Low Black Student Math scores were the death of Sam Houston Hi School
0 views
Skip to first unread message
radicalmath
Jun 10, 2008, 9:16:22 AM6/10/08
to RadicalMath
NOTE: There was no need to shut down Sam Houston Hi! Change the
leadership, curriculum, pedagogy and school culture... and this school
will evolve positively. There's Black parental involvement that can be
developed up to and including ongoing FREE Parent Math courses in
school/in neighborhood/in home. I'm sure those reading this have many
more positive and workable solutions to this issue (which is national
in scope).
In fact, I think it's an obligation that WE of the Math & Social
Change Network have to take on. This one of the Reasons for our
Existence!
Action Ideas, please!
In Struggle,
Sam Anderson
=========================================
June 6, 2008
Math scores of a few were the death of Sam Houston
By ERICKA MELLON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
-------------------------------------------------------
Sam Houston High School has struggled to close the gap between
Hispanic students and black students in every subject except reading/
language arts on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. Black
students make up 4 percent of the school's population, while Hispanics
make up 93 percent. Here are the TAKS passing rates for 2008:
• Math
Black: 29 percent
Hispanic: 51 percent
• Social studies
Black: 69 percent
Hispanic: 84 percent
• Science
Black: 39 percent
Hispanic: 51 percent
• Reading/language arts
Black: 84 percent
Hispanic: 81 percent
Source: HISD
----------------------------------------------------------
The closure of Sam Houston High School boiled down to math.
Officials with the Houston Independent School District say they tried
to solve the problem — spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to
fix it — but for five straight years, Sam Houston could not get a
small group of black students to pass the state-mandated math exam.
Now, after state Education Commissioner Robert Scott forced the
predominantly Hispanic school to close Thursday, some are criticizing
Texas' accountability system as too harsh — mandating drastic action
based on a few students. Others say the blame lies with HISD for
letting the poor performance continue.
This year, only 29 percent of the black students at Sam Houston passed
the math portion of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. Half
the Hispanic students passed, which would have been just good enough
to qualify for the state's acceptable rating, if not for the black
students' passing rate.
"In one sense, closing the whole school is a very heavy-handed
response," said Ed Fuller, an education researcher at the University
of Texas at Austin. "But then again, you have this five-year track
record of poor math performance."
Numbers behind the scores
Among Sam Houston's 2,500 or so students, only about 110 are black.
Most of the others are Hispanic, and about 65 white students attend.
For school officials, talking about the performance of one student
group is tough, and raising test scores can be tougher.
"You have to be very careful with singling out groups of kids at the
high school level," said Kelly Trlica, HISD's assistant superintendent
over secondary curriculum and instruction. "Any group of students, to
sort of single them out, is hard socially," she said
HISD might have another chance with Sam Houston, though. Commissioner
Scott has said the district can submit a plan to reopen the school in
the fall with a new principal, mostly new teachers, some new students,
a different academic program and a fresh name.
As district leaders craft that plan, due to the school board Thursday,
some are warning district leaders to learn from their mistakes.
"People of other races always feel like they have the best solution
for the teaching and learning of African-American students when they
don't even understand the total concept of African-American culture
and the environment which these young people of today live in," said
Carol Mims Galloway, a Houston school board member and president of
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in
Houston.
Valerie Hill-Jackson, an assistant education professor at Texas A&M
University, said teachers need to learn how to connect with black
students.
"We know this is a culture that is very vibrant, exuberant, likes to
talk," said Hill-Jackson, who is black. "So, if I'm a math and science
teacher, how can I use that to my advantage? I can have them get out
of their seats."
Julia Guajardo, Sam Houston's executive principal, and Trlica said
school officials made serious efforts to boost the test scores of all
students, no matter their race. Teachers assessed which students were
having difficulty with the same math concepts and then tutored them in
small groups.
