ADVANCED DEGREES, AVERAGE SALARIES, AND STUDENT-TEACHER RATIOS (Part 1)

In 2015, the legislature approved funding for the first year of the Idaho Career Ladder. House Bill 296 was a monumental achievement, into which the state has allocated over $130 million fr teacher salaries through the 2017 session, as part of the Governor's plan for K-12 public education.

The Career Ladder legislation included some important departures from the old funding distribution formula that had been in place for some time.

It was important to legislators and the Governor to have some sort of accountability built into the process of distributing funds. Accordingly, the legislation included a requirement that a teacher receive a mark of "proficient" on his/her evaluation in order for increases in funding for his/her position to be distributed to the district. It's actually a whole lot more complicated than that, but for the purposes of this article, the above explanation will have to suffice.

One piece of the legislation that still is not well-understood is compensation for advanced degrees. School district salary schedules (and the state salary distribution formula) had long given credit for two factors which formed the salary matrix - experience (years served) and education (credits earned in continuing education coursework).

The distribution formula prior to 2015-16 did not have a "Master's barrier", except at the very end of the schedule (Master's degree +36 credits or Ed Specialist or Doctorate). In other words, funds were distributed to districts based on credits earned by teachers beyond the Bachelor's degree, but not for achievement of a degree. So a teacher might have a Bachelor's degree and 36 credits, but the distribution formula rewarded the district the same amount for that teacher as for one who had earned a Master's degree. Thus, incentives for teachers to earn a Master's Degree came at the local district level, if at all.

The vast majority of districts mimicked the state distribution formula for their salary schedules, and allowed teachers to accumulate credits beyond the Bachelor's degree in order to get raises. In 2014-15, we found only a few that had a built-in Master's barrier; Moscow, Boise, Lapwai, and Avery (a tiny northern Idaho district with only 2 teachers).

As examples, here are the 2014-15 schedules from Moscow and Post Falls:

Note that Moscow's schedule required that teachers have a Master's degree to advance beyond lane 4...

while Post Falls' schedule allowed teachers to accumulate credits or get a Master's degree.

The introduction of the Career Ladder changed the advanced degree landscape. The original version of the bill had no education increments at all, and was based purely on evaluation proficiency and years of service.  But the final Career Ladder bill contained phased-in rewards for two levels of continuing education - Bachelor's degree + 24 credits and Master's degree. For these two levels of education, the distribution to districts (not cumulative) are/will be:

Since the law rewarded districts for all teachers who had reached the BA +24 credits or had attained a Master's degree, districts were faced with a choice - use the money as a pass-through (award it directly to teachers who had attained these levels) or add a barrier for the Master's degree.

In Boise, we argued that our salary schedule already had lanes that rewarded teachers for continuing education, and simply added the money to the salary negotiations process. Other districts decided to give the funds directly to teachers who had reached the level (even though those that had reached the BA +24 level had already earned increments on the schedule). Here's our 2015-16 schedule:

We were curious, though, as to the status of districts around the state. What percentage of district certified staffs have a Master's degree?  Here's the answer for districts with over 100 FTE (full-time equivalent positions):

There are additional districts in the count - we just decided to report the top 20 or so. For the record, the lowest percentages of master's degrees among larger districts are in Fruitland and Mountain Home, both of which have 16%. And those two other districts we mentioned before - well, 47% of Lapwai's certified staff have a Master's degree, as do both of Avery's staff members.

Now, whether or not a Master's degree makes a difference in instructional expertise is up for debate - there's not much research supporting a correlation. However, we believe that teachers who achieve an advanced degree bring more expertise to their teaching than do those who just accumulate credits. And the state of Idaho has valued the Master's degree in their reimbursement of districts in the Career Ladder.

IN SEARCH OF A FEW GOOD FACTS

District officials spend a great deal of time poring over data related to student achievement, class size, proposed legislation, funding, negotiations, and any number of other topics. We take our research seriously. So when an op-ed  that ran in the Idaho Statesman last Saturday misrepresented facts about the District, we researched the issues to provide accurate data.

Here are some facts about Boise District enrollment.

We have records of Boise District enrollment back to the 1920's and 1930's; we can see when particular schools were opened and closed, when other school districts opted to join the district, and when grade organization patterns changed in the District.

