State School Report Cards for 20072008

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State School Report Cards for 2007-2008
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Report Cards for 2007-08

• Release Dates - October
• November 15
• January 30
• February 19
• February 20
• March 12

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The Discouraging News

• Even as student achievement scores have improved,
  the report card ratings of most schools stayed
  the same or decreased
• The report card labels paint our schools and
  district in a manner that is inaccurate and unfair

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• How is it possible that a school could do better
  on the state tests and get a lower grade on the
  report card?

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The Moving Target
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(No Transcript)
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Raising the Bar
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Two Major Steps

• We will continue to address the needs regarding
  academic achievement that have been identified by
  our current state and federal accountability
  systems
• I will actively seek to effect improvements in
  our state and federal accountability systems

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Changes In The State and Federal Accountability
Systems are Needed
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1. Accountability Tests Vary Greatly From State
to State.
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Results showed great variation of the 18
elementary schools examined, 17 would make AYP in
Wisconsin, and 15 in Arizona, but only three were
projected to make the grade in South Carolina.

• Thomas B. Fordham InstituteFebruary 19, 2009
• (upon studying 36 real schools in 28 states)

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(No Transcript)
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2. The Tests in South Carolina are Among The
Hardest If Not The Hardest In the Nation and
All Students are Required to Take Them.
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(No Transcript)
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• Mean, Median, and Mode are found in South
  Carolinas math standards

in the 5th Grade!
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Perfect Scores in South Carolina
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3. South Carolinas Test Results and Ratings Are
Frequently Incorrect, Slow, and Costly.
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• Frequently Incorrect
• Many changes
• Listings on EOC Website incongruent with other
  listings

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• Slow
• Huge gap of time between testing and reporting

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• Costly
• Annual cost is 26,712,948.00

from SC Department of Education
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4. The System Weve Created in South Carolina is
Psychologically Discouraging.
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Learned Helplessness

• When students and/or teachers perceive they have
  no control over the outcome of a situation, they
  will likely give up trying to succeed through
  academic performance.

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5. The System Weve Created in South Carolina Has
a Negative Impact On Our Economy.
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Florida Study Finding

• A Study in Gainesville found that the average
  loss in home values when schools dropped from an
  A to a B rating was 9,000.
• - Report by Economists David Figlio and Maurice
  Lucas

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• Nebraskas Motto

• Accountability is About Being Good Not Simply
  Looking Good.

South Carolinas Motto?
Accountability is About Looking Bad No Matter
What.
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As the EOC and the SDE develop our new test
(PASS), lets encourage them to

• Set reasonably high standards for student
  performance levels
• Do away with school report card grades or, at the
  very least, revise the school report card system
  by setting achievable criteria and discontinuing
  the escalation of requirements
• Develop a system of accountability that allows
  for personalization and customization rather
  than just standardization and conformity

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Questions?