Boise District Class Size Updated

In April, we posted class size data for the Boise District, and distinguished between average class size and student-teacher ratio. Following is the 2014-15 update of average class size for the District.

As the economy improved and property values began to increase within the District boundaries, the Boise Board approved reduction of the 2012 voter-approved levy. Initially, though voters approved a $14 million levy, the District ran the levy for only $12 million. For the 2014-15 school year, the Board unanimously approved lowering the amount of the levy to $6.5 million. The purpose of the levy was to maintain or reduce District class sizes.

ELEMENTARY CLASS SIZE

Here is the average elementary class size in the Boise District since 2003-04, updated with the 2014-15 data point:

JUNIOR HIGH CLASS SIZE

At the junior high level, average class sizes dropped by .7 from 2013-14 to 2014-15.  

Here are average junior high class sizes by department. Note that in only two departments, Music and Technology, are average class sizes higher in 2014-14 than they were in 2013-14. In every other department, 2014-15 sizes are lower.

In the chart below, average class sizes by junior high are displayed  for 2013-14 and 2014-15.

SENIOR HIGH CLASS SIZE

Boise District senior high class sizes had been trending downward for several years, when, in 2014-15, District high schools moved from a 6-period day to 7 periods. Class sizes dropped again as a similar number of senior high students took additional offerings.

However, the class size trends were not distributed evenly among departments. Students took additional electives in order to fill their schedules, and, in departments which offer only electives (Technology, Art, Business, Marketing, Human Development) average class sizes  increased (though they are still relatively low).

In departments which offer primarily required courses ("core subjects") average class sizes dropped. These departments included Math. Social Studies, Language Arts, and Science.

Finally, here are senior high average class sizes by school for 2013-14 and 2014-15:

Where are the Engineering Grads?

Previously, we indicated that 143 Boise Schools alums from the high school classes of 2007-2010 had graduated with degrees in Engineering. Here’s a little deeper dive into information about those students.

The distribution of specific majors among the Engineering grads shows that Mechanical Engineering (47) is the most popular major, followed by Civil (27)  and Computer Science/Engineering (24).

Fifty –six percent (56%) of the 1700 degrees earned by Boise District students were earned at Idaho universities, and the percentage is the same for Engineering degrees, with 45 earned at the University of Idaho, another 30 at Boise State University, and 3 from other in-state universities.

We are working with the Idaho Department of Labor to ascertain where the Engineering graduates are living and working. However, we did some less formal, unscientific research to get an idea of the patterns. We looked  at just the classes of 2007-2009, since the earliest grads of the the high school class of 2010 just matriculated in May 2014. It appears that the large majority of in-state graduates are working in Idaho, and an even larger percentage of the out-of-state graduates are living and working outside of the state of Idaho.

Most of the out-of-state Engineering grads are living and working in large cities in the west, such as Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle, and San Francisco, often near the universities and colleges they attended. Many of the in-state Engineering grads are working at established local engineering firms and start-ups.

Colleges and Majors of 4-year College Grads - Boise School District

In the last Data Points post, we provided information about students in the high school classes of 2007-2010 who have graduated from 4-year colleges. Following is more information about those students – the colleges they attended and individual major areas of study.

Of the 1700 Boise District students who have graduated, about 46% graduated from one of two universities, Boise State University (28%) or the University of Idaho (18%). Four other institutions graduated 2% or more of the Boise Schools total: the College of Idaho (3.4%), Idaho State University (2.9%), Brigham Young University (2.1%), and the University of Oregon (2%). Boise students also graduated from 207 other universities and colleges, spread across 34 states and the District of Columbia.

Most Boise District students attend and graduate from public institutions of higher education. The following chart shows the public colleges and universities with the highest number of Boise Schools grads. The University of Oregon has traditionally been a popular school for Boise District students, but the University of Utah has gained considerable ground in the past few years. Western Washington University attracts 5-7 Boise District students a year to its Bellingham, Washington campus.

Boise District students who graduate from private colleges attend a diverse range of schools. Here are the private colleges that graduated the highest number of Boise District students.  About 12% of the College of Idaho’s total enrollment comes from the Boise School District. Westminster College in Salt Lake City and the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma have long recruited students from the Boise District.

It’s interesting to consider the specific majors of graduates, especially now that we have such a large number and major area patterns are more reliable. A full 6% of all graduates majored in Biology, with Business and Psychology close behind. Of interest was the fact that Mechanical Engineering was 9^th on the list with 47 graduates, a bit higher than we expected. Here are the top 30 individual majors of Boise District college graduates.

In the last post we indicated that STEM majors were more popular among Boise students than majors in any other area. Going further, we were interested in Engineering majors in general. How many were there in total, and what schools did they attend?

What we found was that, altogether, 143 Engineering degrees have been earned thus far by Boise Schools graduates in the classes of 2007-2010. Of those, 45 were earned at the University of Idaho, and 30 at Boise State University, along with two at Idaho State University and one at Northwest Nazarene University. So 56% of those degrees were earned at in state universities.