We analyze District enrollment using a particular enrollment report each year - typically it's the October report - so we have consistent year-to-year number on which we can focus. Here are the District's October enrollment figures for the past 10 years.

District enrollment has increased by about 1200 students in 10 years; slow, steady growth compared with our neighbors to the west. When the author of the op-ed writes "The district’s student population is shrinking", his statement is simply not true.

About 18 months ago, the District hired DeJong-Richter, a nationally renowned school facilities audit group, to perform a study of Boise's facilities. One of the tasks they performed as part of the audit was a projection of future student enrollment.

The DeJong "moderate" enrollment projection report actually shows the growth slowing, followed by a period of slow decline. What the DeJong report does not include is the emergence of Syringa Valley, currently beginning development east of Cole Road and south of Orchard Street. Permits for the development had not been issued at the time of the study, but DeJong estimates that the development will yield about 1,400 students over time, all of which will be within the Timberline High School boundary. 

Additionally, it's important to understand that growth in student enrollment is always uneven. In Boise, the fastest growth thus far has been in southeast Boise - a drive out to the Harris Ranch area will reveal the rapid transformation of the area.

At the secondary level (junior high and high school) there's actually been strong growth in each school's enrollment. Here's what's happened since a 2008 boundary change gave each District high school 2 feeder junior highs.

The three junior highs that were under-enrolled a few years ago are now growing at a rapid clip. Hillside has been rediscovered by North End parents and students. Les Bois and East still have some room, but with the emergence of Syringa Valley, and growth in southeast Boise, they won't for long. 

So, when the op-ed author wrote "I wonder how much it would cost to move a few lines on a map?", he's not accounting for the future growth in south Boise, or even for the current growth in southeast Boise. It would be unwise to draw new boundaries at the junior high level, only to have to change them again in a couple of years. 

And what the op-ed author completely omitted in "doing his research" is that Timberline (built for 1150 students in 1998) will be affected greatly by the growth in student enrollment. In 3 years, the school will have at least 1350 students, and it's likely to have even more students thereafter as the growth in south Boise takes off. Without relief in the form of additional space at Timberline (the addition proposed in the current bond issue), boundary changes at the high school level will likely be necessary. 

Boundary changes are typically painful exercises, but are often necessary to ameliorate student population growth in one part of a district. The problem with the changes that may be necessary to relieve the growth at Timberline is that both Boise and Borah High Schools are at capacity. Capital is the high school which has some room. So such a change would likely involve changes in the boundaries of all 4 comprehensive high schools.

BAD NEWS ABOUT THE EFFECTS 

OF SCHOOL VOUCHER PROGRAMS

Two recent articles in The Upshot, the New York Times research journal, cast extensive doubt on the advisability of vouchers in public schools. Both were written by Kevin Carey.

The first, entitled Dismal Voucher Results Surprise Researchers As Devos Era Begins, recounts the results of three major voucher studies conducted in Indiana, Louisiana, and Ohio in the past several years. All three studies found that students transferring to private schools through voucher programs lost ground in achievement.

In Indiana, as part of a voucher program that enrolled tens of thousands of students while Mike Pence was governor, researchers found that " “In mathematics, voucher students who transfer to private schools experienced significant losses in achievement.” The researchers also saw no improvement in reading.

Then, a few months after the release of the first study, researchers studying the Louisiana voucher program found that "Public elementary school students who started at the 50th percentile in math and then used a voucher to transfer to a private school dropped to the 26th percentile in a single year."

The third voucher study was conducted by the Thomas Fordham Foundation, and focused on a voucher program in Ohio. The findings, from a conservative think tank that has promoted school choice, "“Students who use vouchers to attend private schools have fared worse academically compared to their closely matched peers attending public schools.”

As Carey writes, "But even as school choice is poised to go national, a wave of new research has emerged suggesting that private school vouchers may harm students who receive them. The results are startling — the worst in the history of the field, researchers say."

The second Carey article is entitled DeVos and Tax Credit Vouchers: Arizona Shows What Can Go Wrong. This one is about State Tax Credit Voucher Programs, which have been proposed several times in Idaho, including in this legislative session.

