. Ratings for the current 2003-04 school year will not be made because we are changing to a new, more rigorous state test.
The ratings are based on various data including test scores, drop out rates, and the performance of certained sub-groups (ethnic/race, economic disadvantaged, etc.).
I must insert my own opinion here, however. School success cannot be quantified in any rating. The Texas Accountability System seeks to classify schools and districts. Politicians and others want to be able to point to different schools and say whether they are “good” or “bad”. Many people want to separate the winners from the losers. To me, it is the “footballization” of America. At the end of a football game, one can look at the scoreboard and instantly know who the winner is. Unfortunately, most things in life aren’t as simple as a football game.
The Texas Accountability System does, at least, provide some sort a benchmark. Just remember that “Low-performing” does not necessarily mean that it’s a horrible school. Conversely, “recognized” doesn’t necessarily mean that the school is outstanding.
In Ontario, we have the Educational Quality and Assessment Office which has performed this function for a few years. Local school boards are required to perform the testing and post the results. Toronto’s school board posts there results here.
It’s very useful, despite a fair amount of opposition similar to Drum God’s (some have gone so far as to sabotage the tests!). When my ex and I were looking for a place for the two of us and her two kids (just starting school at the time), she got the list of test results for Toronto and we investigated the neighborhoods of the top ten schools in Toronto.
In nine of these areas, my jaw dropped as we realized that we couldn’t possibly affort to sublet from the servants, but we bought in the tenth. The tests are as much an indicator of neighborhood quality as they are of the school staff - I well recognize that you can’t make bricks without straw. But when it comes to buying decisions, who cares? The kids are going to be learning in an environment defined by the school staff and the attitudes of their peers and by the attitudes of their peers parents, who are going to by my neighbors.
And regardless of considerations about the kids’ education, I’d rather live where my neighbors have it sufficiently together to feed their kids properly, get them to school on time, encourage learning and, in general, bring 'em up right.