Posted on 03/06/2005 6:24:50 AM PST by cbkaty
THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DIVIDE/Examining low performance Numbers reveal underachieving schools in HISD spend more per student than top schools, but other factors may hold the answers
When Houston school district leaders proposed bringing in new management teams for three of the city's lowest-performing high schools last month, some parents blamed the schools' plight on inferior resources and neglect.
A review of Houston Independent School District financial records, however, shows the three schools spend more money per student than the city's top-performing campuses.
This revelation caught at least one school board member off guard, leaving HISD decision makers to look at other factors, such as low community involvement and weak leadership, to explain why Yates, Kashmere and Sam Houston high schools have not reversed years of poor academic performance.
"It's unfortunate that it takes a controversial issue to come up before our communities rally around the schools," said trustee Kevin Hoffman, whose northside district includes Kashmere. "Everybody will show up for a football or basketball game, but you can't find anyone to show up for a PTA meeting or a community meeting regarding academics."
Superintendent Abe Saavedra cited the need to "fundamentally change the management" of the three schools in his call for leadership overhauls at the three campuses. He said the reform groups that take over must redesign management practices and engage parents in the improvement effort.
Kashmere and Yates rank first and fourth, respectively, in terms of per-pupil funding among HISD's 23 traditional high schools. Sam Houston ranks 13th.
"I was surprised that Kashmere is at the top of the list because I've always gotten a different story from school leadership," Hoffman said.
In contrast, HISD will spend from $500 to nearly $2,000 less per student this year at three of the school district's highest-performing schools: Lamar, Bellaire and Westside. Those schools, where more than three quarters of all seniors score above 1,000 on the SAT, occupy the three lowest spots on HISD's per-pupil funding list.
And the three low-performing schools measure up well against the others in additional ways.
Teachers at Yates, Kashmere and Sam Houston enjoy a slightly higher average salary than their colleagues at Lamar, Bellaire and Westside.
There's no discernible difference in the percentage of teachers at each school with five or fewer years of experience.
Teachers with advanced college degrees represent 47 percent of Kashmere's staff, more than any of the six schools.
Among those schools, only Yates and Sam Houston have at least 10 library books for every student.
Some Yates parents have complained that the school lacks an adequate number of computers.
HISD officials couldn't address that assertion because, according to spokesman Terry Abbott, the schools did not have sufficient time to answer a request made Tuesday for a count of their computers.
Principals at all six schools either declined interview requests for this story or were unavailable for comment, Abbott said.
"Most are proud of the involvement they have but always seek more," Abbott wrote via e-mail.
Budget crunching Though HISD's per-pupil spending at the three low-performing schools is high, there are other factors that may contribute to their below-average academic results.
For one, HISD calculates each school's budget based on enrollment.
Under that formula, Kashmere, with just 852 students, has a total budget this year of $4.7 million, the second-lowest among HISD's traditional high schools.
Bellaire, which has nearly four times as many students, has a budget approaching$13 million.
The HISD budget formula gives more money — some from the state and federal government — to schools with higher populations of low-income students, those enrolled in special education classes and those who don't speak English as their first language.
Yet, big schools get more results for their money, particularly on items that all schools have to include in their budgets, regardless of size, such as utility bills and principal salaries.
HISD has proposed shutting down six elementary schools at the end of this year because their small enrollment figures don't bring in enough money to pay for some basic services, such as librarians and nurses. HISD officials have avoided the politically delicate issue of closing small high schools, instead vowing that any such proposals are "off the table."
The rumor that HISD might be considering shutting down Yates helped generate a turnout of about 200 people at a recent school meeting about the future of the tradition-rich campus. Some quietly joked at the gathering that the best way to spark community involvement at Yates is to suggest it is closing.
Within days of Saavedra's announcement of his intention to overhaul the schools' leadership, Yates alumni and parents launched a Web site called www.savejackyates.com.
School Web sites lacking Kashmere's Web site, which appears not to have been updated in several years, touts the school's "recognized" state rating for the 2000-01 school year but makes no mention of the "unacceptable" rating Kashmere has had since then.
The Sam Houston Web site has information about parenting seminars but nothing about volunteering.
