Even before the testing problems at West Charlotte High, Project LIFT faced a challenge in tracking the results of its $55 million five-year investment.
Organizers of the public-private partnership to boost achievement at West Charlotte and its feeder schools have promised that private investors and taxpayers will have a clear picture of what's working and what's not, as the group tries to strengthen faculty, give students extra time in school, boost family involvement and provide access to current technology.
Here's the challenge: 2012 is supposed to be the baseline, as the project pushes for a 90 percent graduation rate and other academic gains by 2017. But the state is replacing the reading, math and science exams that have gauged student proficiency in elementary and middle schools. North Carolina's new accountability system will also rely on different tests for high school students, with the end-of-course exams that have long provided school ratings yielding to the ACT, a college readiness exam, and WorkKeys, a skills test many employers use.
That means next year is essentially a new start on data. And with it being a transition year, I'd be surprised if 2013 results are fully comparable to those moving forward.
Project LIFT Zone Superintendent Denise Watts is well aware of that issue. She called the new system "a moving target that we're trying to pinpoint," adding that state officials have assured her they'll provide a measure of student growth that will be comparable from 2012 to 2013. LIFT will also look at such data as student and teacher attendance and disciplinary actions to gauge progress at schools, she said. And the graduation-rate calculation isn't changing.
Meanwhile, it seems a bit odd that CMS officials say they didn't realize there was an academic crisis at West Charlotte until June, when test results showed some 200 kids had skipped required exams and the composite pass rate had plunged from 68 percent in 2011 to 44 percent in 2012. Watts took the supervisory hand-off from Charity Bell in March, the principal resigned in June and the past year brought changes in virtually every level of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools leadership. But CMS leaders have long said that year-end exam results shouldn't be a surprise if teachers, principals and central-office staff are using good tests and data-monitoring to keep their finger on the pulse throughout the school year.
This week, hundreds of educators at the nine LIFT schools are getting revved up for the Aug. 27 first day for students, and Watts is pushing the vision of a new start. "If you go back to your school and it feels the same and sounds the same and looks the same, I've failed today," she told the group on Monday.
Superintendent Heath Morrison told the group they'll be facing some doubts about whether they can really make a difference, and "there are folks who probably don't want this to be successful." But he told them to disregard speculation that he doesn't fully support a program that was designed and approved by the board before his July 1 arrival. Morrison said he stands ready to give "whatever it takes, whatever I have to offer" to help the schools succeed.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Tracking LIFT results is a challenge
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41 comments:
I wonder why the new superintendent thinks there are some people who don't want the LIFT program to succeed--or does he think there are people who don't want the schools or students to succeed?
Pineville Dad,
Because that's the way some people interpret any criticism.
You are either 100% for them or 100% against them with no middle ground.
Sad to see a superintendent who has already closed his mind to critics.
"What academic crisis?"
Send more money!!!
The Testing Coordinator should have know what students were needed to meet the numbers. Charity Bell/Denise Watts should have know that the numbers were not being met. Why didn't they? What resources did they call in? Why did the staff not go and literally pick kids up to make the numbers? Not making the numbers is totally avoidable.
Heath, if they are not succeeding now with all the extra money and programs thrown at them, then take them away and let LIFT at it with all the spotlight.
Also Heath, this is the lesson Dr. Canada learned at Harlem Achievement Zone. I guess you are not willing to learn from others' mistakes. Or is all of this just a rouse for a 5 year hitch plus retirement for Denise and others till some national spotlight snatches them up before the results are in?
12:15, maybe not meeting the numbers is exactly what they wanted to happen. Like any government offical, they know how to play the numbers to create the look they want.
Meanwhile, it seems a bit odd that CMS officials say they didn't realize there was an academic crisis at West Charlotte until June, when test results showed some 200 kids had skipped required exams and the composite pass rate had plunged from 68 percent in 2011 to 44 percent in 2012.
Yet, graduation rates from West Charlotte have risen:
2009/2010 - 51.1% - 522 total students w/267 graduating
2020/2011 - 54.3% - 451 total students w/245 graduating
2011/2012 - 55.7% - 395 total students w/220 graduating
Where are all of the students going? At that rate of decline, in 5 years, LIFT won't have very many seniors left to teach.
Denise Watts is running the show and she is confused about what is going on? The truth is an orphan in any conversation with her. Get your popcorn ready. It's going to be a bumpy ride!
