Wednesday, October 4, 2000

I was reviewing the results from the Spring 2000 Competency Test scores in the Sept. 27 edition of The Citizen. As the parent of a middle schooler who has transferred from Rising Starr to Flat Rock, I was especially concerned with how the two schools stacked up.

Although Rising Starr has, arguably, the better reputation and, factually, better test scores (in both math and English) at both the sixth and eighth grade levels, I made an interesting observation.

In reading and English/language arts performance, students fared poorly at Rising Starr. Those in the bottom percentile increased in number during their three years at the school (increasing from 6 to 12 percent and from 11 to 15 percent in the two categories). Likewise, those in the top percentile decreased or stayed the same during those same years (67 to 61 percent and 35 to 35 percent). If Rising Starr was living up to its reputation, those trends would be reversed.

Conversely, Flat Rock increased the performance of their outgoing eighth graders. Again, in the areas of reading performance and English/language arts, the bottom percentiles decreased (20 to 14 percent and 28 to 18 percent). Across the board, those in the top ranks increased (40 to 53 percent and 20 to 22 percent). Well done, Flat Rock!

Finally, and without exception, the middle schools are doing poor jobs in educating our students in math (based on the test scores). Where the sixth graders are entering middle schools with anywhere from 25 to 48 percent in the top ranks, they leave the same schools ranked a disappointing 22 to 29 percent.

It's either a teacher problem or a curriculum problem. However, based on the fact that, in the English area, results generally improve (compared with the declining math scores), I'm inclined to conclude that the math curriculum is the culprit. Clearly, an alternative should be sought.

George Fox

GMFox@aol.com

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