Tax credit vouchers are a way to get around the Blaine Amendment church/state separation laws in state constitutions. 

As Mr. Carey explains, "State tax credit voucher programs have grown rapidly in recent years. The number of students receiving them increased to 256,000 this year, from about 50,000 in 2005. Arizona has one of the oldest and largest programs. It allows taxpayers who donate money to nonprofit voucher-granting organizations to claim a 100 percent, dollar-for-dollar credit against their state taxes (up to a certain limit). In other words, if a married couple donates $1,000 to a voucher-granting nonprofit, their tax bill is reduced by $1,000. The nonprofit then gives the money to families who use it to pay tuition at private schools."

If you have not yet read these two articles, we encourage you to take a look. Together, they form a nice primer on the origination and current status of voucher and tax credit programs.

TEACHER EVALUATIONS - THE SAGA CONTINUES

Recently we wrote about the dustup revolving around the McRel audit (or desk report) on a sample of 2014-15 educator evaluations, in which two elements that were not required in 2014-15 were used as part of the analysis, causing 99% of the evals to be judged as incomplete or inaccurate. 

Well, the resulting furor has caused confusion among legislators and State Board members, and unnecessarily made the long-term future of the Career Ladder a bit murky. It's also resulted in a huge imposition upon districts around the state, as the State Department of Education and the State Board of Education have now both requested educator evaluation information.

The SBOE has requested a sampling of 2015-16 evaluation documents for particular administrators, in order to do an audit of those evals. The SDE has requested information with respect to all evaluations done in 2015-16.

In this post we will focus on the SDE request, which once again includes elements not required for some 2015-16 evaluations. This time, the "student success indicators" and "professional learning plans" are listed as elements that school districts must report for all Pupil Personnel Certificate holders.

However, when the Career Ladder first became a law, "Pupil Services" personnel (such as counselors, school psychologists, nurses, speech and language pathologists, social workers, and audiologists) were not a part of it because suitable measures of student success as required by the law had not yet been developed. These pupil services personnel became a part of the Career Ladder in the current school year (2016-17).

When the data were submitted to the SDE for 2015-16 evals, districts were required to answer "No" for the areas of submission required for Pupil Services employees. But those elements were not required for these employees because they had not yet been placed on the Career Ladder.

As you can see, some educators did not receive an evaluation because of extenuating circumstances. When teachers retire, resign, or are on leave, we typically do not complete and evaluation. When they are hired late in the year, we normally conduct their first evaluation the following year. In any event, the total number of educator evals conducted was 1783.

There has been some confusion across the state as to which employees in "support" roles should be included on the Career Ladder (Athletic Directors, Librarians, etc.). Here's a recounting of those evals compared to the total number of evaluations. Note that if all "incomplete" evals were counted against us, our percentage of "accurate" and "complete" evals would have been 1640 out of 1784, or 86%.

However, as you can see in the chart above, fully 197 staff were missing components that were not required for them in 2015-16. That leaves 44 employees, 17 of whom likely should have been on the Career Ladder, but for whom the District was awaiting guidance, and 27 others whose evaluations were truly not complete.

So even if the misclassified employees are included as incomplete, just 44 of 1783 evals were not done correctly, meaning that 1739, or 97.4% were "complete" and "accurate". Though we'd like to be at 100%, and will work toward that goal, 97% is a good start.

Incidentally, of the 1784 educator evals completed, 1764 were rated as "Proficient", and 19 were rated as "Basic" or Unsatisfactory". We have written previously that we know the vast majority of District teachers are doing a great job in the classroom. The "probationary" period for teachers is in the first 3 years, and especially in the first year, when 5% - 8% of teachers opt out of the profession or are counseled not to return for the following year.

ADVANCED PLACEMENT AND COLLEGE-GOING

Followers of this blog are aware that enrollment in Advanced Placement coursework has exploded in the past two decades, as the District has added coursework, implemented programs such as AVID, and taken down barriers to enrollment.

PROGRAM GROWTH

Here's a chart showing the Boise students taking one or more AP tests expressed as a percentage of juniors and seniors over the years, compared with the "pass rate" (exams scored 3 and above) for those same students.

