Poverty and Kindergarten Preparedness

In the previous post (Idaho Kindergartners - Preparation for Reading) we discussed the state of reading preparation among kindergartners around the state of Idaho.

Since the free-reduced lunch data are available for schools around the state on the ISDE website, and research indicates that the two variables are related, we decided to run a scattergram portraying the relationship between preparedness and free/reduced lunch percentages.

For the chart, we used 2013 free-reduced lunch percentages for schools with over 25 entering kindergartners, and Fall 2013 IRI percentages of reading-ready students for those schools. A few of the schools in the comparison are kindergarten-only schools, for which lunches are not provided, so we used the District percentage of free/reduced instead.

Here is the scattergram:



By way of explanation, Van Buren and Sacajawea in Caldwell have free/reduced percentages of 91 and 90, respectively, and 23% of kindergartners at those schools achieved a "3" on the Fall 2013 IRI. Conversely, Hidden Springs (Boise) had 6% free/reduced and 82% scores of "3" on the IRI, and Galileo in Meridian had 11% free-reduced and 87% prepared to read.

As you can see, the correlation between preparation and free/reduced percentage the two variables is quite high (-.755) and negative ((-1) would be a perfect negative correlation).

If a pilot of pre-k is initiated in Idaho, it might make sense to carefully select high poverty/low-preparedness participating schools, so as to maximize the possible return on investment. If Basin District's experience is any indicator, the pilot will yield tremendous gains in reading literacy.

Idaho Kindergartners - Preparation for Reading

In the 2014 legislative session, Representatives Hy Kloc (D-Boise) and Doug Hancey (R-Rexburg) brought a bill that would have initiated a pilot of pre-kindergarten in the state of Idaho. Though the bill did not pass, it has stimulated much conversation about the benefits of Pre-k.

Several years ago, the Treasure Valley Educational Partnership set goals in five areas and identified baseline metrics for those goals. Goal 1 is “Prepared for School”, and the baseline measure is student performance on the Fall Kindergarten measure of the Idaho Reading Indicator, a reading screener used with K-3 students in Idaho. The data used herein come from the Fall, 2013 Kindergarten IRI. Thanks to TVEP Data Director Sarah Weppner for the idea for this post.

STATEWIDE DATA

The Fall Kindergarten measure for 2013 contains the most recent Idaho data on reading preparedness. Here’s how the statewide data looked for Idaho in 2013:

CHARTER SCHOOLS

A substantially higher percentage of Kindergartners entering charters around the state were prepared for reading than were in elementary schools around the state. Of the 33 charters in which students took the Fall K IRI, only five had percentages below the state average: Taylor’s Crossing (Idaho Falls), Heritage Academy (Jerome), Chief Tahgee (Fort Hall), American Heritage (Cottonwood), and Another Choice(virtual).

The five charters which had the highest percentage of entering students prepared for reading were:

Victory (Nampa) – 96%
Moscow – 95%
Falcon Ridge (Kuna) – 88%
Anser (Boise) – 88%
IDEA (online) – 85%
North Star (Eagle) – 85%
Sage (Boise) – 80%

SCHOOL DISTRICTS

Only two districts, Moscow (69%) and Meridian (70%) had higher percentages of prepared kindergartners than the statewide charter percentage. The districts with 50 kindergartners or more that had the highest percentage of prepared entering kindergartners were:

What’s interesting is the gap between the districts with the highest percentages of students prepared for reading and those with the lowest. While Meridian’s percent prepared is at 70%, five districts had 30% or fewer of their entering kindergartners prepared to read:



ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Fifty-three percent of statewide elementary schools were above the state average in terms of readiness for reading on the Fall K IRI. Among schools with over 20 kindergartners, the highest percentages were:

Northside, Lake Pend O’Reille – 91%
Donnell, Meridian – 88%
Highlands, Boise – 87%
Riverside, Boise – 86%
Siena, Meridian – 83%
Sunnyside, Idaho Falls – 82%
Hidden Springs, Boise – 82%
Seven Oaks, Meridian – 82%
Summerwind, Meridian – 82%
Longfellow, Boise – 81%

Of interest is the elementary school in the Basin School District (Idaho City), which has run a preschool for a number of years. Though Idaho City Elementary had only 14 kindergartners in 2013, 11 of those students (79%) were ready for reading according to the Fall IRI results.

According to Basin Superintendent John MacFarlane, the percentage of prepared kindergartners in Idaho City jumped from the 30% range to its current status with the introduction of the pre-K program, and has remained high since.

