May 10, 2016
I am Dr. Nancy Chamberlain. At the last school board
meeting, we heard NSEA members accuse proponents of the self-select Challenge
Program of creating SEGREGATION in our district. SEGREGATION is defined as “the
institutional separation of an ethnic, racial, religious, or other minority
group from the dominant majority.”
Obviously, Save Our Challenge finds the notion that
advocating for a program in which students can CHOOSE something is akin to
promoting institutional segregation offensive and patently absurd. If the NSEA members or President had taken
the time to read our 80 page recommendations, they would have found several
chapters on how self-select Challenge
has increased access of underrepresented groups to more rigorous courses in
both JH and HS.
Since its inception,
there has been a 200-300% increase of the free and reduced lunch and Hispanic
student populations taking Algebra 1 before 8th grade, and a
doubling of them taking advanced math courses by 12th grade. The %
FRL students enrolled in Challenge English has increased 72%, and has
translated into a 40% increase in FRL students taking advanced courses in high
school, vs just a 14% increase in the non-FRL population.
So the self-select
Challenge Program HAS DISPROPORTIONALLY BENEFITTED underrepresented groups.
This SEEMs to contradict the Classroom Composition
spreadsheet that the NSEA has been using to tout the inequity of the
self-select Challenge Program. Let’s
take a look at the reality of these numbers, as one school board member did at
the last study session.
The district’s own data analyst concludes that nearly 98% of
students in Challenge courses were at or above standard for the last 3 yrs; so
students who self-select into Challenge courses have passed the SBA with a 3 or
4. If you just take the proportion of
FRL and non FRL students who PASSED the SBA in grade 6 and went on to select
Challenge Math 7/8 or Challenge English, you find that what it boils down to is
we need to identify and encourage 1-2 more FRL students PER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL –
surely this is something the district can commit to in its effort for
continuous improvement!
For math, 70% of the
non- FRL students who PASSED the SBA in 6th grade math chose
Challenge 7/8 Math, and 51% of the FRL students who PASSED the SBA chose
Challenge Math. If the FRL students who
passed the SBA chose Challenge at the same RATE as the non-FRL students, there
would have been 22 more DISTRICTWIDE. The
same analysis for Challenge 7 English shows that 32 more FRL students should
have selected Challenge English 7.
It is also imperative that NSD commits to closing the achievement
gap – when only half of our 6th grade FRL kids pass the SBA, that
is cause for a thorough examination of what we are doing in elementary to
address THIS inequity! I support what Director Smith mentioned at the study
session regarding this issue, and stand
ready to help.
Save Our Challenge would like to express its strong support
for a middle school academic model that meets the needs of ALL learners. While not our first choice, Option 3 provides
choice for 7th and 8th grade students to select the
appropriate pace and depth in academic subjects they choose, while allowing
struggling learners the choice to proceed at a pace that is appropriate for
them. We note that Option 3 was the
MSTF’s second choice recommendation. As
such, we believe it is a compromise solution we can all get behind.
STUDENTS PASSING THE SBA AND SELECTING CHALLENGE MATH 7/8
|
Student Sub Group
|
# Students Passing 6th grade Math SBA*
|
Total # of 6th Graders*
|
% Passing Math SBA*
|
# Students Selecting Challenge Math 7/8^
|
Selection Rate into Challenge Math 7/8 of Students who Passed Math
SBA**
|
|
ALL
|
1134
|
1587
|
71.4%
|
771
|
68%
|
|
FRL
|
114
|
253
|
45%
|
58
|
51%
|
|
non-FRL
|
1020#
|
1334#
|
76.5%
|
713#
|
70%
|
Additional FRL Students IF they self-selected
at the non-FRL Selection Rate:
114 x 0.70 =
80 (expected) – 58 (actual) = 22 FRL
students DISTRICTWIDE
STUDENTS PASSING THE SBA AND SELECTING CHALLENGE ENGLISH 7
|
Student Sub Group
|
# Students Passing 6th grade ELA SBA*
|
Total # of 6th Graders*
|
% Passing ELA SBA*
|
# Students Selecting Challenge English 7^
|
Selection Rate into Challenge English 7 of Students who Passed ELA
SBA**
|
|
ALL
|
1241
|
1586
|
78.2%
|
607
|
48.9%
|
|
FRL
|
138
|
254
|
54.3%
|
39
|
28.3%
|
|
non-FRL
|
1103#
|
1332#
|
82.8%
|
568
|
51.5%
|
Additional FRL Students IF they
self-selected at the non-FRL Selection Rate:
138 x 0.515 =
71 (expected) –39 (actual) = 32 FRL
students DISTRICTWIDE
*State Report Card Data http://www.k12.wa.us/
^ Class Composition Analysis
– Grades 7 and 8 Challenge vs General by Subgroup – MSTF materials from NSD
** (# Students Selecting the
Challenge Course/# Students Passing 6th Grade SBA) x 100 = Selection
Rate
e.g., (771/1134) x 100 = 68%
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