Voters heading into Tuesday's Wake County school board elections are getting wildly differing messages on the academic quality of the school system.
As noted in today's article, supporters of the diversity policy tout Wake's overall academic success while critics focus on the performance of the low-income students. A new SAS report that examines Wake's achievement gap could bolster the arguments of the critics of the diversity policy.
Here's the background:
SAS has developed the EVAAS program for schools to use in assessing their performance. North Carolina has made it available in school districts statewide.
Wake has its own in-house program called the Effectiveness Index. While individual Wake schools can get access to EVAAS data if they ask him, Asst. Supt. David Holdzkom has told the school board his office can't support both EVAAS and the Effectiveness Index.
Holdzkom's Evaluation and Research Department released a report in March comparing both programs. The report questioned the EVASS system because it, among other things, appeared to look "less favorably upon those [schools] with higher[ free and reduced prince lunch] percentages as compared to" the Effectiveness Index.
Wake's report didn't sit well with SAS, prompting the EVAAS division to send a written response to Supt. Del Burns.
Over the summer, rumors began circulating in the community about Wake having gotten a SAS report questioning the district's academic performance. School board member Ron Margiotta said that upset some board members because staff hadn't told them about the SAS response.
Margiotta made a request last week to staff to get the SAS response, which he later learned had been received June 29. The report was given to board members on Friday.
Due to the size of the report, I've broken it into multiple parts. Click here for the brief summarizing the report. Click here for the first section, here for the second section, here for the third section and here for the final portion.
The SAS report questioned whether Wake might be hiding weaknesses in the performance of low-income students by expecting they'll score lower than affluent students. Wake double normalizes the data for the Effectiveness Index.
The report also noted that Wake's achievement gap between low-income and non low-income students seemed to be wider than in other North Carolina school districts.
Here's a statement that SAS released on Friday from June Rivers, Manager, SAS EVAAS for K-12 and co-author of the EVAAS report:
"We responded to Dr. Burns in writing about our disagreement with the district’s evaluation of SAS EVAAS results.
Our technical concern with the WCPSS analyses provided by E & R has to do with the double-adjustment for student demographics (at the student and at the school level) and the inadequate number of prior student scores WCPSS uses in their in-house analyses.
The risk associated with the WCPSS E & R analyses is that it will tend to camouflage schooling inadequacies for disadvantaged populations. Even though the WCPSS E & R analyses show a high correlation between their results and the SAS EVAAS analyses, this inadequately reflects the differences observed in the results. The SAS EVAAS analyses show a more striking negative relationship between the Wake County School measures and %FRL than is generally observed among other NC districts. This same degree of relationship would not be seen in the WCPSS analyses because of their double adjustment. We trust that these differences will be fully explored by the Wake County leadership.
Regarding WCPSS achievement, WCPSS students are scoring consistently around the 60th state percentile in 3-8 math. That’s admirable, but not dramatically above the 50th state percentile, the NC average, and that performance has been flat for 3 years. Some populations of disadvantaged students are not being placed in rigorous course sequences that their prior achievement would indicate their likelihood of success in those courses."
I contacted the Communications Department on Friday afternoon after receiving the report from the district. I asked for help in reaching Holdzkom but didn't get a call back about his response to the SAS report.
Comments
Why doesn't tyhis have a headline in the N & O?
Wed, 10/07/2009 - 19:43 — momiamIt seems this would be a news story in itself in the N&O and not just in the blogs.
DEL BURNS SHOULD GET BURNED OVER SAS REPORT COVER-UP
Wed, 10/07/2009 - 18:24 — mike_caryBURNS has had the SAS REPORT for months!
He kept it hidden til Ron M and E Goettee (I believe) specifically asked for it.
ALthough it wasn't Burn's intent I am sure,
his "hiding" of the report til now actually
helped "non-status QUO" at the Polls just days after
the report surfaced before the Oct 6th elections!
THANKS DEL!
