Quality Achievement in Portage Township Schools

Written by Dr. Ric Frataccia

There are several critically important variables that have consistently been found to have a positive and significant impact on student achievement. These variables include but are not totally limited to: the Quality of the Teacher; the Quality of the School; the Quality of Students (their preparation for new learning coupled with their motivation to learn) and the Quality of Parental Support for learning (their expectation that their children should behave and give their best effort to learn).

Given the above variables that impact student achievement positively and significantly what do you think the level of student achievement would be if students:

1. Had teachers who interacted positively with them, expected them to learn, would do whatever was necessary to ensure that they would learn and who made sure that their lessons were both meaningful and relevant to students;

and

2. Attended a school that was safe, orderly and comprised of educators whose conversations were primarily about how to assist students learn, how to continue to improve their professional practice, the performance of students and the performance of the school. A school with a rigorous curriculum that specified what concepts/skills needed to be mastered by the end of a school year

and

3. Demonstrated that they had mastered the concepts/skills that had been specified and deemed as important for learning at the next higher level; and who consistently exert the effort required to complete a task satisfactorily while also working well with both peers and teachers;

and

4. Parents who communicate clearly that their children are expected to behave in school and to give their best effort to learn as much as possible: Parents who expect that their children be responsible, honest, fair, compassionate, respectful and courageous.

If these four characteristics describe a school that you are familiar with then I believe you have personally experienced a High Quality school. A school with these characteristics, in all probability, would also have a high level of student achievement.

Fortunately, there are schools throughout Porter County whose level of student achievement has consistently been quite high. In fact, Porter County has enjoyed the reputation of being one of the highest academic achievement counties in the entire state. It would appear reasonable to conclude that the interaction of the Quality of Teachers, the Quality of Schools, the Quality of Students (their preparation and motivation to learn) and the Quality of Parental Support (their expectation that their children behave and give their best effort to learn) in the Portage Township Schools and in the six (6) other school corporations in Porter County are the primary reasons why the level of achievement of students in the Portage Township schools and in the six (6) after School Corporations in Porter County is high.

Obviously, it would be difficult to persuade someone to embrace this "plausible conclusion" if no data existed to support such a conclusion. The data presented in Table 1 indicates the level of student achievement for grades 3-8 in the Portage Township Schools and the six (6) other school corporations in Porter County (labeled A, B, C, D, E, F).

For Portage Township Schools Table 1 reads as follows: 51% of students in the Portage Township Schools qualified for and received Free/Reduced Lunch. This is the higest percentage in the county. Meanwhile four school corporations (A, B, D, E) in the county with the lowest percentage of students who qualified for and received Free/Reduced lunch had percentages of about 20% respectively. This simply means that the Portage Township Schools has about twice as many students who qualified for and receive Free/Reduced lunch than did other school corporations in Porter County.

More importantly, the percentage of students in the Portage Township Schools who passed the English/Language Arts ISTEP was 82%, whereas the highest achieving school corporations (E and F) in Porter County were at 90%. Similarly, the percentage of students in the Portage Township Schools who passed the Math ISTEP was 86%, whereas the highest achieving school corporations in Porter County (D, E, F) were at 89%.

Clearly, the difference between the achievement of Portage Township students and the achievement of students in the highest achieving school corporations in Porter County is not significant in either Math or English/Language Arts. I believe that this data lends considerable support to the conclusion that I made earlier. Namely, since each of the school corporations in Porter County has a high level of student achievement and the level of achievement between the school corporations in Porter County does not vary greatly, it is plausible to conclude that:

1. Porter County is the home of seven high achieving school corporations;
   
2. The level of achievement in the Portage Township School Corporation is high and does not vary greatly from the level of achievement of other school corporations in Porter County. 3
3. The level of Teacher Quality, School Quality, the Quality of Student Preparation for and motivation to learn and the Quality of Parental Support (expecting children to behave and to give their best effort) is high and similar among the school corporations in Porter County.

Obviously, these conclusions are generalizations. There may indeed be specific differences in the level of Quality in one or several of these variables when school corporations are compared. For example, it is possible that when the level of Student Preparation and Motivation for new Learning in School Corporation (A) is compared to that in the Portage Township Schools, corporation (A) may be a bit higher. However, it is also possible that simultaneously the level of Teacher Quality in Portage Township Schools might be a bit higher when compared to school corporation (A) as well.

What is important is not the comparisons but how well the students in the Portage Township Schools and in the other school corporations in Porter County have achieved. Furthermore, it is important to understand that this high level of student achievement is the result of a high level of: Teacher Quality, School Quality, Student Quality (preparation and motivation to learn) and the Quality of Parental Support that exists in the Portage Township Schools and in the other school corporations in Porter County.

Bravo to all who have enabled Portage Township students to achieve at such a high level and to all those who have enabled students in the other school corporations in Porter County to achieve at such a high level as well.

E/LA and Math Achievement by School Corporation (Aggregate for all grades reported by IDOE as of 9/2/10)

Middle School E/LA and Math Achievement by School Corporation (if >1 Middle School in school corporation, then x of all)

Elementary School E/LA and Math Achievement by School Corporation (if >1 elementary school in Corporation, then x of all)