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Disaggregated high school test data to remain private
by John Tawa
Sometimes it's best if the public doesn't know.
That's what the Manhattan Beach School Board decided last Wednesday by continuing limit access to staff only of disaggregated high school test score data, rather than disseminating them to the public.
Disaggregation means tearing apart test scores to learn as much as possible about the students who take the tests. For some time, the school district has had the ability to disaggregate the SAT-9 test scores by zip code. That lets the district compare the performance of Mira Costa High School students who live in Manhattan Beach with those who live in Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach and other cities.
Only 1,100 of the school's 2,100 students currently reside in Manhattan Beach. More than one-fourth come from North Redondo, while 12 percent are from Hermosa Beach. Pupils from South Redondo and other areas make up the remainder. The high school's composition should change in the next five years, when Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach residents are expected to comprise at least three-quarters of the school's population.
The school board's discussion on whether to publicize disaggregated test data came two weeks after the release of the 1999 Academic Performance Index report. It showed Mira Costa receiving a score of 766, 34 points under the target score of 800 set by the California Department of Education, and 128 points lower than the Manhattan Beach Middle School's score of 894. API's for Redondo's middle schools fared much worse than the Manhattan Beach Middle School's, averaging 710. Hermosa Valley School, whose score combined its elementary grades with its middle schoolers, also fared worse than the Manhattan Beach Middle School, scoring 838.
The API also gives the district the ability to disaggregate further, by gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and in other ways.
Superintendent Jerry Davis told the school board that the staff uses the disaggregated data to study patterns "to see if we can improve programs and eventually improve the performance of the student."
"Our use of the data is quite limited," added Mira Costa principal Lynn McCormack. "The value of seeing it by zip code is to be able to work with the sending schools in terms of articulation. If we see they're strong in a particular area, it may raise one set of questions. If they're weak in another area, it may serve as guidance for our teachers.
"We know that all students who come into our school don't have similar backgrounds, but we believe that they can all achieve. For us, any information we would glean by looking at zip codes would be to make sure we structured opportunities for all students to achieve."
The policy question for the board was whether to publicize the test scores by zip code.
"Staff is very comfortable using (the breakdown) as an internal document," Davis said, noting that he'd consulted with his school principals and high-level administrative staff. "We don't see any purpose in making it public at this time."
Four of the five school board trustees agreed.
"The issue of publishing the data by zip code in my estimation is not appropriate," said Dr. Teri Greene. "It's not going to help us determine what happens with our programs."
"I believe strongly that it's a very valuable tool for staff to assess trends and develop plans to deal with them," added Mary Rogers. "Publishing disaggregated data such as test scores based on zip codes doesn't serve any purpose publicly. I see it as potentially divisive."
By shielding the disaggregated test score results from public scrutiny, the board preferred
to keep private what every parent of a Manhattan Beach student already knew: that Manhattan Beach high school students generally perform better on the standardized test than their counterparts from Hermosa, North Redondo and other feeder cities.
The reasons are obvious. Manhattan Beach families are generally better educated and wealthier than even their counterparts in Hermosa and certainly more so than middle class Redondo Beach. That explains, in part, why, for example, eighth grader readers from the Middle School tested in the 82nd percentile in 1999, while ninth graders at Mira Costa only reached the 62nd percentile.
This phenomenon isn't unique to Manhattan Beach. According to an article in the Jan. 16 issue of the New York Times Magazine, two-thirds of New York City's eighth graders failed a language arts test administered last year and three-fourths failed the math test.
"What was not said was the obvious," the article continued. "That the city districts that performed poorly, like those that performed well, scored almost exactly as the socioeconomic status of the children in them would have predicted...In other words, good schools aren't doing that much good, and bad schools aren't doing that much harm."
The Los Angeles County Office of Education recognized this truth when it listed the six variables that influence test scores. Demographics was at the top of the list, followed by physical environment for testing. Quality of the instructional program was listed last.
Peter Alfvin was the only school board trustee who pushed for publication of the disaggregated data, saying that high school accountability was impossible unless parents had the right information to perform an evaluation.
"I think the Manhattan residents, in particular, because they are the taxpayers, and Hermosa residents because of our legal obligations, are a special class [of people] we need to be concerned with," he said. "Although we're concerned with all students that we serve, I think we have a particular obligation to them."
"I think they deserve to know how their students...have progressed in high school."
"We have enrollment policy decisions to make," continued Alfvin. "I think the community should have a stake in that. What is our policy is in taking out-of-district students, particularly at the high school? We have construction plans we're going to make that relate to the size of the school, which again is related to how many additional students we take in."
"You can't really make these decisions without knowing what each group contributes to the school. There are a lot of elements. Diversity. Obviously, every source brings lots of riches, but these are tough calls that have to be made. Information is the key."
The rest of the board was not persuaded
"It's a sensitive topic," countered school board president Lynette Campbell. "Enrollment decisions, etc. aren't just based on the data and we wouldn't want the public to believe they have the right to drive the decision based on the test score data. There are other things to consider: financial considerations, depth and breadth of course offerings, the benefits to a diverse population...I'm concerned that would get lost in just printing the test score data."
Alfvin suggested releasing only disaggregated data for Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach students.
"We need to support the choice that families with eighth grade students make as kids progress, either to parochial school, private school or perhaps some other school," he said. "We owe them information about how the high school is performing."
"By publishing a portion of it, you've drawn attention to the other portion," Rogers said. "It's potentially hurtful to those students who, due to factors probably out of their control, might not measure up to the group whose scores you have published. We're responsible for all the kids who are in our schools."
Three juniors at Mira Costa, all members of Leadership Manhattan Beach's class of 2000, supported the board's decision not to release the information.
"I think it would be divisive," said Katy Keen, a Manhattan Beach resident. "In a certain sense, it already happens. Kids who went to Redondo Beach schools are already looked down on to a certain extent. This might only further that division."
Keen added that she would not like to see the board exclude students who scored lower on the tests.
"It would create an Ivy League high school district," she explained.
Donovan Daughtry, a Hermosa Beach resident, said releasing the data by zip code would further divide the students.
"They would have a number they could fall back on now," he said.
"It's really unnecessary to show that and would be proof of elitism," he added. "In any event, it's shown by the middle school results of the respective cities."
"All it does is degrade people from different areas unfairly," noted Zeeshan Merchant of North Redondo. "Why does the public need to know? It's just going to hurt the parents and kids of North Redondo." ER