THE new school board should fire Del for withholding this report from the school board for months. There must be some clause in his contract about honesty and full disclosure of information.....
We would be far better off with an accomplished "outsider" as our Super finally.....
snordone--don't worry, it
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 19:49 — jenmansnordone--don't worry, it will definitely be talked about after the election. It is truly appalling and I know that I'll be bringing it up every chance I get.
Somebody said that only 2
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 11:38 — jenmanSomebody said that only 2 BOE members asked to see SAS's response. I see that Ron was listed as one, but who is the other?
Why did Ron sit on the
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 11:40 — user12345Why did Ron sit on the report?
Stop making an a$$ of
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 19:27 — woodstockStop making an a$$ of yourself, it used to be mildly entertaining, now it is just annoying. Either keep up or shut up.
WOW!. L'user, you used to
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 11:49 — shearertwWOW!.
L'user, you used to be on top of your game, now you're just looking desperate. This is hardly even fun any more.
sit on what??
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 11:45 — AngelaW"Margiotta made a request last week to staff to get the SAS response, which he later learned had been received June 29. The report was given to board members on Friday."
User1234--I did an analysis
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 11:32 — jenmanUser1234--I did an analysis a while ago of the passing rates on both EOGs for both ED and NED elem kids. Overall, ED kids did best at schools with <10% F&R, 2nd best at schools >60%, 3rd best at schools over >50% and the results just jumped around for the other categories. Eric Blau then did a statistical analysis with t-scores and he found the same results. No correlation between F&R of a school and performance of ED students.
Good Point
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 08:59 — uncertainWhy isn't the story in WRAL, WABC and the other news stories??? You would think PURPOSELY withholding information from the Board would be something EVERYONE would want to know...taxpayers money fund the school system and they sit on a report that damns them because they can?? I would love to see Dr. Burns lose his job over this and others...what about David Neter for allowing funds and the financial implications it has? What about Mark Winters for the same reason? Holdczum should be fired as well and anyone else who decided it should not go to the Board. This isn't the first "analysis" or "audit" they have hidden from the Board though. Ask them about the audit that Annette Perkinson did a few years back...they'll probably pretend they have no idea what you're talking about.
We are all missing the point
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 10:23 — snordoneThe BOE has repeatedly said that the diversity policy only creates healthy schools. The SAS response does not address the diversity policy, it addresses a larger and more critical issue - the use of accurate data that would allow our policy makers to make informed decisions. I hope that the N&O will discuss this issue because unlike the diversity policy it is the ONE thing we can change now that will help our ED children immediately. By 2017 we could substantially improve our graduation rate and send thousands of ED children to college.
snordone, "The BOE has
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 11:11 — shearertwsnordone,
"The BOE has repeatedly said that the diversity policy only creates healthy schools."
Sorry, but the "healthy schools" thing is just recent spin by WCPSS. Up until fairly recently (last year or so), the diversity policy was supposed to be better for the ED children. I believe the overwhelming evidence that it wasn't helping ED students mounted to a point where WCPSS just changed the goal to "healthy schools".
I agree with you shearertw
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 17:57 — snordoneI know, their message has been rather fluid over the last few months. BUT I am worried that the public is missing the point with this report. I want this to continue to be a focus AFTER the election, not just part of the chatter right now.
we will continue to push after the election
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 20:02 — mbgjwaltersThe students of Wake County need us to continue to push the school system to be accountable for ALL students. There are many of us who will continue to focus on this after the election.
Truly
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 19:22 — SDR256Truly, snordone - this is a public scandal. NO ONE is going to forget this by Friday - or beyond. The details are only now being teased out. And OH the fact that Del Burns has been sitting on it since - when? June? That's three months - generously speaking. THAT is an outrage!
Well...
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 10:58 — Bob_SconceWell, the study shows that the administration has effectively been cooking the books before showing student results to the school board. It's like saying "Look. Our poor students all scored 93% in their classes and got A's; the diversity policy must be working!" only to find out that the scores of poor students were doubled before assigning grades. So, it's not a frontal attack on the diversity policy, but it does call the policy's justification into question.