Of the Engineering degrees earned out of state, 8 were earned at the University of Utah, 5 at the University of Colorado, 5 at Gonzaga University, and 3 each at Montana State University and Purdue University – West Lafayette. Of note, the three degrees from Purdue were in Chemical, Electrical, and Nuclear Engineering.

STEM Degrees – Highest Percentage Among Boise College Grads – and Climbing

Among the Boise District high school graduating classes of 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010, 1,700 students have graduated with 4-year college degrees. A higher percentage of Boise Schools 4-year college completers have graduated with degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math than in any of the other areas of focus, such as Business, Health and Exercise, Education, Performing and Creative Arts, and Social Sciences.

Majors by Field of Study

When we combined the degrees of college grads in the four classes, here is what we found:

In a previous post, National Clearinghouse research referred to the classification scheme used by the National Science Foundation for STEM degrees, which included social sciences and psychology in its science and engineering category. We have made social sciences a separate category and included many of those majors therein.

STEM Popularity Growing

A look at  the individual classes from 2007-10 shows that the percentage of STEM majors has grown for each successive class, and indication that those majors are becoming increasingly popular among Boise Schools grads matriculating from 4-year universities.

Most Popular STEM Majors

So, what are the most popular STEM majors among Boise Schools college grads? Well, here are the top 10:

Note that over a hundred graduates have majored in Biology, almost 23% of the 445 total STEM degrees earned. Coming in a distant second is Mechanical Engineering, with 47 degrees, just over 10% of the total. However, the 4 major engineering degree areas, Mechanical, Civil, Computer, and Electrical, accounted for 116 degrees, or 26% of the total number of STEM degrees awarded.

Post Script – Concerns with National Clearinghouse College Entry and Retention Data

An article yesterday by the Washington Post's Valerie Strauss in her Answer Sheet blog pointed up potential flaws found in National Clearinghouse data in college-going patterns among New York high schools. Data analysis done by principals found that NSC direct college entry percentages were often up to 15% lower than what was found by the administrators.

We've decided to do some checking into Boise District college-going patterns. Last year, we found some anomalies in the NSC data for our 2013 Century Scholars, with some top students listed as not attending college when they were enrolled at prestigious universities across the country. Though the differences were not to the degree reported in New York, we plan to have a critical look at the data for Boise 2014 District high school grads in the weeks to come, and report the results in this blog.

1 in 10 Ninth Graders Graduates College? What do the Data Show?

In the past two weeks, we've heard two presentations, one from an Albertson Foundation official and another from a presenter from Idaho Business for Education, in which the officials proclaimed that that 1 in 10 Idaho 9th graders graduates from college with a certificate, an Associate's Degree, or a Bachelor's Degree. Perhaps there are some school districts in Idaho in which that statement is accurate, but it's certainly not true for students in the Boise District.

We have tracked the college graduation patterns for students in the Boise District since the class of 2007, and have compiled an impressive database which includes types of degrees, college and university choices, and majors of college graduates.We also know how long it typically takes for our students to graduate from college, by institution.

For example, 1874 students graduated from high school in the Boise District class of 2008. Of that group, 592 have since graduated from college. That's a percentage of 31.6. We also know that, according to the National Student Clearinghouse data, 518 graduated from 4-year colleges, 43 received Associate Degrees, and 31 have obtained certificates. We suspect that many additional students in each class have attained a degree or certificate, or are still pursuing a degree, for several reasons:

• some colleges do not participate in the National Student Clearinghouse (notably the service academies and some prestigious colleges);
• several of the certificate-granting for-profit colleges are not members of the Clearinghouse;
• numbers for students who have entered military service, where they receive training in career pursuits, are not available;
• some students who serve their church with missionary duty and enroll afterward have not yet graduated from college.

Here are the data for the class of 2008, which is 6 years out of high school to this point:

Considering that the Boise District's high school graduation rate was 91% for the class of 2008, the college grad rate from 9th grade for this class is just under 30%.

The class of 2007 is 7 years out of high school, yet 35 additional students have graduated in the past year, bringing the college graduation rate for the class of 2007 to just over 34%:

Here are the data from the Boise School District classes of 2007, 2008, and 2009. Note that each of the three classes has a grad rate at least 2.5 times higher than the rate claimed in the Field Guide to Education in Idaho.

Among the three classes noted in the chart, almost 1,500 Boise District grads have completed some form of post-secondary training. In a future post, we'll update the areas in which training has been completed.

The Boise District continues to work toward improving college graduation rates; the District's Strategic Plan is devoted to improving those rates and finding ways to help students enter and complete post-secondary pursuits, However, grad rates for Boise's students are far higher than the 10% rate represented in the Idaho Field Guide. 

So, if Boise's college grad rates are so much higher than claimed in the Field Guide, where are the districts that are at 10% or below?