It does not matter to tax payers Ann as this is a "private venture" remember? Wiley is correct in 3-4 years when LIFT is a dead zone (see Detroit) it wont matter their will be no students to test. This is a waste and Heath has no history of the violence and lazy ways of Charlotte West side. Alot of folks forget or overlook Watts used to work for CMS and left after he frustrations. This is a payback for her with a fat pay check. It also gets Kojo a foot in the door as pay back for the school closings.
Another observation:
I want to say beforehand that I am not discounting students with disabilities or non-English proficient students, but if you take those students out of the West Charlotte numbers (2011/2012), the graduation rate jumps to 61%.
Black male graduation rate was 46.2% and Black female is 63.1%.
White graduation rate overall was 20%, with a total of 5 Whites with 1 graduating.
So 220 students graduated, with 200 of them Black and 181 students were ED.
175 students did not graduate, 173 are Black. 200 Blacks did graduate.
Again, why? What's the difference? What does LIFT propose to do to find out why 200 Black students in a high poverty school can graduate and 173 cannot?
It seems to me LIFT should already have an answer to that question to better target their dollars.
How does LIFT plan on helping students with disabilities graduate at higher rates and those who speak little to no English?
Those are the $55 million dollar questions.
All of the "LIFT" does matter. They are spending $55 million on TOP of 3X the spending in the suburb schools.
TAXATION WITHOUT EDUCATION
Boy thats reassuring Heath " you will have some doubters , if you recall this was formed (LIFT) before I got here, I will help in any way I can" attitude. What that means is my name is not on it , I have no idea what I am doing , good luck. I hope they can improve the graduation rate. I just see the folks at the top of LIFT Watts and Kojo and thats not a successful pair.
If LIFT had started making improvements when they started in March then next year wouldn't show such a contrast. Why is it that each failure has to wait until the next year for a do over? That sounds like every failed diet in history. When you fall off, you say okay I will start over again next Monday morning. In the meantime food fest.
I just love the "pinpoint the moving target" comment of Watts. That is all I have seen since I moved here. Every year has been a moving target that disappears before it can be evaluated/pinpointed. Maybe that is the strategy.
The declining scores at West Charlotte did not impact the upperclassmen The low EOC scores were primarily the 2011 freshman class. The decline had to do with the change in programming during the prior years when WC was doing well.
The state of NC has a rigorous graduation requirement expecting most students to follow a college track. When you have students on a 4th grade level in high school do you really believe they will graduate on time?
"it seems a bit odd that CMS officials say they didn't realize there was an academic crisis at West Charlotte until June" How is it CMS OFFICIALS didn't realize? That's their job! Everyone else is CMS knew! Administration more concerned about micro-managing the teachers and promoting testing that they fail to listen to the teachers and do what they can to maintain discipline in the school and enable the teachers to actually teach!
Someone stated earlier that the former principal of West Charlotte High School and the Area Superintendent who supervised him should be made to provide answers regarding the present state of West Charlotte High School. I totally agree. CMS knew for years that Jefferies was not coming to school, and was not performing his duties as a principal. They choose to look the other way. Teachers tried to conference with him ,they wrote letters to down town,they even signed petitions, only to be ridiculed and forced out. Harding and West Charlotte’s travesty is a reflection on the Charlotte Mecklenburg School System and its school board. They should not be let off the hook.
Sorry "chose"
Too often the "politics"of a school interferes with its mission and the role of the school becomes to reinforce the power structure of the administration and an "inner circle" cadre of teachers, administrators, and a select group from the community. That became the role of WCHS under the Jefferies Administration. Select "golden teachers" were given select classes with select students and received much "support" in achieving distinctions and awards. What people like Helms refuse to recognize is that when an "unholy troika" like this exists all criticism is deflected and negated as being groundless. Want proof? Didn't Jefferies finish second in the district "principal of the year" last year? How else do you think this can happen? Helms will only scratch the surface b/c that is all the "movers and shakers" will allow her to research and report.
5:23, "when WC was doing well"? Honey, that was in 1996. Catch up to today's problems that showed their head in the late 1990's. This stuff has been going on for a long time.
This cry, not knowing problems like those described in these posts are not new, have been going on for years and is the usual liberal battle cry when things do not go as politic-ed and then all we hear is more money, more money, more money.