Working on a solution
The school also adopted a new computerized math program called Agile
Mind and worked with consultants from the respected Charles A. Dana
Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
Still, only 17 of the 59 black students tested — or 29 percent —
passed the math exam this year. That's up slightly from 24 percent
last year.
The passing rate of Hispanic students increased from 46 percent to 51
percent.
Gloria White, managing director of the Dana Center, characterized the
math gains at Sam Houston as "small forward progress." She emphasized
that a major turnaround takes at least three years and that
consultants only started working with Sam Houston teachers last year.
"You need collaboration time with the teachers," White said. "It's a
process. It's not an event. Sometimes you see some movement in the
first year, but it's not anything you can count on."
'Antiquated' system
Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra, when he announced the news of Sam
Houston's closure Thursday, called the state's accountability system
"antiquated," in part because it doesn't take into account the
progress made by schools.
On the language arts test this year, for example, the passing rates of
black students at Sam Houston jumped 17 points to 84 percent.
Marina Mendoza, the president of the parent group at Sam Houston, said
she was shocked to hear some people, who weren't aware of the problems
with black students' scores, suggest the campus performed poorly
because of illegal immigrants at the school.
"I thought that was so unfair," said Mendoza, who has two children at
the school. "We should never look at this as a racial problem. It's an
educational problem."
ericka...@chron.com
leadership, curriculum, pedagogy and school culture... and this school
will evolve positively. There's Black parental involvement that can be
developed up to and including ongoing FREE Parent Math courses in
school/in neighborhood/in home. I'm sure those reading this have many
more positive and workable solutions to this issue (which is national
in scope).
In fact, I think it's an obligation that WE of the Math & Social
Change Network have to take on. This one of the Reasons for our
Existence!
Action Ideas, please!
In Struggle,
Sam Anderson
=========================================
June 6, 2008
Math scores of a few were the death of Sam Houston
By ERICKA MELLON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
-------------------------------------------------------
Sam Houston High School has struggled to close the gap between
Hispanic students and black students in every subject except reading/
language arts on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. Black
students make up 4 percent of the school's population, while Hispanics
make up 93 percent. Here are the TAKS passing rates for 2008:
• Math
Black: 29 percent
Hispanic: 51 percent
• Social studies
Black: 69 percent
Hispanic: 84 percent
• Science
Black: 39 percent
Hispanic: 51 percent
• Reading/language arts
Black: 84 percent
Hispanic: 81 percent
Source: HISD
----------------------------------------------------------
The closure of Sam Houston High School boiled down to math.
Officials with the Houston Independent School District say they tried
to solve the problem — spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to
fix it — but for five straight years, Sam Houston could not get a
small group of black students to pass the state-mandated math exam.
Now, after state Education Commissioner Robert Scott forced the
predominantly Hispanic school to close Thursday, some are criticizing
Texas' accountability system as too harsh — mandating drastic action
based on a few students. Others say the blame lies with HISD for
letting the poor performance continue.
This year, only 29 percent of the black students at Sam Houston passed
the math portion of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. Half
the Hispanic students passed, which would have been just good enough
to qualify for the state's acceptable rating, if not for the black
students' passing rate.
"In one sense, closing the whole school is a very heavy-handed
response," said Ed Fuller, an education researcher at the University
of Texas at Austin. "But then again, you have this five-year track
record of poor math performance."
Numbers behind the scores
Among Sam Houston's 2,500 or so students, only about 110 are black.
Most of the others are Hispanic, and about 65 white students attend.
For school officials, talking about the performance of one student
group is tough, and raising test scores can be tougher.
"You have to be very careful with singling out groups of kids at the
high school level," said Kelly Trlica, HISD's assistant superintendent
over secondary curriculum and instruction. "Any group of students, to
sort of single them out, is hard socially," she said
HISD might have another chance with Sam Houston, though. Commissioner
Scott has said the district can submit a plan to reopen the school in
the fall with a new principal, mostly new teachers, some new students,
a different academic program and a fresh name.