Using the same metric (more than 20 kindergartners), the schools with the lowest percentages of “ready to read” kindergartners were:

Brown, Lakeland – 17%
Silver Hills, Wallace – 19%
Bush, Idaho Falls – 19%
Aberdeen – 20%
Erickson, Idaho Falls – 22%
Van Buren, Caldwell – 25%
Hawthorne, Idaho Falls – 23%
Sacajawea, Caldwell – 23%
Hillcrest, American Falls – 25%
Valley, 25%
Roberts, Jefferson County – 25%
Washington, Caldwell – 25%

You may find a pdf copy of the data used for this post here. The spreadsheet is available upon request or can be downloaded from the ISDE website.

Idaho's SAT Math Scores Improve in 2014

The results of the 2014 SAT Schoolday administration were released last week. This was the third annual administration of the SAT to juniors statewide. The State Department of Education coordinates the administration, and juniors are offered the opportunity to take the exam at no cost.

Juniors must take a college entrance exam prior to the end of the 11th grade year in order to graduate from high school. If they have taken the SAT, ACT, or the Compass exam prior to the Schoolday administration, or plan to take one of the three exams prior to the end of junior year, students are not required to sit for the Schoolday exam.

SAT ACHIEVEMENT

For the purposes of this post, we considered only high school where 75 or more juniors sat for the SAT Schoolday exam, and only those schools in which 80% of juniors took the Schoolday exam. For the purpose of evaluating growth from the 2013 exam, we used only schools that tested 80% of juniors in both years. High schools in which less than 80% of students took the 2014 SAT were Blackfoot, Bonners Ferry, Burley, Canyon Ridge (Twin Falls), Jerome, Post Falls, South Fremont, and Wood River (Blaine County).

Following is a scattergram in which the percentage of students scoring above 500 (the College Board standard for college readiness) is the y-axis variable, and the percentage of free/reduced students is the x-axis variable.

The top scoring “large” high schools in 2014 were (% and average score):




SAT GROWTH

Almost 800 more students scored 500 or better in math on the 2014 Schoolday exam than did in 2013, a 4% gain. Though these are two different groups of juniors, there were almost 17,000 students in each tested group. The average scale score increased from 453 to 461.

We took a look at the high schools that made the most growth from 2013 to 2014. We eliminated the school that tested less than 80% of students in 2013 and/or in 2014. In addition to the schools listed as eliminated above, Kuna (76%), Payette (72%), and Weiser (73%) were eliminated from the comparison.

Here are the schools that made the most growth from 2013 to 2014:

LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENT STUDENTS

Limited English students, especially refugee/immigrant students who had been in the United States for a relatively short time, struggled with the ISAT, a multiple choice test that assessed relatively low level skills in a multiple choice format. As you can imagine, these students have an even more difficult time on the SAT, and will have similar issues with the Smarter Balanced Assessment next spring.

For example, here are the scoring patterns for a native – speaking student scoring 660 on the SAT math test, and a Limited English student.

                                 Q’s correct                         Q’s missed                Q’s skipped              Scale Score

Native Speaker              46                                             4                                 4                             660

LEP immigrant student    9                                            17                                28                          310

Research on language learning among LEP students shows that “a period of 5-7 years was required, on average, for immigrant students to approach grade norms in academic aspects of English.” (Cummins). Further, a 1995 article by Virginia Collier indicates that “In our studies we have found that in U.S. schools where all instruction is given through the second language(English) nonnative speakers of English withno schooling in their first language takes seven to ten years or more to reach age and grade-level norms of their native-speaking peers.”

On the old ISAT, LEP students were exempted from the language and reading subtests for one year. For the SAT, students can take another exam (ACT or Compass), or have their scores exempted from a school’s totals during their first three years in a United States school.

So how do LEP students’ scores compare? On average, Boise District LEP students who took the SAT scored a composite of 904, compared with the district average of 1426 (excluding LEP students). In math, LEP students scored an average of 330, compared with the district average of 486 (excluding LEP students).

As noted in a previous post, Borah High School has the largest number of LEP students in the state, primarily because the district’s Bridge program for immigrant newcomers is housed at Borah. Fifty-four (54) LEP students took the SAT at Borah. Those students’ average math score was 338. Five (5) (9%) scored above 500 in math, 0 in reading, 0 in writing.

So, what happens when the LEP student scores are taken out of Borah’s percentage of students scoring 500 or above?