Time to Hit the Reset Button on Tiered Licensure

Many Boise School District staff members and administrators attended the Tiered Licensure hearing at Mountain View High School in Meridian on October 21, joining hundreds of others from around the Treasure Valley. The hearing ran for three hours, and speakers provided eloquent, well-stated arguments opposing the State Board of Education’s proposed rule. Those statements, when considered alongside testimony provided in Pocatello and Lewiston, and the volumes of written commentary submitted to the Board, should convince members to scrap the proposed rule and start over.

The President of the State Board of Education asserted recently in the Idaho Education News that many of the comments “do not accurately reflect the actual provisions of the tiered certification and career ladder proposals”. However, the statements we heard reflected general concern that the effect of implementation of the current licensure proposal will be to:

• further diminish the capacity of Idaho school districts to recruit and retain quality teachers;
• unwisely use teacher evaluation ratings to strip teachers of their licenses;
• use discredited methodologies surrounding standardized test growth as part of teacher evaluation;
• greatly diminish the value of professional development as a necessary part of a teacher’s career
• drive a wedge between principals and teachers and significantly reduce teamwork on behalf of kids.

Though a few who testified may not have understood that only new teachers to the profession beginning in 2015-16 can lose their licenses, or that the proposal relates to the funding model at the state level and not to individual teacher salaries, the points made in testimony remain valid.

In 2011, the legislature passed the Students Come First laws in the face of overwhelming testimony against the laws. If anything, the tenor of the comments at the hearings was even more unified – teachers, administrators, and parents all made similar pointed, accurate remarks. American Falls Superintendent Ron Bollinger said in the Idaho State Journal, "We've managed to destroy the culture and dignity of being a teacher."

Several alternate ideas have emerged over the last few weeks, including a proposal  that the Boise District developed in anticipation of the hearing. We encourage the State Board to consider the elements of each of the proposals, and to include teachers and administrators in the development of a plan that fulfills these goals:

• identify the best pre-service teachers in Idaho’s colleges;
• provide a mechanism for novice teachers to progress toward the next stage in their careers;
• encourage teachers to remain in the classroom and become involved in leadership activities rather than pursue other career paths.

The State Board’s proposed rule represents an attempt to impose additional accountability into the principal-teacher evaluation relationship, when such accountability is best kept at the school and district level, so that teamwork is emphasized. We encourage the State Board of Education to rethink the proposed Teacher Licensure rule.

Additional Note: The effort to institute systems in which standardized test scores factor in teacher evaluations is expanding to different parts of the country. Peter Greene, a Pennsylvania English teacher, who writes the blog Curmudgucation, recently opined about the effort to do so in Massachusetts. A ballot initiative to amend the state Constitution in Missouri to “require teachers to be dismissed, retained, demoted, promoted and paid primarily using quantifiable student performance data as part of the evaluation system” was featured recently in Diane Ravitch’sblog. Tennessee’s education commissioner pitched an effort that ultimately failed in the legislature.  All this despite PDK/Gallup Poll ratings indicating that most parents oppose tying teacher evaluation to standardized test scores, and research indicating that standardized test results have little relationship to quality teaching.

2014 Idaho School District Advanced Placement Results

In 2014, 9,556 Advanced Placement exams were taken by 5443 Idaho students (about 13% of Idaho's juniors and seniors). Idaho's exam numbers had been increasing for the past few years, but in 2014 decreased slightly.

The percentage of exams scored "3" or above, an indicator of eligibility for college credit or waiver, stood at 66% in 2014, down slightly from the 69% "pass rate" of 2009. The national "pass rate" on these rigorous exams in 2014 was 59%.

Advanced Placement is the "gold standard" of post-secondary dual credit programs because of the rigorous nature of its exams, offered in 34 subject areas, and because AP scores are accepted for credit by the vast majority of colleges around the country. The most popular exams in Idaho in 2014 were English Language and Composition (1867), English Literature and Composition (1148), U.S. History (1120), and Calculus AB (912).

Twenty-nine percent (29%) of Idaho students taking AP exams were from the Boise District, which has 9% of statewide enrollment::

Sixty-one Idaho school districts, over half the statewide total, gave no Advanced Placement exams in 2014. Only 15 districts gave over 100 exams. Boise gave 3234 exams, about 35% of the statewide total.

Since most Idaho districts are relatively small, a good way to look at commitment to rigor in Idaho districts is to compare the number of students participating in at least one AP test with the total number of juniors and seniors in the district. To account for extremely small numbers , we used just districts which gave 50 or more exams in 2014.

Blaine County, Boise, McCall, and Vallivue each had over 30% of juniors and seniors take at least one Advanced Placement exam. Vallivue is particularly notable in that they have made a substantial commitment to rigor in the past decade, implementing new AP courses, expanding opportunities, and initiating the AVID program.

Finally, many districts nationwide have expanded opportunities for students to take Advanced Placement coursework and exams. As indicated, passing percentages have declined slightly in Idaho, as more students have experienced the rigor of coursework and exams 

The Madison School District (Rexburg) had an amazing 96% pass rate on 111 AP exams in 2014. However, only 11% of Madison juniors and seniors took an AP exam, compared with Blaine County, where 47% of juniors and seniors took at least one AP exam.