So, as we anticipated, the overall "pass rate" for AP tests taken in the Boise District has declined from about 3/4 to about 2/3 in the past twenty years (the 2016 national rate was 58%; the Idaho rate (without Boise) was 60%.

However, less than 1 in 10 students (as a percentage of juniors and seniors) took an exam in 1995. Last year, the ratio was 52%. This chart is truly illustrative of the progress we've made in providing rigorous opportunities for kids.

COLLEGE-GOING RATES

The State Board of Education posted a Dual Credit report in 2015 in which they wrote about the college-going habits of high school students enrolling in dual credit classes. 71% of students passing dual credit classes enrolled in college, and 70% of those students returned for a second year. For non-dual credit students, the figures were 45% enrolling and 55% returning for a second year. So, almost 50% of dual credit students were still enrolled in sophomore year, while only a quarter of non-dual credit students were still enrolled.

We were curious how this kind of comparison played out for students who took one or more Advanced Placement tests during their high school careers. We took a look at the class of 2013, and analyzed the "go-on" rate for the class and the percentage of those that went to college who were still enrolled in the fall of 2016.

The results of the study were impressive. Of seniors in the class of 2013 who took one or more AP tests in high school, 91% enrolled in college, and 81% were still enrolled or have graduated 3 years later. 

Here are the data by Boise School District high school:

By way of explanation, the first column in the above chart reflects the percentage of class of 2013 students who took one or more AP tests and enrolled in college after graduation (Boise High percentage - 94%). The second column is the college enrollment percentage for all 2013 graduates (Boise - 70%). The third column is the percentage of graduate AP test takers who were enrolled after 3 years (Boise - 89%), and the fourth column is the percentage of the 2013 class enrolled after 3 years (Boise - 68%).

Now, it makes sense that a higher percentage of AP test-takers would have enrolled in college than of the total graduating class. Many AP students come from supportive families that have the resources to assist students with college expenses. That would have especially been true back in the time when only a small percentage of Boise high school students took AP coursework.

However, with the growth of the Advanced Placement program, more students than ever are accessing rigorous coursework, and the percentage of those students attending and staying in college is extremely high. In fact, if most of the class of 2013 students who've been in college for three years graduate, the percentage with degrees and certificates will far exceed the State Board's goal of 60% of students ages 25-34 having a post-secondary degree or certificate. 

No matter the college or university, students who took one or more AP tests in high school stay in college at far higher rates than do students in the overall population of the college or university.

AP test-takers also go to out-of-state colleges more often than Boise's college attendees as a whole. In general, about 2/3 of Boise college-goers attend in-state colleges. Among AP test-taker, the percentage is 55% in-state ad 45% out-of-state.

THIS AND THAT FOR JANUARY

Here are some interesting articles and opinions from around the web.

We are alerted to some of these articles via Peter Greene's excellent blog, Curmudgucation. However, this first one is about two of our refugee students and their ongoing successes.

Two Brothers' Quest to Change Hearts and Minds about Refugees, by Kulsoom Rizvi

This is a feature from the International Rescue Committee's online journal that will touch your heart. Two brothers, Patrick and George Ngalamulume, former Borah students, are enrolled at the University of Idaho. Patrick is a senior and George a freshman. They both are originally from Zambia, and were in the Borah Bridge program. George was one of our designated AVID program speakers at Rotary, IBE, and other organizations. 

Patrick and George are truly ambassadors for refugees and for opportunities that have been made available to them in America. Patrick wants to be an attorney and George a doctor. Their stories are inspirational.

Among quotes from the brothers:

"To have the doors [shut] on refugees will greatly have a negative impact on the United States," George says. “You’ll miss out on so many opportunities. The next Einstein is not going to be here because America closed the doors. You’d miss out on having me as a doctor and [my brother] as a lawyer.”

The Red Queen, by Jennifer Berkshire (Edushyster)

Jennifer Berkshire, an education blogger from Massachusetts, writes as Edushyster. She traveled to Michigan to conduct interviews with a number of people affected by Betsy Devos' efforts to undermine public education in the state. Fascinating read.

