Originally posted April 15, 2009
Revised Jan. 6, 2010
When my son, a junior at Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies (MLWGSGIS), asked why it is that his school is not listed in the U.S. News and World Report as one of the "Top High Schools in the Nation," I told him that I didn't know, but that I would be happy to find out.
I honestly believed that it had to be a simple oversight, one that could easily be explained and corrected. After all, everyone knows that Maggie Walker is an excellent school with plenty of national honors to prove it. I also saw getting an answer to my son's question as the perfect opportunity to dispel a persistent rumor that was so preposterous that I thought it had to be one of those Richmond Public Schools "urban myths."
I recall being told in hushed tones by several teachers over the years that they thought it was "downright dishonest" for RPS to take the SOL scores of the children attending the Governor's Schools and calculate said scores into the SOL numbers of the zone high school nearest the students' respective addresses.
Boy, was I ever wrong. After several conversations with people in positions to know -- and thanks to a couple of Freedom of Information Act requests submitted by my friend, John Butcher [http://crankytaxpayer.org/Schools/more_fun_with_numbers.htm] -- we managed to obtain some facts.
U.S. News and World Report doesn't list it as an outstanding "high school" because the Virginia Department of Education doesn't identify it as "a school" on their website. If VDOE does not recognize Maggie Walker as "a school" and allow it to report its accreditation numbers, how is it that the "program" is legally authorized to issue diplomas? How do we fix this?
Astonishingly, RPS really does take the SOL scores of students who take the tests at Maggie Walker and calculates them into the scores of the comprehensive high school nearest the students' home address. How is this honest in any way?
Is this misrepresentation of these scores legal?
What does this do to the AYP numbers that VDOE is required to report to the federal government? For example, John Marshall and Huguenot each received more than a 5 percent boost in the number of children allegedly taking the SOLs at their schools. Thomas Jefferson received a whopping 9.76 percent boost and George Wythe received a 2.32 percent increase. The only high school that did not add in SOL scores of students at Maggie Walker was Armstrong.
Richmond isn't the only district engaging in this score legerdemain. Each of the various districts that send students to Maggie Walker claim those students as part of their own ADM count. There has to be an honest way of reporting this. It makes no sense whatsoever to represent that these children are enrolled at their respective home "zone" high school, when in reality they are not!
Surely, the fine minds at VDOE can help the Superintendents figure out a way to do this so their gifted students can continue to avail themselves of a more rigorous and academically challenging education.
What can be done to help the various superintendents part with these students in a way that could enhance the home district? Is there a way that the General Assembly can invest additional dollars or other enhancements into the Governor's Schools and thereby help more outstanding Virginia students be successful?
Why does VDOE need an act from the General Assembly to close the loophole that allows some districts to consider their regional Governor's School "a program" and others to see it as a "school"? What message do we send to our children if we allow this posting of scores to schools they have never attended to continue? What message do we send to the children that attend those schools by posting the scores of children they have never sat next to in class?
Who is willing to step up and help fix this mess for the sake of the hard-working students, teachers and parents? How do we turn this into a transparent "win-win" for all parties?
Carol,
ReplyDeleteI don't think they need an Act from the Generous Assembly to stop cooking the scores. They just need to start telling the truth. Or perhaps a demand from their Boss, the Governor, that they help him uphold his oath to faithfully execute the laws.
There is no law requiring that VDOE cook the books to boost the scores of the local school divisions. To the contrary, there is a regulation that says the accreditation shall be based on the scores of the students "enrolled in the school." When VDOE imports the scores of students from Maggie Walker, it baldly violates that requirement.
All it takes to fix this is for VDOE to do its job in an honest and straightforward manner. Of course, to do that they'll have to get out of bed with the local Superintendents, who really enjoy having their SOL scores artificially boosted.
John
Thank you, Carol Wolf, for revealing this information! Richmond talks a good game about want to change "perceptions," but obviously, they need to spend some time on changing the "reality" of lying about the number of kids attending their schools and taking the SOLs. As an RPS teacher, I am ashamed of the people working downtown who have so little respect and faith in the teachers and students that they would do something like this. I am signing my real name, but I ask that you keep my identity confidential because I need to keep my job. But, thank you again and know that there are lots of teachers out here who really wish you were still on the board. We need an honest voice.