The soft bigotry of low expectations.
Where are the headlines, Mr. Hui?
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 06:49 — kmisegadesWhy is this story not the lead in today's paper, Mr. Hui? It will likely be one of the biggest scandals involving public schools in the nation this year, and the N&O is sitting on it? Seems to me that you are missing an opportunity to win back many former readers who tired of one-sided journalism in favor of the status quo in recent years. Citizens of Wake County can and will find other sources for factual news, and the N&O will eventually become a sentence in history of local MSM as a result when you ignore news that impacts our lives and allows corrupt government employees and elected officials to run free.
Did Mr. Meeker's wife leave her job at SAS Institute after learning about the potential consequences of the SAS report? It sure looks like the rats jumped ship over this.
Amazing how many don't
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 07:15 — shank56Amazing how many don't bother to read the stories- in print or online. Apparently too attached to The Star and the National Enquirer.
The report was mentioned in
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 06:52 — KeungHui (author)The report was mentioned in a story that ran on the FRONT PAGE of Sunday's newspaper. To say we're hiding it is over the top.
lol
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 08:19 — supportwcpssNo, Mr Hui. You need to go knock on every door in Wake County and explain the story to them.
The paranoia of the fringe. Mr. Hui - It must be fun going to the zoo every day.
No, the suggestion is NOT
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 07:57 — woodstockNo, the suggestion is NOT over the top.
Yes, it was "mentioned" in Sunday's paper in an article below the fold, but not in today's headline story with the rundown of the school board issues and a restatement of endorsements were given. Also , a key part of the story is why was this information concealed by Burns, Holdzkom and possibly McLaurin. Where is the follow-up with that?
A consistent, subtle, but relevent bias presentation of the news is the N&O's hallmark. It continues.
Get over it Mr. Hui does not
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 09:24 — user12345Get over it Mr. Hui does not work for you or do your bidding ...
You are an imbecile. If you
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 11:34 — woodstockYou are an imbecile. If you want to wallow in ignorance, have at it, user. I think the public has a right to know when public officials try to hide information.
Hmm...
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 08:37 — Bob_SconceTo me, the big story here was the existence of the SAS report, its contents, and the fact that it wasn't disclosed to school board members. The story doesn't mention the report until the 24th paragraph.
Of course, I don't see *anything* about the report on any of the 3 local TV stations' or News 14 websites.
The interesting thing here is that the summary of the report talks about how it's directed to "policy makers." The fact that Del Burns chose to hold onto it himself and not pass it on to the school board (until specifically directed to) says a lot about who he thinks sets policy in Wake County.
The first reference to the
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 11:26 — KeungHui (author)The first reference to the report was in the 5th paragraph of the story.
You're right
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 11:33 — Bob_SconceMissed that in my original go-through. Apologies.
That is the point
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 08:46 — Eric_BYou're right. That is the point, Bob.
The SAS report specifically addresses how WCPSS's Evaluation & Research Department evaluates teacher effectiveness in a way that expects less growth from low income students and hides problems from policy makers.
WCPSS administration's failure to deliver the report to policy makers in an apparent attempt to hide the report's conclusions borders on the criminal.
could this be why there is
Sun, 10/04/2009 - 23:56 — AngelaWcould this be why there is only *one* incumbent running? and the abrupt departure of Ms. Clark?
timing folks, timing.....
Will J Goodnight now let the
Sun, 10/04/2009 - 22:48 — changewcpssWill J Goodnight now let the SAS employees know that asking them to support the status quo candidates was actually a blunder on his part? When a minion like D Holdzkom criticizes EVAAS, Mr. Goodnight ought to let him know that WCPSS needs honest big picture thinkers like the WSCA candidates. D Burns can't be sleeping well now.
