ISAT Results in Peoria

OK - I have got to say that some people may look at the ISAT results from last year and not see positive results. I would like to say though that I think several of the school have very positive results even if they didn't meet AYP. http://www.isbe.net/nclb/default.htm Here's a link in case you'd like more information.

Anyway, back to the positive - when looking at the results for the schools in the City of Peoria specifically, many people will talk about the percentage of poverty in each school (basically the number of children who receive free or reduced lunch). Well I wish that could be broken up even more to show the percentage who receive free lunch only. Harrison for example then is probably 97% free lunch and 2% reduced. Many of the other schools would have similar statistics and there is a difference between groups in the low income catagory and don't get me started on the differences between generational poverty (like the families who live in Taft, Harrison, etc) and situational poverty.

So without getting too wordy (and if you'd really like to learn more about the challenges children who live in poverty face you can read the work of Ruby Payne) I want to say that several schools did much better than the numbers may say. I think the fact that a school like Kingman, with 87% low income (probably 70% free lunch), has steadily increased their percentage of kids meeting or exceeding standards is awesome! Then add to this their almost 60% mobility rate - just imagine what the teachers could do if all of the kids stayed at the school for the entire school year. So basically, when you look at everything that teachers and staff at Kingman and many other schools have to overcome to help children succeed, the fact that children exceed is a huge positive! Personally, as a parent, if I saw that my child's school had a small low income percentage and ISAT scores in the 70's or 80's, I'd wonder about the quality of education my child was receiving. Small low income and low mobility schools should have much higher scores - just look at what Northmoor has done with a low income percentage of close to half the student population, yet their ISAT scores were right at 90%.

So - to me - add everything up and the test scores are positive - they show that children and educators are working very hard and are achieving!