Student achievement gap exaggerated, prof claims by Scott Elliott Staff Writer--Dayton Ohio Sunday, August 31, 2008
Randy Hoover, a Youngstown State professor, has completed research showing that Ohio has a large poverty gap in test performance—that is regardless of race or ethnicity. His study shows the correlation of variables like median income with test performance was “off the charts.”
"This is an extremely high correlation for social science research," he said. "I've never seen anything this high."
In fact, Hoover’s study showed that three variables were most likely to predict test performance: the percentage of single parent wage earners, the percentage of poor children, and the median family income in the district. Should this be surprising?
Rightly so, “Hoover argues the study shows Ohio draws invalid conclusions about the quality of school districts by using tests that largely measure how poverty impacts each district.” Hmmm…shocking… (not)
“In fact, when Hoover, an education professor and former classroom teacher, looked at school district performance after controlling for "lived experience" factors, he found a different range of school district test performance — far more high poverty districts scored well and more wealthy district scored badly.” Seems like those “poor performing” districts taking the heat for low scores should get a little more credit…
And finally… "The stakeholders reading the Ohio school report cards have no way of knowing if the schools and districts are actually advancing academic achievement."
I am ecstatic that correlations between poverty and test scores can be substantiated where no other dominant correlations exist—hello…we have a poverty gap in America between low income students and the wealthy… Can we continue to ignore the influence of poverty on academia while simultaneously penalizing districts for “lack of improvement” when it can be clearly demonstrated that test scores are more likely than not to be attached to the size of parent(s) pocketbook?
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