The official Yates Web site contains no information about parent-volunteer opportunities.
The Lamar Web site, by comparison, links to the Parent-Teacher Organization's site, which includes a four-page list of committee members' contact information. The Bellaire PTO Web site details the group's $90,000 budget and features minutes from past meetings.
To Yates Parent-Teacher-Student Association President Bill Miller, it's clear that some of the low-performing schools need more help from parents.
"Honestly, it has been low attendance at the meetings," Miller said.
Under past school administrations, Yates parents did not feel welcome inside the school, though that has changed since Principal George August took over last school year, he said.
"Previous attempts to come into the school were met, if not with hostility, a great deal of reluctance," Miller said. "There was a great deal of lip service to getting involved, but parents did not feel wanted or welcome."
One of Yates' parent volunteers, Sharon Stewart, said she hopes the interest spurred by the school-takeover talk generates more participation.
"We had 19 parents at our meeting (last) Saturday, and our goal is to get 100 more. ... I want them involved," she said.
At Sam Houston, volunteer organizers have had some success but struggle to convince Spanish-speaking parents they are welcome, said Mary Garcia.
"We're trying to get more parents to be involved and not be afraid to come to the school," said Garcia, the mother of a Sam Houston junior.
What's going on in some of Houston's urban schools is also happening on inner-city campuses across the country, said Reginald Clark, a Claremont, Calif.-based consultant who specializes in helping schools connect with parents.
"It is a common phenomenon," Clark said. "The problems are intertwined with each other in the sense that you've got a finger-pointing culture of failure out there where the parents and the school officials are blaming each other."
jason.spencer@chron.com
So now what's the problem? Whom will you blame now? Of course this article is "below the fold"...I am surprised that it made the front page....
Please do not change headlines.
bump
throwing more $$$$$ at kids who could CARE LESS about learning and expecting results from them is the same insanity as dropping an apple over and over and expecting a different result than it hitting the floor...
Until we get away from the idea that only 'highly educated' people should be allowed to teach, we will only get dumber and dumber as a society.
Maybe these teachers should be "highly educated" in a specific body of knowledge...instead of having a "Master or PHD in Excuses".....?
I think the evidence that the more highly 'educated' the teachers, the worse the schools perform. If you want to see it stand out even more, compare how 'education' degrees stack up in student performance to math, or science degrees. Being more 'educated' in schools of 'education' is a recipe for worse performance.
If I were designing a school from scratch, I would ban anyone from entering the school who had a degree in education. Except maybe as a parent. Even then, I would probably only have an excemption if both parents had education degrees. If only one does, the other would have to handle all parent-school functions. Get math majors to teach math. History majors to teach history. English majors (NOT literature majors) to teach english/grammar. Science majors to teach the various sciences.
How would you handle elementary school classes? Would you pay people enough to lure the math and science types away from industry and government jobs?
It's already that way in Texas, BTW. You cannot major in education. You have to major in something else, and then you minor in education to get the "how to teach" stuff. Even elementary teachers do not major in elementary education. My daughter who teaches 5th grad math and science majored in psychology with a minor in biology (or she might have lacked a course or two for that minor, she started in biology). Only her master's degree is in elementary education. By all accounts she is a very good teacher. Still given the students one gets these days, that is the attitude and background they bring to the classrom, even a very good teacher can only do so much. Disciple and behavior problems take up way more classroom time than was the case when she went to elementary school, let alone when my wife and I did. Plus there is the bureaucracy.
IMHO, schools, especially elementary schools are too big, and to tied to the district "specialists", the state "guidelines" and of course the federal "mandates". Then of course there are all the "judgments" of the various courts that hem in the school districts and the teachers.
I agree that gov't regulations, at all levels above school district, are a problem. But I don't think education degrees are nearly all they are cracked up to be. As for who would teach elementary, I would use an apprentice system and dead wood cutting. Let those who are good at it do it. I've taught everything from SAT prep to Physics to Entreprenuerial studies on either a teacher TA or tutor level. Not an education course to my name, and yet somehow, I manage to teach. And given elementary school, most adults should be able to handle the material.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.