Borah High School – Percent 500 or above

                                          With LEP               Without LEP

Reading                                 34%                           39%

Math                                      36%                           41%

Writing                                  21%                           23%

Other districts have high percentages of Limited English Proficient students, though probably not to the level of Borah with its Bridge program. We don’t know the extent of the effect on SAT performance, since the number of LEP tested students is not released by the state.

Student Enrollment in Idaho Schools, Part 1

Which Idaho school district with over 100 students has seen the largest percentage increase in enrollment since the dawn of the 21st century?

Meridian (or, by their new name, West Ada)? – Well, Meridian is first in numerical growth (over 11,000), but fifth in percentage growth. The state’s largest district has grown by 45% since 2001.

Nampa? – Nampa is now the state’s third largest district, with over 15,000 students, but is 8th in rate of growth, at 28%.

The fastest growing district in Idaho is the Vallivue District outside of Caldwell. Vallivue had 3888 students in 2001, and now has enrollment of 7565, according to State Department of Education enrollment statistics. That’s a rate of growth since 2001 of 95%.

Fastest Growing Districts

School districts of over 100 students that have grown by 20% (with enrollment growth) since ’01 are:

1. Vallivue (3677) – 95%
2. Kuna (1961) – 62%
3. Middleton (1348) – 59%
4. Bonneville (3581) – 47%
5. Meridian (11237) – 45%
6. Madison (1176) – 29%
7. Jefferson County (1141) – 29%
8. Nampa (3272) – 28%
9. Teton (335) – 25%
10. Twin Falls (1696) – 25%
11. Kimberly (320) – 24%
12. Post Falls (1070) – 23%
13. Sugar-Salem (277) – 23%
14. Dietrich (41) – 21%

Note that much of the student population growth is in three areas of the state: the Treasure Valley (Meridian, Nampa, Kuna, Middleton, Caldwell), the Idaho Falls area (Madison, Jefferson County, Sugar-Salem, Bonneville, Teton), and the Magic Valley (Twin Falls, Kimberly, Dietrich).

Fastest Shrinking Districts

On the flip side, as of the 2013 – 14 school year, 29 school districts of over 100 students have lost more than 20% of their 2001 enrollment. The ten that have lost the highest percentage of enrollment are:

1. Culdesac – 58% (213 to 92)
2. Kootenai - 39.6% (288 to 174) 
3. South Lemhi – 38.8% (129 to 79)
4. Bruneau-Grandview – 37.6% (526 to 328) 
5. Nez Perce 37.2% (207 to 130) 
6. Mullan 36.7% (158 to 100) 
7. Council 34.8% (333 to 217) 
8. Cambridge 34.2% (193 to 127) 
9. Mackay 31.8% (258 to 176) 
10. Salmon 31.2% (1143 to 786) 

Note that these are all small (with the exception of Salmon), relatively isolated school districts, where the loss of such large percentages of student enrollment certainly has a detrimental effect upon operations.

The median Idaho district size in 2000-01 was 942. In 2013-14 the median size was 798. Eight of the 29 districts which lost more than 20% of their enrollment were larger than the statewide median in 2001:

1. Emmett (-20%) (2981 to 2382)
2. Payette (-20%) (1932 to 1582)
3. Priest River (-21.7%) (1515 to 1187)
4. Bear Lake (-28.5%) (1501 to 1073)
5. Orofino (-27.8%) (1419 to 1025)
6. Oneida County (-26%) (1153 to 853)
7. Salmon (-31.2%) (1143 to 786)
8. Soda Springs (-20.3%) (1060 to 845)

Of the 29 districts that lost more than 20% of their enrollment, 18 have opted for a 4-day school week, while 11 have remained with the traditional 5-day student week.

Trends Among Idaho's Largest Districts

To give you an idea of changing enrollment patterns among “large” Idaho districts, here are the ten with the largest student populations, in 2001 and 2013:

2001

1. Boise – 26442
2. Meridian – 25223
3. Pocatello – 12210
4. Nampa – 11772
5. Idaho Falls – 10648
6. Coeur d’Alene – 9083
7. Bonneville – 7568
8. Twin Falls – 6869
9. Caldwell – 5665
10. Cassia County - 5119

2013

1. Meridian – 36510 (+44.7%)
2. Boise – 25978 (-1.8%)
3. Nampa – 15044 (+27.8%)
4. Pocatello – 12565 (+2.9%)
5. Bonneville – 11149 (+47.3%)
6. Coeur d’Alene – 10284 (+13.2%)
7. Idaho Falls – 10263 (-3.6%)
8. Twin Falls – 8565 (+24.7%)
9. Vallivue – 7565 (+94.6%)
10. Caldwell – 6277 (+10.8%)

Note: The Boise District had lost about 6% of its enrollment
(about 1500 students) between 2001 and 2007 during the “move to the suburbs”; since then, the district has grown by about 1000 students.

