A tale of two schools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A tale of two schools - Essay Example The two new studies put test scores in context by studying the children's backgrounds and taking into account factors like race, ethnicity, income and parents' educational backgrounds to make the comparisons more meaningful. The extended study of charter schools has not been released. The report cautions, for example, against concluding that children do better because of the type of school as opposed to unknown factors. It also warns of great variations of performance among private schools, making a blanket comparison of public and private schools "of modest utility." And the scores on which its findings are based reflect only a snapshot of student performance at a point in time and say nothing about individual student progress in different settings. Students in private schools typically score higher than those in public schools, a finding confirmed in the study. The report then dug deeper to compare students of like racial, economic and social backgrounds. When it did that, the private school advantage disappeared in all areas except eighth-grade reading. In every specific comparison between a new small school and a large comprehensive school, the small school took in higher percentages of students meeting standards and ready to do high school work, and lower percentages of students at risk for dropping out. Much larger percentages of the incoming n... When it did that, the private school advantage disappeared in all areas except eighth-grade reading. And in math, 4th graders attending public school were nearly half a year ahead of comparable students in private school, according to the report. The report separated private schools by type and found that among private school students, those in Lutheran schools performed best, while those in conservative Christian schools did worst. In every specific comparison between a new small school and a large comprehensive school, the small school took in higher percentages of students meeting standards and ready to do high school work, and lower percentages of students at risk for dropping out. Much larger percentages of the incoming ninth and tenth grade of the new small schools had met or surpassed standards on the 8th grade New York State English Language Arts [ELA] and Math exams than the incoming class in the large comprehensive schools. Most strikingly, in one instance the small Ryer Avenue Elementary School had five times as many students meeting ELA standards and more than three times as many students meeting Math standards as the large Abraham Joshua Heschel School. The small schools had a higher percentage of the students with the demographic profile that generally predicts a successful completion of high school. The entering classes of the small schools had better 8th grade attendance records than the classes at the large schools. Many fewer of their incoming students were overage for their grade - a sign that they had either been left back or had their education disrupted. The problem here is NOT Ryer Avenue Elementary School or the other small schools. Every school, large and small, should receive the funding and supports that Bronx Aerospace receives.