Public scandal
Sun, 10/04/2009 - 21:54 — SDR256The impact of this report should effect everyone - its not exclusive to Republicans, Democrats, suburban, urban, rural, any kind of religion, ethnicity or income level. This, my friends is a PUBLIC SCANDAL. The fact that this has been withheld since March is a ticking timebomb.
KABOOM!
Everyone should read this report to understand that we are all in this together against a system that has deliberately and carefully HOODWINKED each and every one of us.
Oh, and by the way, remember that feeling that kids were being used as pawns? This proves your sixth sense was dead on.
There is an unopened can of worms
Sun, 10/04/2009 - 19:44 — occum_sharpeIt is disgusting that so many minority students in Wake County are being denied access to a curriculum (8th grade Algebra) that they qualify for. This indeed shows that there are low expectations in Wake for students of color. What needs to be magnified more carefully, however (remember, this report was not based on F/R status, just minority status), is HOW ARE POOR MINORITY STUDENTS AT SCHOOLS WITH VERY FEW POOR MINORITY STUDENTS PERFORMING IN COMPARISON TO POOR MINORITY STUDENTS AT SCHOOLS WITH LARGE PERCENTAGES OF POOR MINORITY STUDENTS? This is the question that must be answered before we can attack the diversity policy. One of the most negative things about statistics is that people constantly seek to make correlations between unrelated variables. This type of study would remove all doubt of whether it is effective or not to try to maintain schools below a certain level of poverty.
"ARE POOR MINORITY STUDENTS
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 09:20 — user12345"ARE POOR MINORITY STUDENTS AT SCHOOLS WITH VERY FEW POOR MINORITY STUDENTS PERFORMING IN COMPARISON TO POOR MINORITY STUDENTS AT SCHOOLS WITH LARGE PERCENTAGES OF POOR MINORITY STUDENTS?"
Yes, the lower the % F&R in a school the higher the EOC/EOG % Pass ... normally you can add the % ED Pass + % FR to equal around 70% ... so, Green Hope with little economic diversity has the highest ED% pass .. Conn with the highest ED% has one of the lowest ED% Pass ... ED% pass at low diversity schools like Green Hope and Panther Creek are the highest ... if these two schools were ED magnets, ED scores would soar and nearly equal NED scores!
TPG ... I am sure there is
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 11:10 — user12345TPG ... I am sure there is a unique story behind each school (location, reassignments, teachers, etc.) ... Still it is interesting to me that we can take a random selection of poor students and some schools do very well with them and others don't using the same books, courses and state employee teachers ... it is rare for a high poverty school to break over 40% ED passing while it is quite common for ED's to have a high % pass in schools where they are a minority. This may play into your low expectation arguement that at rich schools ED's get swept up in the idea they should do their homework, study and can succeed.
Some schools do very well with them and others don't
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 12:12 — TrailerParkGirlExactly, so why in the world are we wasting time and hurting the students by reassigning them from some that do well to one that does not? Why are we not focusing on what those that have higher ED rates AND are making progress are doing right? Because those answers do NOT support the need for the bussing policy, they support COMMUNITY schools. THAT's why.
Here are some of the best practices from schools right here in Wake County that are beating some others with lower F&R%: Same high expectations for ALL students, improved teacher effectiveness (professional development, sharing best practices) and student data assessment from a variety of sources (PLCs*), increased parental involvement, community involvement, positive behavior and motivation tools, and move teachers and tools where needed (allocation of resources). Those best practices ALL came from a presentation done by schools right here, right now that are doing well with them. You know what wasn't on the list of best practices? Bussing them to a lower F&R school or having them observe Biff. STOP telling them that they need Biff to show them how to be successful. The kids at 80% F&R Capital Prep aren't observing Biff to pick up on how they should do their homework and study, they are hearing it from their Principal (he's a hard a$$ PhD who grew up in projects), their teachers and EACH OTHER. Like the girl in the interview said, once a few of the kids start believing and saying "I'm going to college" - it's contagious. They need to see it, hear it, believe it from someone like themselves or someone they respect, not Biff who they may resent any way.