Idaho’s student population grew by 18% between 2001 and 2013, from just over 246,000 students to just over 289,000. Idaho’s districts grew by just 10% during that period, from 245,000 to 270,000. Why the difference? In the next post, data about the growth of charter schools in the state of Idaho.

SAT Math - Rigor and Scores of 700 and Above

In the 2013 administration of the SAT, a score of 700 or above in math ranked in the 93rd percentile nationwide. In Idaho, 247 students, or about 1.5% of the 16921 juniors who took the math subtest, scored a 700 or better on the School Day administration of the SAT. Scoring a 700 is rare, to say the least – most students scoring at this level have their choice of elite schools (of course, they also have high gpa’s, are involved in campus leadership activities, etc).

As has been pointed out in previous posts, a large percentage of Idaho’s student enrollment is concentrated in a few large districts. Over 50% of Idaho’s students go to school in the ten largest districts, and over a quarter of Idaho students attend in the three largest districts, Meridian, Boise, and Nampa.

The vast majority of SAT math scores of 700 and above were also in large districts, but the distribution pattern was very different.

Note that Boise had over a third of the state’s SAT math scores of 700 or better with 9% of the students. Meridian had 15% of the scores with 13% of the students, Coeur d’Alene 10% with 4%, Idaho Falls 6% with 4%, and so on.

In Coeur d’Alene, the two comprehensive high schools (Lake City and Coeur d’Alene) had 9 of the 25 students who scored 700 or better. Sixteen (16) of the students were from Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy. Interestingly, the class of 2014 at CDA Charter had 105 students in the 7th grade, but when the class took the SAT in 11th grade, only 76 remained, a 30% loss among the student population. CDA Charter students are clearly a special group which achieves at a high level.

Sixteen (16) of the 71 students (23%) at CDA Charter who took the SAT during the School Day administration scored 700 or above in math, by far the highest percentage in the state. The total group of 71 students’ average score was 628. Timberline High had 15 of 352 students (4%) score 700 or better in math, with an average of 503.

However, since CDA Charter has a select population, and Timberline High is a comprehensive high school, a better comparison would be a specialized group in the Boise District. For example, the Treasure Valley Math and Science Center uses teacher recommendations, test scores, and an application process to select students who want an accelerated math and science program, and provides a rigorous curriculum, as does CDA Charter. TVMSC is a half-day program offered at a center on the campus of Riverglen Junior High in Boise.

Thirty-three (33) class of 2014 students who were enrolled at TVMSC as 10th, 11th, and or 12th graders took the SAT as 11th graders. Twenty-one (21) of those students (64%) score 700 or better on the SAT math subtest. The total group of 33 students averaged 698 on SAT math.

Students who scored 700 or better were obviously very skilled in math and in problem-solving. However, this level of performance also requires a certain level of content knowledge in mathematics. Of the 88 Boise District students who scored 700 or above in 2013, 87 took Advanced Placement Calculus AB and/or BC as part of their high school math programs. This means that these students were enrolled in AP Calculus AB or Accelerated Math Analysis (or in a few cases AP Calculus BC) as juniors. The lone student who did not take Calculus took AP Statistics as a senior, and was enrolled in Accelerated Math Analysis as a junior.

Of course, a number of students who took Calculus did not score 700 or above in math on the SAT. So enrollment in these courses does not guarantee the highest scores. However, taking advanced math does appear to be a prerequisite for scoring at the highest levels in SAT math.

Goodbye, Old ISAT... what were the results?

In spring 2014-15, the state of Idaho will officially move from the NCLB-era Idaho Standards Achievement Tests (called herein the “old ISAT”), to the Smarter Balanced Assessments (also to be dubbed the “ISAT”).

Beginning in spring 2007, a new vendor, Data Recognition Corporation, was selected to administer the old ISAT, and a new test was delivered to Idaho students. That first year, 79.9% of Idaho students in grades 3-8 and 10 received a mark of “proficient” or “advanced” on the test. In math, the percentage was 75.8%. In 2012-13, in the final statewide administration of the old ISAT, the percentages were 89.1% in Reading and 80.9% in Math. So, then, the improvement in proficient/advanced percentages over the six years of old ISAT administration was 9.2% in Reading and 5.1% Math.

