Hope for America’s Schools: Lessons for Ohio

1. Hope for America’s Schools:Lessons for Ohio Columbus Metropolitan Club KidsOhio Education Trust, May 2006

2. First, some good news. After more than a decade of fairly flat achievement and stagnant or growing gaps, we appear to be turning the corner.

3. NAEP Reading, 9 Year-Olds:Record Performance for All Groups

4. African American-White Gap Narrows to Smallest Size in HistoryNAEP Reading, 9 Year-Olds 26 35 29

5. Latino-White Gap Narrows to Smallest Size in HistoryNAEP Reading, 9 Year-Olds 21 28 24

6. NAEP Math, 9 Year-Olds: Record Performance for All Groups

7. African American-White Gap Narrows to Smallest Size in HistoryNAEP Math, 9 Year-Olds 23 28 25

8. Latino-White Gap Narrows to Smallest Size in HistoryNAEP Math, 9 Year-Olds 17 26 21

9. Bottom Line:When We Really Focus on Something, We Make Progress

10. Clearly, much more remains to be done in elementary and middle school Too many youngsters still enter high school way behind.

11. But at least we have some traction on these problems.

12. The Same is NOTTrue of High School

13. High School Achievement: Math and Science: NAEP Long-Term Trends Source: NAEP 1999 Trends in Academic Progress.

14. HIGH SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT: READING AND WRITINGNAEP Long-Term Trends

15. Gaps between groups wider today than in 1990

16. NAEP Reading, 17 Year-Olds 21 29

17. NAEP Math, 17 Year-Olds 28 20

18. Over past decade:Students entered high school a little stronger, but high schools added less value than before

19. Hormones?

20. Students in Other Countries Gain More in Secondary School TIMSS

21. PISA

22. US 15 Year-Olds Rank Near Middle Of The Pack Among 32 Participating Countries: 1999

23. 2003: U.S. Ranked 24th out of 29 OECD Countries in Mathematics Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), PISA 2003 Results, data available at http://www.oecd.org/

24. Problems are not limited to our high-poverty and high-minority schools . . .

25. U.S. Ranks Low in the Percent of Students in the Highest Achievement Level (Level 6) in Math Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), PISA 2003 Results, data available at http://www.oecd.org/

26. U.S. Ranks 23rd out of 29 OECD Countries in the Math Achievement of the Highest-Performing Students* * Students at the 95th Percentile Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), PISA 2003 Results, data available at http://www.oecd.org/

27. U.S. Ranks 23rd out of 29OECD Countries in the Math Achievement of High-SES Students Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), PISA 2003 Results, data available at http://www.oecd.org/

28. Problems not limited to math, either.

29. 2003 PISA Problem-Solving Results: US #23 Source: OECD, PISA. Problem Solving for Today’s World. 2004

30. 55% of our 15 year olds at problem-solving level 1 or below. Closest other country? LATVIA Source: OECD Problem Solving for Tomorrow’s World. 2004

31. One measure on which we rank high?Inequality!

32. Performance Of U.S.15 Year-Olds Highly Variable *Of 27 OECD countries Source: OECD, Knowledge and Skills for Life: First Results From PISA 2000, 2001.

33. These gaps begin before children arrive at the schoolhouse door. But, rather than organizing our educational system to ameliorate this problem, we organize it to exacerbate the problem.

34. How? By giving students who arrive with less, less in school, too.

35. Some of these “lesses” are a result of choices that policymakers make.

36. Nation:Inequities in State and Local Revenue Per Student Source: The Funding Gap, 2004, by Kevin Carey. Data are for 2002

37. But some of the “lesses”–indeed, perhaps the most devastating ones—are a function of choices that educators make.

38. Choices we make about what to expect of whom…

39. Students in Poor Schools Receive ‘A’s for Work That Would Earn ‘Cs’ in Affluent Schools Source: Prospects (ABT Associates, 1993), in “Prospects: Final Report on Student Outcomes”, PES, DOE, 1997.

40. Choices we make about what to teach whom…

41. Fewer Latino students are enrolledin Algebra 2 Source: CCSSO, State Indicators of Science and Mathematics Education, 2001

42. And choices we make about Whoteaches whom…

43. Math and Science Classes of Mostly Minority Students Are More Often Taught by Misassigned Teachers Source: Jeannie Oakes. Multiplying Inequalities: The Effects of Race, Social Class, and Tracking on Opportunities to Learn Mathematics and Science (Rand: 1990)

44. Poor and Minority Students Get More Inexperienced* Teachers *Teachers with 3 or fewer years of experience. “High” and “low” refer to top and bottom quartiles. Source: National Center for Education Statistics, “Monitoring Quality: An Indicators Report,” December 2000.

45. Results are devastating. Kids who come in a little behind, leave a lot behind.

46. By the end of high school?

47. African American and Latino 17 Year-Olds Do Math at Same Levels As White 13 Year-Olds

48. African American and Latino 17 Year-Olds Read at Same Levels As White 13 Year-Olds

49. And these are the students who remain in high school. These same patterns play out in high school completion, college entry and college completion.

50. So What Can We Do?