*some schools were doing PLCs before Wake Wednesday was instituated. I support the idea of PLCs, but don't support the implementation process for Wake Wednesday where parents were blind-sided. Also, would like to see if we can do some rethinking to make it less Whacky.
Again, you can put up all the data you want from < 15% ED schools, but our system ED rate is closer to 30% ED, so we could bus to kingdom come and we won't have all < 15% schools (and again we've got some < 15% ED schools that are NOT doing well with them). Unless you want to start shipping some of "those" kids out of WCPSS, you can't have all schools be like Green Hope, so get over Green Hope. If the policy were completely instituted all the schools should be in the 25%-35% range. What's the data for those schools?
Thanks
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 14:43 — SouthEastWakeMomTPG, Thanks for all you do on this blog. I learn so much from your posts. Your efforts are appreciated.
You are cherry picking
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 10:16 — TrailerParkGirlFirst, Cedar Fork ES is a community school - all contiguous nodes to the school, so the 11% F&R are local not bussed more than an hour across the county. So, are they doing well because the school is low F&R, or because they live in a lower F&R area or because they are not sitting on a bus for more than an hour one-way or because the school uses effective teaching methods?
Second, Reedy Creek and Stough have both had a lot of instability with F&R nodes being shuffled in and out like the schools have a revolving front door. It's harder to raise achievement in that environment. One year with kids is not enough (and that came out of an educator's mouth). Meanwhile, out of Central Office comes "oh, kids are flexible and the next school can just pull them up in the system to learn about them." This is what we've come to. Kids being just case numbers in a system to be used as pawns to accomodate supposed adults' agendas.
Third, here some more data points (2007-08) (district ED pass 31%) -
Dillard Drive ES: ED pass 52%, %ED 40%, ADD 92%
Wilburn ES: ED pass 34%, %ED 53%, ADD 87%
Oak Grove ES: ED pass 20%, %ED 8%, ADD 28%
For 2006-07 (district average ED pass was 48% as it was before reading test standard was increased):
Dillard Drive ES: ED pass 62%, %ED 42%, ADD 104%
Oak Grove ES: ED pass 51%, %ED 10%, ADD 61%
Remember Rosa Gill's comment about elitist voluntary year-round schools? Well, WCPSS reassigned bussed-in ED students from Dillard to Oak Grove for 2008-09, so Oak Grove would be less of an elitist voluntary year-round school. It sure as heck wasn't to send those students to a school where they had a higher liklihood of achievement. Was it? Nice that WCPSS reduced the children's chance of success to satisfy an agenda. The adults need to start acting like adults and stop using children as pawns and start doing what is going to raise children up. WSCA candidates have said the first question they will ask is "Is this good for the students?"
People need to keep their eye on the grand Diversity prize behind Door #3 of closing the achievement gap. If we do, Biff and (low-income) Larry may be neighbors some day. Continuing to go for the consolation diversity prize behind Door #2 of having them attend the same public school, where Larry has low-expectations put on him and gets lost in the reassignment shuffle until he drops out and lives out his life in his current neighborhood (or prison) while Biff goes on to college and a different neighborhood and life has been and will continue to be a collosal mistake.
Which door are we going to tell Monte Hall we want tomorrow? Will enough have the courage to go for the Grand Diversity Prize behind Door #3?
TPG,
Mon, 10/05/2009 - 13:00 — petehsso very nicely said. Thank you.
Fair enough
Sun, 10/04/2009 - 21:31 — SDR256I think we should be open to lots of questions like that. The MAIN problem we have had is a rigid board which currently, arrogantly clings to a hollow solution. They will have NO questions such as yours, and as a matter of fact if you brought it up at a hearing you maybe should be afraid of retribution on your children's school assignments. They are that petty and it IS that bad. This is what we have been saying! We need transparency! We need dialog! This is NOT about getting rid of diversity - this is about finding what works!! For the children! (not first for businessmen and politicians. We need to educate children first.)