However, this comparison of proficiency rates conceals something much more important that was happening in Idaho’s public schools. If we examine just the percentages of advanced students in each year, we can see that important shift.

In old ISAT Reading, only a third of Idaho's 3-8 and 10 students scored in the “Advanced” category in 2007. By 2012, half of Idaho’s kids had reached that performance level. And, though the ISAT “advanced” level is not quite so high as that of the SAT, it’s clear that many more Idaho students reached a higher level of rigor in the time of the ISAT. In fact, almost 30,000 more Idaho students were “advanced” in 2012 than were in 2007.

In Math, though the growth was somewhat less than that made in Reading, it was still impressive. Again, only a third of Idaho students were advanced in 2007. By 2012, 45% were in that category. That’s an improvement of more than 17,000advanced students from 2007 to 2012.

The measurement criteria used under the NCLB law, which labeled schools “failing” if they did not meet “Adequate Yearly Progress” with as few as 34 students among their total populations, obscured the tremendous gains made by Idaho schools and districts during the administration of the old ISAT. Those gains were truly impressive.

Century Scholars - From Here They Can (and DO) Go Everywhere

For the past nine years, the Boise District has honored top students at Boise high schools with the Century Scholars award. These students, who have the highest weighted grade point averages (gpa) at their respective high schools, receive a medal and a certificate and are asked to choose teachers who have had a significant impact on their lives. These “distinguished educators” are honored along with the students. The ceremony typically takes place in April of each year and is sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of Boise.

It’s interesting to look at the characteristics of these top students in the Boise District. What follows is an analysis of the 2012-13 class of Century Scholars. This post focuses on the students from the four traditional Boise high schools.

Grades and Advanced Coursework

The eighty-four (84) students (representing the top 5% of the class of 2013) sported an average weighted gpa of 4.27. The Boise District gives credit for Advanced Placement coursework on a 5-point scale, while credit for all other classes is on a 4-point scale. The Scholars took an average of 10 Advanced Placement courses. Two students took 18 AP classes, 1 took 17, and 3 took 16. 40 of the students took Calculus AB and BC, and another 32 took Calculus AB as their capstone math course.

College Entrance Examinations and Activities

The average ACT composite score from this group was 31 (the ACT is scored on a 36 point scale) which was at the 97th percentile on the ACT scoring scale. There were three perfect ACT scores from this group, and 22 Scholars scored 33 or higher, at the 99th percentile nationwide.

On the SAT Critical Reading subtest, the average score was 645, or about the 90thpercentile nationwide. There were 5 perfect Critical Reading scores from the Scholars. In math, the average of 687 is at about the 92nd percentile, and there were 6 perfect math scores. The writing average was at 639, at the 89thpercentile. The average composite score for Century Scholars was 1971, or about the 92nd percentile. The maximum composite score on the SAT is 2400. Twelve scholars scored above 2220, at the 99th percentile.

Century Scholars participated in all sorts of school activities and classes outside of Advanced Placement – from leadership to varsity athletics, chamber and jazz orchestra to ceramics, from debate to journalism, taking full advantage of the offerings of an elite public school system.

College Destinations

In terms of post-secondary choices, Class of 2013 Century Scholars enrolled in college in 21 states and the District of Columbia. Some stayed close to home – 17 (20%) stayed in Idaho; 7 at BSU, 3 each at the University of Idaho, the College of Idaho, and Idaho State University, and one at BYU-Idaho .

The majority of Scholars chose the northwest and the western United States for their pursuits – 5 attended in Oregon, 5 in Washington, 5 in Montana, 2 in Colorado, 11 in California, 6 in Utah, and 4 in Arizona. Others traveled across the country – 2 to the District of Columbia, 4 to Massachusetts, 2 to Maine, 4 to New York, and 2 to Pennsylvania, while two left the mainland for Hawaii.

A number of students are attending the most elite schools in the country. Georgetown, the University of Chicago, Brown, Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Duke, Columbia, Penn, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Santa Clara, and Stanford are among the destinations of 2013 Century Scholars.

Other Scholars are enrolled at some of the most prestigious liberal arts colleges in the U.S. – Grinnell (IA), Bowdoin and Colby (ME), Carleton (MN), Oberlin (OH), Lewis and Clark, Reed and Pacific (OR), and Whitman (WA) are included.

In 2013, two Scholars received appointments at military academies, one to The United States Military Academy at West Point, and the other at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

Wherever our Century Scholars choose to enroll, they bring an excellent academic record and a well-rounded background to their college and university experiences. They are truly an impressive group.