Twenty Miles: The impact of poverty and language barriers on educational performance

Jul 06

jonpeltoEducation Reform, Malloy, Standardized Testing, Stefan Pryor , , , 13 Comments

A recent story in the Weston-Redding-Easton patch explained that Weston, Connecticut “is the second wealthiest school district in the United States.”

The story is a reminder that just a few months ago, one of the corporate organizations supporting Governor Malloy’s “education reform” package claimed that poverty was not a factor in school performance.

Instead of recognizing the impact poverty and language barriers actually have on educational outcomes, the “education reformers” claimed that if we just hold teachers accountable, test scores will go up and students will succeed.

Leaving out the significant under-funding that exists for Connecticut’s poorer districts, the “reformers” are convinced that the focus on standardized test scores can take the place of dealing with the barriers students face and the lack of adequate resources that are being devoted to our children’s education.

Governor Malloy went so far as to make it clear that he doesn’t mind a policy of teaching to the test, as long as test scores go up.

As a result of this type of thinking, instead of dealing with the under-funding, Connecticut’s new “education reform” law leads with a new teacher evaluation program.  Further, it’s a teacher evaluation system that relies on standardized test scores as a key measurement of whether a teacher should be allowed to keep teaching or whether they should be fired.

But the reformers can’t dismiss the fact that test scores are driven by factors well beyond the control of the teachers.

According to the Connecticut Department of Education, Weston spends a total of $45,503 per pupil, per year, with $24,471 of that going for “direct instructional expenditures.”

Twenty miles down the road, Bridgeport, Connecticut spends $13, 101 per student, per year, of which $8,037 goes for “direct instructional expenditures.”

$45,500 per student in Weston versus $13,101 per student in Bridgeport… (number corrected as of 2pm)

And what challenges do these children bring with them into the classroom?

In Weston, 1.3 percent of the children are eligible for free or reduced lunch compared to 98.4 percent in Bridgeport

And in Weston, more than 99.4 percent of the students are fluent in English and less than 1 percent goes to home to households that don’t speak English.

In Bridgeport, 14 percent of the students don’t speak English and 40% go home to households that don’t use English as their primary language.

And the impacts all of these issues have on standardized test scores?

Weston

Bridgeport

Grade 4 Reading

81.5%

26%

Grade 4 Writing

81%

35.6%

Grade 4 Mathematics

91.9%

32.3%

Grade 8 Reading

94.9%

38.7%

Grade 8 Writing

88.9%

28.1%

Grade 8 Mathematics

90.9%

30.4%

Grade 8 Science

89.4%

25.2%

 

Imagine if Connecticut’s leaders were actually committed to dealing with the real problems facing education rather than pretending that more standardized tests and dumping teachers who don’t raise local test scores is somehow the answer.

PS… For those who were wondering, in addition to Weston, New Canaan and Darien made the nation’s top ten list of school districts that dedicate the most resources to their children’s education.

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  • Linda174

    The achievement gap that we have and we will always have is an income gap. We have extreme poverty in the cities and extreme wealth in the suburbs. That is not going away. There will be quick fixes via drill and kill test prep and they will all congratulate each other for doing the right thing. However, the initial spike flattens out and no matter what test we have (CMT, CAPT, SBC) who really thinks Darien, Weston and New Canaan are going to be beat by Hartford and Bridgeport?

    It is not politically correct to say so, but that will never happen. It doesn’t mean schools shouldn’t look for ways to improve, but the only focus for success being test scores is a scam. As recently written by a professor at SCSU, Education is no place for a quick fix…First line…”Grifters swindle you through deception or fraud”. See link next post.

    • Linda174
      • guest

        Good article.  More prominent citizens, professors of education, and veteran teachers in the “protected” districts need to begin speaking out.
        It is not really correct that parents are apathetic.  Parents are dissed and disrespected all the time.  They are sent down blind alleys and through labirynthine bureaucracies.
        It doesn’t happen often in wealthy districts, but it does happen elsewhere.

      • guest

        that’s “labyrinthine”!

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Rich-White/100000066062155 Rich White

      There’s significant research that choosing the right bilingual model for ESL students is more important than using  ’money’ and ‘poverty’ as proxies. There’s  a myriad of models to choose from for different age groups and different home environments and cultural scenarios.

      Of course those studies are wasted on people who associate higher paid teachers and union dues as the only working models that counts.

  • guest

    Jonathan, is that a typo in your post, when you write “$45,500 per student in Weston versus $24,500 per student in Bridgeport”?  The number for Bridgeport is different in the earlier part of the post.
    Right.  Money doesn’t matter.  Poverty doesn’t matter.  Teachers unions are the problem.  Collective bargaining is the problem.  Poorly maintained infrastructure is no deterrent.  Ineffective teachers are.  Teacher training is the problem, as the supposedly “superior” results of TFA demonstrates (just don’t look too closely at those numbers–and don’t worry, boards of education don’t look closely.)

    • guest

      That is a typo the Bridgeport number is $13,101 per student in Brideport.
       

      • Jonpelto

        Thanks for picking that up – yes – the number is $13,101 for Bridgeport vs. $45,500 for Weston

  • Buygoldandprosper

    “Governor Malloy went so far as to make it clear that he doesn’t mind a policy of teaching to the test, as long as test scores go up.”

    Dan is well know for being what is called lace-curtain Irish.The world,outside of his public housing in Hartford, is one big shanty that represents opportunity for higher office. And Dan has been running a marathon for years.
    He is the product of the public schools,sort of,if you consider private Catholic universities public schools. He spent a little time as an ADA, but sure makes it sound like he spent decades in the courtroom protecting the public.His kids even spent time in the public schools,sort of.SAY! What are those boys up to these days?! Not like them to be soooo quiet and law-abiding.
    As Dan tools around the state (or the globe) in his chauffeured ride,with his wife passing out pork in her cushy,well paid, sinecure I find it offensive that he peeks out,past the lace curtains,in the Hartford mansion and has visions of higher test scores being a panacea for the great unwashed masses.
    Like most of his scattershot visions for the rest of us,Dan will leave behind mountains of debt and a system worse off than when he and his cronies attempted to “fix” it. Indeed,the fix seems to be in.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Rich-White/100000066062155 Rich White

    Poverty isn’t a cause. It’s a symptom of the dysfunction. Increasing funding to school districts doesn’t cure the dysfunction and is proven to be a largely ineffective method of mitigation.

    • Linda174

      You are unable to learn new information. You have your opinion and you read information that furthers that same opinion. You spout ignorance because of your preconceived notions. Posting data or studies would not help you. Anything that doesn’t align with your beliefs is unable to be filtered through your brain. I usually don’t give up when teaching, but you are a lot cause. Please tend to your goats; they are calling you.

    • Guest

       Thought you were told to go piss up a tree, White.

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