Neshaminy isn’t ‘flunking’

From the BCCT. How odd to see a school board member defending their district...

Neshaminy isn’t ‘flunking’; overall performance is strong

I was very disappointed to see the Courier Times headline on Aug 15 proclaiming that the Neshaminy School District “flunked” goals related to state PSSA exams and the No Child Left Behind Act. It is obvious from both the headline and the article itself that the newspaper was trying to generate controversy; but it reflected a deep misunderstanding of the meaning of the districtwide AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) designations.

If a District “makes AYP” in one year, but does not do so the following year, its AYP status is changed to “Warning”; this is what happened in Neshaminy. If you had taken the time to look on the Pennsylvania AYP Web site (www.paayp.com), you would have found that this is not meant to indicate “passing” or “failing” (or “flunking”), but is better thought of as a flag that tells the district to look more carefully at specific areas that may warrant attention.

In Neshaminy’s case, we had several individual schools where small groups of special education students did not pass at sufficient rates, particularly in the Reading area. Consequently, we are undertaking new initiatives this year across the District, including reorganization and expansion of our reading coach program, and implementation of a K-12 writing program.

To see how unrelated AYP status is to overall district performance, consider the following:

Based on our combined District Math and Reading scores, in 2007 Neshaminy would be ranked 142nd out of 500 districts statewide, and we “made AYP”. In 2008, Neshaminy raised its combined scores and would be ranked 10 spots higher (132nd), but we failed to make AYP.

In 2007, Neshaminy’s combined scores were lower than Pennsbury’s and Centennial’s; all three districts made AYP. In 2008, Neshaminy’s combined scores were higher than Pennsbury’s and Centennial’s, but both of those districts “made AYP” while Neshaminy did not.

Downingtown is one of the top performing school districts in the state, ranking 36th out of 500 (93rd percentile) based on its combined scores in 2008, but did not make AYP.

Bensalem School District’s combined scores are ranked 345th out of 500, and the district made AYP.

Bristol Township School District’s combined scores are ranked 431st out of 500, and the District made AYP.

The point is not to judge any individual district’s performance. Instead, what this all makes clear is that district AYP status often has very little to do with overall performance on the PSSA exams. Certainly Neshaminy can do better, and we will continue to strive to improve our test results. But maybe next time the Courier Times will take just a little bit of time to look at what’s really happening, rather than printing misleading headlines that are worthy of the National Enquirer. Such irresponsible journalism not only fails to educate the public, but it plays into the hands of those who look to further political agendas rather than support efforts to improve our schools.

WILLIAM SPITZ
Middletown, is a member of the Neshaminy school board

Editor’s note: Use of the word “flunked” in the headline accurately reflected the school district’s “failure” to meet AYP goals.