ReplyDeleteWhat really creeps me out is when I think about how many administrative personnel in each of these schools know about this -- and how they all choose to keep mum about it.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I consider switching schools (I teach in another district) so I can work closer to my home here in Richmond, I see stories like this and happily go back to my school outside the city.
To see if this anti-RPS pigpile is really necessary, answer this: how do the other systems that send students there handle SOL reporting? Is RPS handling this any differently than Henrico, Chesterfield, Hanover, or any of the other 8 districts who send students to Maggie Walker?
ReplyDeleteThe cranky Mr.Butcher lays this on the VA DOE, not to any special trickery on the part of RPS.
A comparable RPS-only situation would be the scores for students that attend Open, Community, and Franklin. The scores for these students are not tied back their zone schools.
You've created a muddy situation here that you really need to clarify, Carol. The reporting/not reporting is an issue worth discussing, but to hold this up as something else to bash RPS with is disingenuous when the county schools are doing this the exact same way.
John m,
ReplyDelete(Please forgive the informality. Those of us who qualify for the Committee to Rename a Certain Bathroom Fixture should flaunt our names at every opportunity).
Carol just read me your note before dashing out to take her Sophomore to Maggie Walker, so this reply is based on my (ancient, failing) memory's report of what she said.
First, I hear that you are in the trenches at a Richmond middle school, doing a tough job under difficult conditions. That is good and honest work and I don't know anybody who would criticize you or the many other RPS employees who are working hard at their jobs.
In particular, either as to the Maggie Walker scores or as to RPS in general, I don't think Carol is bashing you and your colleagues and I know that is not my aim.
In that respect, I think you misread our comments about the Maggie Walker mess. We are criticizing VDOE for its dishonest reporting system, not bashing RPS. There is plenty to criticize at RPS but, even if you take criticism as "bashing," this data manipulation by VDOE is not on the list.
Carol and I are talking about the Maggie Walker effect on RPS because Richmond is where we live. As I pointed out, the cheating also applies to the other eleven jurisdictions that send students to Maggie Walker. The effect that directly counts in Richmond, however, is the effect on RPS.
I don't think I hear you arguing that the VDOE should continue to manipulate the data. We need good data so we can evaluate what is working and what needs fixing. Having VDOE tell lies about the scores is inexcusable, particularly where the mendacity helps conceal problems, such as the many at RPS.
Am I wrong about that? If so, tell me why. If not, let's talk about what to do about it. Let's argue about the facts and their implications, and try to avoid bashing RPS and making accusations about bashing RPS, both of which are sterile, however much fun.
For sure there's not much room to argue about the Maggie Walker SOL scores. The state is cooking the books. I would hope that you and RPS would be as outraged about that as I am. In the same vein, I submit that there are areas where RPS is not serving its customers well. Glossing over those problems will not help solve them; likewise accusations of RPS-bashing will not improve our schools; open discussion of the issues just might be useful.
Any time you would like to spend a few hundred words on the issues, I have space for you on the Cranky Taxpayer.
John Butcher
I appreciate what you are saying here, but I don’t think that Mrs. Wolf is bashing RPS. In the “teacher school” I went to, we were taught to be role models for our students and to instill in them the confidence that they could take any test and honestly ace it if they devoted enough time to studying.
ReplyDeleteLet me ask you this: if you were teaching in one of the high schools and you were told that your “class” would receive the SOL scores of 10 of the top scorers at Maggie Walker, would it bother you to have them included even though you never taught those children?
And, it doesn’t matter how many other districts are doing this. It still doesn’t make it right. It insults me as a professional that anyone from RPS central administration, or from VDOE, would think that I “needed” these scores to make my school and/or students appear better than they are.
If 12 of my students were caught cheating on their SOLs, there would be hell to pay. Likewise, were 12 principals to sanction it in their schools. But, if 12 Superintendents want to do it and VDOE is willing to wink and nod, they don't have any accountability?!