"...The real goal of the DeVos family is to crush the state’s teachers unions as a means of undermining the Democratic party, weakening Michigan’s democratic structures along the way. And on this front, our likely next Secretary of Education has enjoyed measurable, even dazzling success."

Time to Eliminate 3rd Grade Reading Retention by Rob Miller (View from the Edge)

Miller is a teacher in the state of Oklahoma, one of a number of states that retain third graders who do not read on grade level. There's plenty of research demonstrating the negative effects of retention, but Miller makes an eloquent argument for providing the resources to help these students succeed instead of punishing them with retention. 

Third grade retention was part of the original reading bill in the 2016 legislature, but was removed after significant outcry. The version of the bill that passed the legislature invests in providing resources to improve reading skills.

Inside Sears' Death Spiral..., by Hayley Peterson (Business Insider)

This one is not directly related to education, but anyone thinking that "running schools like a business" is a good idea should read this post, which details the mismanagement and decline of this venerable company.

Peterson writes, "Interviews with dozens of store-level and corporate employees over the past year yielded a common refrain: (Sears CEO) Lampert is out of touch with reality.

"He refuses to put a dime in updating stores," one former vice president said. "You walk in and you are embarrassed as an employee when the ceilings are leaking and the floors are cracked."

"No one believes in Eddie's vision," this person said. "He has just gone rogue."

Business Insider spoke to several store-level employees who said the stores are severely understaffed, with some operating on fewer than half of the employees they need. That has led to widespread complaints among shoppers that they can't find an employee to check them out, so they end up leaving the store empty-handed."

ADVANCED PLACEMENT PARTICIPATION

IN IDAHO DISTRICTS AND HIGH SCHOOLS

Across the state of Idaho, AP participation and exams are showing growth. But which district and high schools are providing the opportunity for rigor through AP to their students?

There are several ways to look at the data. Here is a chart showing student exam participation in Idaho districts with more than 50 students taking 1 or more exams.

Well, not really a fair comparison. Boise and West Ada have the largest participation rates, but the two are the largest districts in the state, as well. Also, Coeur d'Alene's data includes Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy's students, which inflates the total for the district.

It's interesting to look at growth in student AP exam participation in examining the effort districts are making to improve their AP programs, no matter how large or small the district or participation, no matter how large or small the numbers (as long as they are greater than 50).

The Nampa District appears to be making a concerted effort to grow its AP program, with most of the increase coming at Columbia and Skyview High Schools. Blaine County, Madison, and Twin Falls also have seen increases in participation of over 30%.

Next,  let's have a look at student participation and exams taken by high school, again using the 50 student bar.

The four comprehensive Boise high schools lead the way, followed by Vallivue, Rocky Mountain (West Ada), Centennial (West Ada), Century (Pocatello)  and Blaine County.

The picture is not much different when we look at exams taken by high school.

Again, though, these are not really fair comparisons, since most of the high schools in the chart are large. 

So we took the student participation numbers at the high schools we examined and compared them with the number of juniors and seniors enrolled in 2016, and expressed the resulting fraction as a percentage. Here's what the comparison revealed:

This chart more fairly expresses the AP participation by school. Note that Coeur d'Alene Charter, McCall-Donnelly, and Wood River (Blaine County) are now in the upper reaches of the chart. What the comparison misses is that a number of sophomores, and a few 9th graders, take AP exams. However, it does get at the issue of school size.

We realize that CDA Charter is a special case - the school serves a select group of students who are looking for rigorous curricula, and, from 7th to 12th grade, we see the school's enrollment drop substantially. Still, when we examined the array of AP courses offered at the school, we were impressed. We counted 13 Advanced Placement courses taught in the school.

McCall-Donnelly and Blaine County offer multiple AP courses, as well, proving that relatively small schools can offer an impressive array of opportunities. 

Of course, in the Boise District, students can choose from among 25 Advanced Placement offerings, regardless of the high school they attend. In the Vallivue District, there are 17 offerings, and students attending Ridgevue (the district's new high school) and Vallivue High School have equivalent opportunities for rigor.

In many high schools across the state, there are no Advanced Placement offerings. While dual credit opportunities typically abound in these districts, students cannot take the "gold standard" offerings provided in other districts, except through online opportunities from the Idaho Digital Learning Academy and others.