Public School Ratings Over Rated
This month students in Ohio’s public and private schools will be taking the state proficiency tests (now part of Common Core) to measure their academic achievement. Those test scores are then used to measure the effectiveness of the individual school those students attend as well as the public school district as a whole. The results of the public school effectiveness rankings will be published in the Plain Dealer sometime this spring showing how well the public school districts in the northeastern Ohio region fared as far as academic achievement.
As predictable as rain in April, the same public school districts will be ranked at the top and the same ones will be scraping the bottom with those in the middle remaining in the middle. No doubt the top performing public school districts will be Beachwood, Bay Village, Rocky River, Brecksville-Broadview Heights, Hudson, Solon, Chagrin Falls and Orange. No doubt those public school districts that will be scraping the bottom will be Cleveland, East Cleveland, Lorain, Maple Heights and Akron. Parma schools will be ranked somewhere in the middle.
So what do the top performing public school districts have in common? All are affluent outer ring suburbs with high property values and a well educated population. What do those at the bottom have in common? Most have a higher percentage of minority students as well as a higher percentage of students living in poverty.
In one consistently high performing school district (Bay Village), I have a close friend who was on the faculty at Bay High School for a long time before retiring a few years ago. She provided me with some insights into that community and perhaps why their public schools are consistently ranked so high in academic performance. In Bay Village, more than 90% of the adults in the city have a college degree and almost half have a post graduate or professional degree as well. More than 95% of the graduates of Bay High School go on to college with most graduating. According to census figures, the per capita household income in Bay Village is among the highest in Cuyahoga County, if not the state of Ohio.
Contrast that with the city of Cleveland where more than 80% of the student population is minority and more than 70% of their students are living in poverty. Fewer than 50% of eighth graders will graduate from high school within five years and fewer than 20% will go on to college.
With those statistics on the community, then is it any wonder why a school district like Bay Village is consistently ranked near the top while Cleveland is consistently scraping the bottom?
But those performance rankings have very little on how one’s own child does in school. What is much more important with a public school district than performance rankings is whether the school offers the kinds of programs so a child can learn a marketable skill or be prepared to succeed in college.
Instead of placing such an importance on public school performance rankings, we should be asking whether the public school district offers a wide range of vocational programs so students not going to college can learn a marketable trade or skill. No matter how advanced our society becomes; there will always be a need for electricians, plumbers, carpenters and truck drivers. A construction worker without a college degree but a good skill such as an ironworker can make a good living.
Other questions that should be asked is whether the public school district offers technical programs so that one who has no desire to go to college can learn skills to work in the many technical jobs that are opening up. One doesn’t need a four year degree to be a radiologic technician, but a two year associate program is sufficient as well as some education in high school.
For those students who are motivated to go on to college, does the public school district offer programs for the gifted and talented? Do they offer higher math and science courses for those who want to pursue college studies in science and math? What about a good arts program so those with talent can learn skills needed as performers as well as artists?
How everyone else performs is irrelevant to how your son or daughter performs in school. I was educated in the Parma Public Schools and graduated from Valley Forge High School. I went on to college and received a Bachelor’s degree and then took some post graduate courses since then. I got a great education in the Parma Public Schools. When I got to college, I coasted through my freshman courses while students ranked higher in their classes from a smaller school struggled because they did not have the opportunity to take such college level courses in high school as I did.
So rather than look at the rankings for overall performance of a public school district; look closer at what the school has to offer your son or daughter. What is most important is not how everyone else performs, but how well your own child does. Rather than rank public schools on how well they perform on standardized tests overall, it makes more sense to look at what courses and programs those public schools offer the students so they have the opportunity to succeed.
Lee Kamps
Lee has been working with Medicare, Medicaid and private health insurance since he began working at the Erie County Welfare Department in January 1973 where a major part of his job was determining eligibility for Medicaid. He went into the private insurance business in 1977 with Prudential Insurance Company and within a short time had become one of the company’s top sales agents. In 1982, he was promoted into management where he managed two field offices and as many as thirteen sales agents. After leaving Prudential in 1986, Lee decided to become more focused on health insurance and employee benefits. He has advised many local employers on how to have a more cost effective employee benefit program as well as conducted employee benefit meetings and enrollments for many area employers. The companies Lee has worked with ranged from small “mom and pop” businesses to local operations of large national companies. Lee received his B.S. degree from Kent State University where he has been active in the local alumni association. He has completed seven of the ten courses toward the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist designation. He has taught courses in employee benefits and insurance at Cleveland State University and local community colleges. In addition, Lee is an experienced and accomplished public speaker. He has been a member of Toastmasters International where he achieved the designation of “Able Toastmaster – Silver” in 1994. He has also served as a club president, Area Governor and District Public Relations Officer in Toastmasters as well as winning local speech contests. Lee has also been a member of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association’s Speaker’s Bureau where he was designated as one of the “official spokespeople for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” prior to the hall’s opening in 1995. He has given talks and presentations before many audiences including civic organizations, AARP chapters and many other community groups. With the implementation of the Medicare Modernization Act (Medicare drug bill) in 2006, Lee has shifted his focus to Medicare and helping Medicare beneficiaries navigate the often confusing array of choices and plans available. As an independent representative, Lee is not bound to any one specific company or plan, but he can offer a plan that suits an individual person’s needs and budget. In addition, Lee is well versed in the requirements and availability of various programs for assistance with Medicare part D as well as Medicaid. While he cannot make one eligible, he can assist in the process and steer one to where they may be able to receive assistance.