Catoosa County resident Keith Kenney is creating a buzz at Catoosa County School Board meetings after reading off statistics from schooldigger.com.
“I would like to address the board regarding measuring performance in general and evaluating Catoosa County student performance in particular,” he said to school board members in a recent meeting. “At last month’s public board meeting, a report on Catoosa County student performance on Criterion Referenced Competency Tests and End of Class Scores was presented. If I read that report correctly, Catoosa County schools were equal to or better than the state in all areas except fifth-grade math. I would like to offer a bit of a rebuttal that Catoosa County students or schools are not performing as well as the superintendent presents.”
Kenney passed out a spreadsheet from SchoolDigger.com that he says ranks the schools by CRCT and EOCT scores too.
“If one were to assume that being in the 85th percentile or above would be some measure of success, Catoosa, as a county, is not doing so well,” said Kenney. “It ranks only in the 64th percentile according to schooldigger.com. Looking in greater detail, two of the three Catoosa County high schools are below the 70th percentile, LFO at 69th and Ringgold at 40th. Only Heritage with 87 is above the 85th percentile, but barely. Catoosa County middle schools are even worse, as three out of three are at the 70th percentile or lower percentile; Heritage Middle School 70th, Ringgold Middle School 59th and Lakeview Middle School 41st. We can take some solace in that seven out of eight elementary schools are above the 85th percentile, with six of eight above the 90th percentile. Only one elementary school falls below the 85th percentile, Woodstation at 72 percent. So we seem to be doing well in our elementary schools.”
Catoosa County Schools Superintendent Denia Reese said student achievement is based on a lot of things and not just test scores.
“I’ve looked at the website in the past,” said Reese. “It does rank schools based on two test scores: math and language arts. One area we need to improve in is math.”
Catoosa County Schools Professional Learning Coordinator Ingrid Jones said students are struggling in math across the country.
“We are always looking for ways to improve,” said Jones. “We are constantly looking at data. Math is an area of concern, so we constantly do training in math. In June we had teachers looking at the math assessment. We moved from a procedural math to a problem-solving and more realistic math. We are changing the way we teach math.”
Jones led math sessions with teachers in June, July and August to try to figure out a way to boost math scores across the board.
“I take my job very seriously,” said Jones. “I’m here to make a difference in the lives of children. We have some students in struggling families. We want to help them succeed and work hard trying to do so.”
Reese said poverty impacts achievement. For example, she said 79 percent of students at West Side Elementary live in poverty.
“Miracles are happening and teachers are working hard,” said Reese. “Our graduation rate is improving every year.”
Catoosa County Schools Director of Technology Steve Sawyer said he disagrees with the way School Digger compiled its statistics.
“We would be the first to argue that this is not the ultimate way to rank schools and that there are certainly many, many more criteria – objective and subjective – that add to or subtract from the overall quality of a school,” he said. “But we believe that listing schools by test scores is useful, and as a tool should be used by parents in conjunction with all the other criteria available.”
Sawyer said Catoosa County Schools recognizes the challenges and addresses student needs in a detailed manner.
“The College and Career Performance Index is a comprehensive score that reports on components including academic achievement and growth,” said Sawyer. “Other factors include student attendance, graduation rate and factors related to college and career readiness. Seventy percent of the score is related to academic achievement while 30 percent is student growth. Catoosa County high schools and middle schools ranked in the top 25 percent in Georgia, while our elementary schools ranked in the top 50 percent of Georgia school districts. The CCRPI academic achievement score is a result of assessments and measures of student progress.”
Sawyer said Catoosa County Schools analyzes school performance data and frequently assesses schools/classrooms with diagnostic feedback. He said schools analyze test results and benchmark data helps to guide schools throughout the year. Professional learning is offered throughout the year, he added.