The Public Education Department has released the "grades" for schools throughout New Mexico. The state was successful in getting a waiver from the Federal standards, thus enabling PED to make its own grading system. According to the news, a staggering 98% of the state's schools would have failed under the Federal standards. But when the state was allowed to do the grading, most of the state's schools passed. Am I the only one who isn't surprised by this?
Anyway, here are the grades for Cloudcroft, and how they compare to what Cloudcroft got last year:
Elementary school: 2011-2012 Grade: D. 2010-2011 Grade: C
Middle school: 2011-2012 Grade: A, 2010-2011 Grade: B
High school: 2011 - 2012 Grade: C, 2010-2011 Grade: B
I'm baffled as to how the middle school is so dazzling when it's fed by students from the elementary school. And what's happening to those dazzling middle school students when they get to the high school? Is the glass 1/3 full or 2/3 empty?
Monday, July 9, 2012
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(Deb asked me to post this for her...)
ReplyDeleteHmmmm.... largely same kids, what makes the difference! I'm wondering the same thing. And so should every educator in the Cloudcroft School System. I think the inconsistency comes from the learning environment... no condemnation to anyone... we just need to address the situation and correct it for the sake of our children's education! Now I don't know how the Governor graded them... but from my own experience with my girls in all three schools... there is a lack of consistency throughout.
Deb Schilling
Congrats to the Middle School. However...
ReplyDeleteLook at the grades from other comparable NM schools (size-wise). There is a list below. Notice a correlation?
For the PED to set up a system that invites parents to compare grades like this is confusing at best, and destructive at worst. These grades aren't MEANINGLESS, but they aren't HELPFUL. If a decline in a few points on standardized testing, in a VERY small school, is statistically significant (and PED sure thinks it is) then the fact that ALMOST EVERY elementary school performed more poorly than ALMOST EVERY other school in ALMOST EVERY district...well that must be significant too. Also, in almost every case where a single school performed better than the other two, it was almost always a middle school.
There is amazing consistency in the inconsistency of these schools' learning envrionments.
The stated purpose of this grading system is to provide useful information to parents. It doesn't. It illustrates that there are different criteria, differently applied.
District ES/MS/HS
Capitan D, B, C
Cloudcroft, D, A, C
Dexter D, C, C
Estancia D, B, C
Eunice F, C, C
Ft. Sumner C, B, C
Hatch D, B, C
Jal, F, C, C
Jemez Valley F, D, D
Lordsburg, F, C, C
Loving D, D, B
Magdalena D, C, C
Mesa Vista D, D, D
Mora D, C, C
Hagerman D, F, B
Mesa Vista, D, D, D
Mountainair F, D, C
Pecos B, C, B
Penasco, D, C, C
Questa F, F, A
Santa Rosa, D, B, C
Texico, C, B, C
Tucumcari C, B, C
Tularosa, C, C, D