As district leaders craft that plan, due to the school board Thursday,
some are warning district leaders to learn from their mistakes.
"People of other races always feel like they have the best solution
for the teaching and learning of African-American students when they
don't even understand the total concept of African-American culture
and the environment which these young people of today live in," said
Carol Mims Galloway, a Houston school board member and president of
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in
Houston.
Valerie Hill-Jackson, an assistant education professor at Texas A&M
University, said teachers need to learn how to connect with black
students.
"We know this is a culture that is very vibrant, exuberant, likes to
talk," said Hill-Jackson, who is black. "So, if I'm a math and science
teacher, how can I use that to my advantage? I can have them get out
of their seats."
Julia Guajardo, Sam Houston's executive principal, and Trlica said
school officials made serious efforts to boost the test scores of all
students, no matter their race. Teachers assessed which students were
having difficulty with the same math concepts and then tutored them in
small groups.
Working on a solution
The school also adopted a new computerized math program called Agile
Mind and worked with consultants from the respected Charles A. Dana
Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
Still, only 17 of the 59 black students tested — or 29 percent —
passed the math exam this year. That's up slightly from 24 percent
last year.
The passing rate of Hispanic students increased from 46 percent to 51
percent.
Gloria White, managing director of the Dana Center, characterized the
math gains at Sam Houston as "small forward progress." She emphasized
that a major turnaround takes at least three years and that
consultants only started working with Sam Houston teachers last year.
"You need collaboration time with the teachers," White said. "It's a
process. It's not an event. Sometimes you see some movement in the
first year, but it's not anything you can count on."
'Antiquated' system
Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra, when he announced the news of Sam
Houston's closure Thursday, called the state's accountability system
"antiquated," in part because it doesn't take into account the
progress made by schools.
On the language arts test this year, for example, the passing rates of
black students at Sam Houston jumped 17 points to 84 percent.
Marina Mendoza, the president of the parent group at Sam Houston, said
she was shocked to hear some people, who weren't aware of the problems
with black students' scores, suggest the campus performed poorly
because of illegal immigrants at the school.
"I thought that was so unfair," said Mendoza, who has two children at
the school. "We should never look at this as a racial problem. It's an
educational problem."
ericka...@chron.com
Michael Paul Goldenberg
Jun 10, 2008, 10:00:53 AM6/10/08
to RadicalMath
Absent an "accountability" system that is accountable to basic
principles of psychometrics (never make a single test score the sole
or primary basis for any significant decision), the best advice I have
for the folks at this school is to sue the system. Districts and
schools that resist the insanity of test madness need to band
together, work with organizations like FairTest, etc., and at the same
time look at those schools and districts that are able to do
meaningful, good work with students in mathematics without abdicating
their responsibilities by making their curriculum one giant test prep
course. Recent results out of Chicago suggest that such a focus can
actually be counter-productive even in meeting the questionable goal
of raising test scores.
> ericka.mel...@chron.com
principles of psychometrics (never make a single test score the sole
or primary basis for any significant decision), the best advice I have
for the folks at this school is to sue the system. Districts and
schools that resist the insanity of test madness need to band
together, work with organizations like FairTest, etc., and at the same
time look at those schools and districts that are able to do
meaningful, good work with students in mathematics without abdicating
their responsibilities by making their curriculum one giant test prep
course. Recent results out of Chicago suggest that such a focus can
actually be counter-productive even in meeting the questionable goal
of raising test scores.
Marilyn Frankenstein
Jun 20, 2008, 6:42:23 PM6/20/08
to Radic...@googlegroups.com
I agree--it also strikes me how 'nicely' this fits with an agenda to divide
blacks and latinos, interestingly timed re the upcoming election...
blacks and latinos, interestingly timed re the upcoming election...
I also have problems with the way hill-jackson characterizes black culture
(don't lots of kids like to talk?)--it deflects from the real issue of how
this school, or school system, is 'blaming the victims'
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages