News

AREA SCHOOL DISTRICTS GRADED

By Wes Clement/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Monday, August 24, 2009 11:50 PM CDT

Some school districts in Jefferson County did not do so well in a recent scoring of performance.

An Arkansas Policy Foundation study gave Dollarway School District a grade of F, and the Pine Bluff district earned a D.

Watson Chapel School District earned a C-.

“You have to understand, you’re looking at data that’s a year and a half old based on one grade’s performance on one exam,” said White Hall Superintendent Dr. Larry Smith, whose district scored a B.

“It’s dubious at best as far as an indication of overall performance goes,” he said. “You have to look at everything at total before you can make a determination of a district’s performance, but we’ll take the B.”

The study, conducted by University of Central Arkansas professor Dr. Michael Scoles, was based primarily on ninth graders’ 2008 Stanford Achievement Test scores.

“You must consider four years ago there was the Lakeview lawsuit and it ruled the education system in Arkansas to be inadequate and unequitable,” Pine Bluff Superintendent Frank Anthony said.

He said teacher salaries, infrastructure and other factors were found to contribute to the unbalanced nature of the system.

He referred to the socio-economic differences between districts receiving A’s and those receiving F’s.

“There are some things called the evils of poverty, and they are compounded when you have poverty for 100 years in the state of Arkansas. That’s not the whole story, but it’s part of the story.”

He said the effects of poverty are compounded from one generation to the next and only a few students are able to escape the hindrance.

Seventeen districts in the state were given the grade of A or A- in the fourth annual study.

Seventy-two districts were given a B+, B or B-, and 117 districts earned a C+, C or C-.

A grade of D was given to eight districts and nine districts received an F.

Anthony cited documentation of the Pine Bluff district’s improved performance over the past two years and said the district is striving to continue the upward trend.

He said the district plans to use stimulus funds to purchase an average of $12,000 worth of instructional technology per classroom.

“Technology is the greatest equalizer in public education,” Anthony said. “It can take a student in poverty and level him with more affluent students.”

Arkansas Policy Foundation Director Greg Kaza told a reporter an attempt was made to adjust the scores according to socio-economic conditions.

Test scores of first-graders were used to predict ninth grade SAT-10 scores, and the projections were compared to actual scores. The idea was that outside influences have the greatest effect on younger students, so if projected ninth grade scores were significantly lower than the actual scores within a district, then that district was determined to have a specified degree of socio-economic disadvantage.

A report issued by the foundation recommended students of districts given a grade of F be given the option of attending school in a higher performing district.

It also suggested college and university sponsored charter schools be available for those students.

Other districts in Southeast Arkansas received the following grades: