One of the problems that can occur by doing this is that every state creates their own test and standards for which students are measured. State standard of education and the method in which the state developed their test for NCLB may likely be the determining factor for how schools in their state are measured. Imagine two neighboring states have similar scores on NAEP; yet one has much higher state standards than the other leading, to a lower percentage of students scoring basic or higher on state NCLB test. By their method of calculation schools within that state will be penalized for the higher standards of education. This would go into the state’s issues of having high standards that they have not been able to meet. This would go into the debate of is it better to meet very low standards or not be able to meet very high standards. Perhaps the reason SC has 40% of the schools on this list is because schools in the state have not met the very high testing standards the state has set for the schools. If South Carolina would have set very low standards for its schools and met those very low standards, it’s schools would not have made this list.

States also choose their level of achievement for their state test for NCLB, and the way each state measures their outcomes will be different. This means there will likely be a discrepancy between the way different states view “passing”, which creates a reliability problem when you compare achievement on a 3-tiered scale versus achievement 4-tierd scale. For example, the main state in question here, South Carolina, is switching from PACT (4-tiered achievement) to PASS (3-tiered achievement) which will change the way this state looks at “passing scores”. The frequency of students meeting the state standard will greatly change and affect the way our schools will appear using the Neighborhoodscout system of measurement. In no way will the schools greatly change (just the test given), yet the outcome could be the much different for SC in terms of this ranking.

Another fundamental issue with their rating system is their premise that schools can be rated and ranked by scores of student achievement alone. Information like pupil-teacher ratio, number of National Board certified teachers, free-reduced lunch, amount spent per student, age of school, district growth, etc… are all important when rating a school but do not seem to be used in calculating school ratings. This information does appear to be reported by NeighborhoodScout but does not appear to be used for rating schools.

It is also of note that NAEP is not given in all places every year. When it is given, it is given randomly to only a few grades. Does this algorithm use the “matched” grades of NCLB exams in a comparison? Is the algorithm trying to compare all grades of NCLB students with the NAEP selected grades?
How is it good that this algorithm is ranking high schools in this mix, considering NAEP makes state comparisons using 4th and 8th grade data?

People need to remember, the business purpose of neighborhoodscout is to sell subscriptions for people looking to relocate. They are in no way a reputable educational company and is not associated with the improvement, quality, or research of education in any way. The company does give out informative information (which is important for individuals to know) when looking for a neighborhood to live in. However the company uses academic testing alone as a means of measuring schools when the formula by which they measure schools has no validity or reliability. While the premise of the sight would appear harmless, it is easy to see the potential damage that can be caused when academic testing is used for reasons other than academics.

What Dr. Schilling is indeed trying to do is create the first true “measuring stick” that will allow school districts and schools throughout the country to be rated, compared, and ranked on a national level. Unfortunately this “patent pending algorithm” is his marketing strategy to sell Neighborhoodscout subscriptions to view school, district, and state data that can be found for free on NAEP, state, and district websites.

It is well known that the quality of education provided by public schools varies greatly across the country. Still further, the quality of a child’s education can vary significantly from school district to school district within a state and can even be widely varied between two different schools within the same school district.

In an attempt to quantify student performance and to improve the performance of elementary and secondary schools across America, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act was signed into law in January of 2002. The NCLB has earmarked billions of dollars that are directed to nationwide educational reform and improvement. Under NCLB each state receives federal dollars for its public and charter schools based on the performance of their schools. One of the main mechanisms for assessing performance is through testing and test scores. As a result, schools have begun placing far more of an emphasis on preparing students for these NCLB standardized tests.

While theoretically, the concept of a national NCLB standardized test should provide a milestone by which to compare the performance of all of the schools in the country relative to one another, the actual test is not truly standardized. This is because while the federal government passed down guidelines and standards for the creation of a testing mechanism, the states themselves were left to develop, implement and administer the actual NCLB tests. As a result, despite the federal guidelines and standards, there is still a wide variation in the difficulty and content of the actual tests that have been implemented from state to state. Therefore any school comparison system that employs strictly the NCLB results as a basis for comparison is likely skewed due to the widespread differences in the underlying tests.

Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system that provides normalization of the performance data for all schools across the nation, and which can provide a meaningful basis for comparison of school performance on a national basis.

NeighborhoodScout has invented a patent-pending method and system to directly compare school districts and individual schools across state lines based on their reported NCLB test scores, even though the tests are entirely different in each state.

The methodology operates on the basis that all students attending public elementary and secondary schools must take the NCLB offered within their state. While the NCLB test results can provide a meaningful comparison between any students and schools that were administered the same test, since the tests are different state-to-state, a comparison on this basis is generally inaccurate and unreliable. To normalize the NCLB test results based on the differences, Scout’s methodology employs an additional factor that is employed as a modifier of the NCLB test results.

In addition to the NCLB testing, a population of randomly selected students in each state also takes the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test. The NAEP test is the closest thing to a gold standard national test and it is administered in the same form to every student who takes the test. The difficulty in using this test as a basis for comparison on its own is that there are not enough students in any one school or school district that take the test to make it statistically significant for comparison. It is of note however that although the NAEP is the same in every location the results reported by the NAEP often differ significantly from the NCLB results for any given state.

For example, the average percentage of students who passed the NAEP in a recent year in Mississippi was 16% while in Massachusetts the pass rate was 45%, even though the test is the same. In contrast, Mississippi’s recent state-specific NCLB testing scores show that nearly 75% of their students were proficient or advanced, making it look like Mississippi has an outstanding public school system. The reality however is that Mississippi’s NCLB scores are high because their NCLB test is less challenging then the NAEP.

As a result neither of the available tests provides an ideal set of data for the comparison of schools on a nationwide basis. The NCLB is often skewed because of local test development bias and the NEAP is not administered on a widespread enough basis.

NeighborhoodScout’s method takes the average percentage of students testing as proficient or advanced in reading and math on the NCLB state-specific test and subtracts the percentage of students in that same state who passed the NAEP, either in total or for these specific subjects. This subtraction produces a state-specific gap value that is then subtracted from each school and school district’s NCLB proficiency percentages. Once the NCLB results are adjusted, the schools and the school districts nationwide are then ranked relative to one another. As a result, the methodology provides a curve that brings all individual schools and every school district to a nationally comparable rating based on the NCLB testing results.

From this research, the 100 Worst Public Schools in America have been identified. They are found in twenty different states, some in inner city urban areas, and some in rural America. All schools included in the study were classified by the U.S. Department of Education as ‘regular secondary or elementary schools.’ Any school classified by the U.S. Department of Education as a ‘special needs school’ was not included in this ranking. Charter schools and magnet schools were purposefully included, just as they were included in NeighborhoodScout’s ranking of the 100 best performing public schools in America. It is of note that many charter schools also make the list of the best performing schools in America. Because there is a movement towards more charter schools, rather than fewer, more American students are now enrolled in charter schools than ever before. We do not see this trend reversing in the near-term. Therefore, this population of American students was included in the study. All schools of all grades were included in the study.

All schools, regardless of the grade-levels served, have a charge of preparing their students for the next level, which is assessed by grade-appropriate testing, mandated by the federal government and developed and applied by the state department of education. Some schools do exceptionally well in preparing their students for the next step, and some do far less well. When NeighborhoodScout examined the schools using this yardstick of assessing how well the schools prepare their students for the next step, it ended up with a mix of elementary, middle, and high schools as worst performers across the nation.

What I was pointing out about this list is that it appears that many of the schools identified have nothing to do with neighborhood selection….again, because they’re charters or magnets or alternative schools.

Answer: Check for Howie-Doo-Mee money.

We are waiting for the next fake “voucher scam” web site to pop up. It’s just a matter of time.

It will probably be called http://www.voiceformoronsforvoucherscams.com” and will be home to all 3 people who claim the voucher scam will help all children.

They are: Howie, sic(k) willie and willie’s “bud” at Voice 4 Voucher Scams.

Okay. So it will probably have a few other members.

A few elected officials and former candidates who took Howie-Doo-Mee money.

They will join just to keep getting Howie-Doo-Mee money.

We can only wonder if all of the voucher supporters in S.C. will cram in a ’66 VW once a week to go to sic(k) willie’s crib to make s’mores and sing…

“…it’s Howie-Doo-Mee time.”

BIN News Editorial Staff
Flair and Balanced

Also, where you live isn’t a “choice” for everyone. If you can’t afford to buy a home in an upper-class neighborhood you don’t get to attend that school. This is the ultimate in discrimination.

Give people a real choice.