We have this demographic that we all have assumed would require extra help to break the cycle of pverty through education. We were all willing to grap hold of their hands and help them up the hill. However, after years of such "assistance", little progress has been made. For one, they will not give up the "culture" that keeps them locked in poeverty. Second, instead of helping them up the hill, they insist on being carried up the hill. Further aggravating the situation as demonstrated in the school closings, they will fight being carried.
Time to cut it loose, save the 3% to 5% that are obviously demonstrating they can be lead to the water and are willing to drink it and try to save American society with those that understand the requirements of the modern society. Welfare will continue so let's not waste any more money toward this demographic. Resources are too scarce as it is now. Let community groups do as they with for this group.
Where is E E-S? Should the school board chair have some way of knowing what the heck is going on. Perhaps less time arranging to get money for overseas trips and more emphasis on getting down to the task of EDUCATING STUDENTS!!!!
This continues to be a mess. This entitlement mentality is killing (sometimes literally) CMS, this community and the country.
No one owes anyone an education - only the opportunity. It all makes me sick.
The Black Hole of entitlement spending. Who is going to step up and carry the water instead of laying down and drinking it ALL.
9:02, they are not drinking it. Although it is being thrown at them, 98% is going down the drain.
8:43, where is E-E-S? Waiting for Kojo to tell her what to say. Or trying to lay low as to not having to explain herself about the London ticket. The CO will never press her for an admission.
When will this drainage of tax dollars end? Does anybody have any common sense? Try something different for a change. Not every student should go to college. Half are leaving the high school, which of that,most will be in jail at a cost of over $30,000 each to the taxpayer. Well above the $12,000 spent in CMS.
VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS
Give a fish feed for a day. Teach to fish feed for life.
Folks this LIFT is not about making or seeing improvements. Its about the radical Denise Watts having a high paying job. She was out of work once she left or was fired from CMS. Its about Kojo getting his way with the african americans on the board. None of this has anything to do with creating a model or base to show improved graduation results.
AND IT BEGINS!!! I'll say it again, Project LIFT bad idea!
Denise , Hire one person not of your heritage into the LIFT bonanaza. Maybe that way it could lend some credibility to the program ?
2:15 PM, there has been talk off and on in the community since the late 1990's of returning West Charlotte High School back to its all black heritage. I see Project LIFT just a transitioning step toward allowing that community to have its sole sayso in how that school and its feeders are run but with the insurance of all the public funding knowing they can call down any opposition to this madness by playing the race card.
2:15, if heritage is a euphemism for race, I saw many white faces in the crowd at the LIFT faculty kickoff.
There might be a few "white" faces in the faculty, but there are almost none in the student population.
4-Year Cohort Graduation Rate Report
2008-09 Entering 9th Graders Graduating in 2011-12 or Earlier
West Charlotte High
School Code: 600576
Grade Span: 09-12
Asian: 25
Black: 343
Hispanic: 16
White: 5
I wonder why the other 4 whites did not graduate? Only 1 did by the way.
My favorite Wiley Coyote proverb
"Give a man an entitlement and you feed him for a day. Never require a man to do anything for himself and you feed him for a lifetime."
Only 25% white graduation rate!!!
Where is the outrage!!!
Where is the justification!!!
Taxation Without Education
It is Immoral
How come we have the ROTC teacher in each High School making over $90.000 per year.Combine that with those that have assistants and most high schools pay over $150,000 for the program. Are they working security for the DNC convention? Very expensive and no BILLYSTICKS.
Another question for ANN or should I say those students that care about the burden on them and their children.
I too call the Buffalo Dung card on this one. Watts and Bell (maybe they share a brain between them, but that might be too generous) knew there was a problem and ignored it. There are daily reports during testing that are done if not officially, unofficially.
Every staff member at every school I've ever been at knows how testing is going on an almost daily basis. Even the kids!!
I also wonder about some of these comments about Mr. Jefferies not coming to work? Was that after he gave his notice? If he wasn’t there, then Watts or Bell should have had their BWAs there to cover.
When will this drainage of tax dollars end? Does anybody have any common sense? Try something different for a change. Not every student should go to college. Half are leaving the high school, which of that,most will be in jail at a cost of over $30,000 each to the taxpayer. Well above the $12,000 spent in CMS. VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS Give a fish feed for a day. Teach to fish feed for life.
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