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A merely passing grade is not enough for U. City schools
(by Megan Fowler - August 27, 2008)
When Fannye Houston moved to the St. Louis area in 1967, she made sure she chose a community with a strong school system. As a result Houston moved her family to University City “because the school district was one of the top 10 in the country,” Houston said.
Houston’s story amazed listeners at the second Community Engagement Session hosted by the School District of University City on Aug. 13, because few who heard it could remember when the schools of University City drew residents to the community. The school district specifically addressed this issue at the meeting entitled “Student Achievement: Becoming a Destination District.”
The current situation
Chauna Williams, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, made no excuses for the abysmal state of the school district’s current situation.
Raw data for Adequate Yearly Progress, the proficiency goals established by the state as part of the No Child Left Behind Act, indicate that overall the school district has not met AYP in communication arts or mathematics since the standards were established in the 2003-04 school year.
In 2007, the AYP for communication arts was for 42.9 percent of students and subgroups (smaller classifications of students based on ethnicity or participation in student programs) to be proficient. AYP in mathematics was for 35.8 percent of students to be at or above proficiency.
Overall the school district scored 35.4 percent in communication arts and 32.8 percent in mathematics.
The individual schools within the district showed some hope and many areas for improvement. During the 2006-07 school year, Jackson Park, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Pershing elementary schools met AYP in both content areas. Delmar Harvard and Flynn Park did not meet overall AYP, but they met AYP for both content areas in several student subgroups. Brittany Woods Middle School only met AYP in one subgroup, and Barbara Jordan Elementary and University City High School failed to meet AYP in any groups.
Trends among different subgroups across the district show that white students outpace black students and students in the free lunch program by wide margins. At Brittany Woods Middle School, for instance, 90 percent of white students met AYP, while only 21.8 percent of black students and 17.4 percent of students in the free lunch program met proficiency in 2007.
Two paths to higher scores
With this information in hand, Williams explained that the school district has two options for improving student achievement.
The first option focused on improving student test scores and ensuring the district maintains full accreditation. Implementation of this method might involve more explicit test preparation, summer preparation for ACT exams, attendance incentives and summer classes. But while these methods are feasible, “they don’t address the overall structure of the district,” Williams said. “This way is simply trying to achieve a minimum standard.”
Williams acknowledged that implementing the first option would require little effort and might offer immediate answers, but she warned that the improvements would come at the cost of continuing the budget deficit, increasing the operating tax, closing schools, limiting the curriculum and creating a culture that promotes underachievement. Williams did not directly elaborate on why this option would lead to these consequences.
In contrast to this option, Williams outlined a second pathway, one that focuses on overhauling the entire system for learning. This method would involve implementing curriculum designed specifically for students at each age group. It would teach students how to better think and communicate, and students would graduate from the district better prepared for college and work.
“Pathway two will lead to accreditation plus,” Williams said. While the second option is a departure from the past, it will increase district revenue, increase parent and community involvement and make University City a “destination district,” Williams said.
A third option?
After the presentation attendees discussed the proposed pathways and offered feedback on which pathway they felt was the better option. Based on the information presented, attendees overwhelmingly opted for the second pathway, citing how it might generate creative revenue, foster life-learning habits within students and keep students in the district.
Those who chose the first option felt that it was a means to getting to the second. Some thought a combination of options one and two was the best approach. Still others felt that the district did not present enough information to make an informed decision and other listeners suggested there might be an unexplored third option.
• The two next meetings in the Destination U. City Schools series will be held at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 9 at the McNair Adminstration Building, and 9:30 a.m. Sept. 13 at the Julia Goldstein Early Education Center. They will address family and community involvement in the district’s schools, and the same material will be covered at both meetings.
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