A few thoughts
Sun, 10/04/2009 - 20:32 — TrailerParkGirlSupporters of policy 6200 have made the following statements to justify it's need and/or continuance: schools with >40% F&R can't be healthy, good teachers won't teach in those schools and those kids parents won't be involved any way (in response to concerns that low-income parents can't be involved in their child's school when it is further away). The justification given for the policy is based on the low expectations in Wake for low-income students (and in Wake there is a strong correlation between income and minority status). Personally, I don't need another statistical study of a statistical study to know that is a problem. It's pretty clear to me based on old-fashioned common sense and personal experience. Where I grew up there is no automatic labeling of low-income students as "at-risk." The gap there in many categories is peanuts compared to here and girls from trailer parks go on to grad school with the wine and cheese crowd.
How about instead we study (and I don't mean a statistical one) what is working in programs like KIPP and Capital Prep that have >80% low-income and minority students with 100% graduation and college placement rates and how we start applying those things here, sooner rather than later? To me, that would be a much more worthwhile study.
I think someone ran some numbers on EOG pass rates a while back on your question and found there wasn't a clear relationship. The data is all over the place. For example, there is a 40% F&R school where 50% of the ED students pass and a 10% F&R school where only 20% of ED students pass. There are also higher F&R schools where only 20% of ED students pass. Additionally, with the level of shuffling from school to school how do you separate different factors. For example, if next year students are reassigned from the 40% school where 50% pass to the 10% school where only 20% pass and then the ED pass rate at the now 15% ED school goes up - is it because the ED students are attending a lower F&R school or is it because whatever was working at the 40% school carried over with them to some degree? And don't think WCPSS wouldn't reassign ED kids out of a school where 50% pass to one where only 20% pass because they've done it, which is where the whole 'this policy is to help disadvantaged students' starts to not add up.
Let me ask you this: Just
Sun, 10/04/2009 - 20:00 — woodstockI agree that policy should be data-driven. Is has been asked for and denied by the sitting school board. However, let me ask you this: Just using common sense and logic, what would you guess would be more effective in improving student achievement (a) a bus ride or (b) targeted programs that address the specific academic and social needs of an at-risk student?
no financial gain in this one
Sun, 10/04/2009 - 18:29 — snordoneNCDPI has a contract with EVAAS and is providing their analysis free to all districts/schools in the state. As far as the slide ruler comment, statistics is a science and there are very well defined rules in data analysis. E&R has been violating these rules for years and our district has been plagued with data that is inaccurate at best - fraudulent at worst. If you would like a crash course in statistics I'd be happy to teach you.
As I said earlier, I am a dem. This is not a political issue as far as I am concerned, no hidden agenda. We have a choice now that our problems have been revealed - change our method of data evaluation or continue to deny our most vulnerable kids a secure future that only education can bring.
Since everyone continues to make this an election issue, how about this - we vote for individuals who will seek the truth so that they can set policy that will help, not hurt our children. Please understand, when this report was revealed only 2 of the 7 board members requested to see it. That means 7 of our board members were content to keep going in the direction of failure.
you're right
Sun, 10/04/2009 - 19:21 — loriacThe WSCA candidates promise to listen to parents and look for the best solutions to educate our children. I will vote for our WSCA candidate, but I do not expect buses to be idled the day after the election should these candidates win.
I do expect however, that they will listen to parent concerns and look for the best way to educate our children.. Unwinding the current mess will take a while.
Vote for change and those who promise to look out for ALL the kids.
Malone, Prickett, Goldman, Tedesco
Is EVAAS the brainchild of
Sun, 10/04/2009 - 17:58 — shank56Is EVAAS the brainchild of Dr. Sanders who came to SAS from Tennessee? If I recall correctly, WEP and WCPSS featured him as the keynote 9- 10 years ago for a series of meetings - he being the guru for data tracking individual student performance as it relates to teacher effectiveness. I think he lived in Tennessee at the time and SAS hired him later.
It is concerning that the SAS info is not being used - though I do see how WCPSS departments are stretched with budget cuts. WCPSS used to provide a lot more data on its schools, but in the age of cutbacks and once the NC school report cards became the norm , such info ceased to be posted on the web. (In my early years with WCPSS , the Effectiveness Index was posted on the web for each school, 3-5 grades, for reading and math. If I recall correctly, it showed how each grade did compared to the district norm - ie, below or above expectations- something like that .
E.I.
Wed, 10/07/2009 - 21:15 — klanders65You may not have understood the Effectiveness Index. It was posted and would say "above expected," "expected," "below expected," etc.
These metrics were computed by adjusting for different demographic group membership. They weren't comparing to the district norm. This is a very simple regression analysis that adjusts for subgroup membership. Although they "caution" not to use the results with individual students, they provide the data to school staffs to use for school improvement plans, and include individual student "residuals." Some low income students in high SES schools are projected to lose ground and have positive residuals even if they score worse than the previous year.
My sliderule is bigger than yours
Sun, 10/04/2009 - 18:14 — truthBtoldSounds like two sets of statisticians trying to measure whose slide rules are bigger. SAS has a product to sell--Ron needs an October surprise--his lemmings go off the cliff--EVAAS is a tool nothing more nothing less. It's already in schools around the county.
BTW, these are the same Goodnights who were villified last year for selling the school system a bad piece of land on this same site as they are the now praised for showing the school system a product that will lead the great white masses to the promised land...namely neighborhood schools? Right? we couldn't trust them then, but now we can?
Give me a break. It's about this election, the republicans and them selling a piece of software.
That makes no sense
Sun, 10/04/2009 - 19:03 — Bob_SconceSo, SAS is biased because somehow it makes money when WCPSS' analysis is found to be lacking? That's a pretty weak argument. Can you explain the mechanics of this, or are you just reflexively spouting off an anti-corporate bias?
This has nothing to do with trusting Jim Goodnight. But, it has everything to do with the administration hiding negative information from the school board.
...
Sun, 10/04/2009 - 19:01 — SideburnsGet a clue.
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/evaas/
It has already been purchased. It is available for all NC school district to use. WCPSS has refused. Now we know why.
yep. E.I. cooks the books.
Wed, 10/07/2009 - 21:16 — klanders65yep.
E.I. cooks the books. It reports that all is well when the achievement gap is exactly what we expected it to be. And, as long as no one understands anything about statistics, they just look at the bottom line... looks like everything is "as expected..." must be fine...
You are wrong and it is
Sun, 10/04/2009 - 18:25 — woodstockYou are wrong and it is clear you do not understand the issue or the significance. The data was hidden and reveals significantly greater deficiencies in Wake County than has ever been reported. The state has already purchased the software, Wake County is just not using it. It is not a budget issue nor is it a situation where SAS is trying to sell software.
Staff Withholds Info From Certain Board Members. Again.
Sun, 10/04/2009 - 14:02 — MissVI recall a few months ago that school system staff took title (without board knowledge or approval) to property once owned by convicted former House Speaker Jim Black. The sitting judge suggested that, 'they didn't need to know.' Here's evidence again of staff's arrogance in who they inform. June was an interesting month, as several board members resigned or decided not to run again. (Or, maybe they didn't tell everyone at the same time). In light of this information (new to the N&O but not to members of the WSCA), I recommend the following: *A recission of your endorsement of the candidates who were mostly handchosen by WakeUP and sitting members of the Wake Co. School Board; *A public apology from Del Burns to board member Ron Margiotta and, *Re-submitting this article for Monday's edition. It was much more visible to your reading public this morning than it is now. It's always okay to expand upon the truth. I don't suppose that the one school board member who works for SAS was privy to the withholding of this info, right? Venita Peyton, Raleigh