Academia, Media, Politics, Society

Eighty-Three Percent Of D.C. Students Score Below “Proficient” In Reading and 81 Percent Are Below “Proficient” In Math

SchoolClassroomThe public schools in Washington, D.C. continue to set a record for per pupil costs in the nation. The District has long been the most expensive system in the country and reportedly spends roughly $30,000 per student in a system that continues to produce appalling results in national studies. The latest such study is by the respected National Center for Education Statistics which has found that in 2013 83 percent of the eighth graders in these schools were not “proficient” in reading and 81 percent were not “proficient” in math.

The only improvement is marginal at best. The percentage of students who performed at or above the NAEP Basic level was 57 percent in 2013. This percentage was greater than that in 2011 (51 percent) and in 1998 (44 percent). However, this is an extremely low level of performance and 43 percent are below even that level.

What is equally distressing is that this study went with virtually no mention in Washington. Indeed, the Washington Post gave more attention to the discarding of trash bins than this most recent educational data.

D.C. eighth graders scored an average of 248 out of 500 in reading. Mississippi finished next to last with an average of 253.

DC spends more than twice as other large cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas, though figures vary between studies and reports. The figure is derived from dividing total expenditures in Table 1 by enrollment in Table 15 of the Census Bureau statistics. The Census Bureau’s Table 11 puts the per capital costs for elementary schools at over $27,000 up to 2010. (note that this is a different calculation than Table 8 on per capita spending levels).

New York spends $5,353 less per student.

By the way, of that money, only $10,584 per pupil is spent on “instruction” and $1,613 on “instructional staff.”

Whatever the cost, the D.C. schools continue to fail and thousands of students are facing a dim future without basic skills to succeed. Many will be left to a cycle poverty where they lack the necessary skills to succeed in a new and more demanding job market. It is a chilling statistic that is measured in real terms in the lives of thousands of students.

These statistics are truly frightening. D.C. has a long reputation for wasteful and poorly managed systems. This low level of performance is even more striking when it is between two of the most successful school systems in the country: Montgomery (MD) and Fairfax Counties (VA). Clearly D.C. deals with a large number of impoverished students, but that does not explain this continuing failure of this system at such a high cost. Other cities have such impoverished areas and do far better with far less. The city seems to be continuing to discard thousands of students with the same level of care as its recent trash bin scandal. Yet, there remains no serious backlash against the city’s elected officials or demands for a fundamental change in the school system after decades of such poor performance.

588 thoughts on “Eighty-Three Percent Of D.C. Students Score Below “Proficient” In Reading and 81 Percent Are Below “Proficient” In Math”

  1. Karen @ 10:38.

    The Cato guy SAYS they were under reporting. NEA, the Census Bureau, Wapo Education reporter, CNN all have the same $18.6K number.

    The Cato or AEI guy VASTLY undercounted the DC schools population. I wrote about it upthread. Are you reading any of this?

    See my post at 12:21 am. McShane used a student ADA of 46,000. I asked then, and will ask now – where in the hell did he get that number?

    You want to talk methodology? We could start with that. You can google it and I’ve provided links to support my position. Maybe you’ll send me something that will cause me to revise my position.

    Sadly, I don’t think you are quite so open to all points of view as you assert.

  2. When you are @ 83% failure, pretty much the only way to go is up. Maybe education is like alcoholism/addiction, you must bottom out and stop denying there is no problem before drastic, positive changes are made to stop the dysfunction. I see the people in denial here and it is appalling. Just as we all have seen people in our lives in denial about addictions. It’s hard to see and harder to understand. But, I’ve learned from my professional and personal life, that people will cling to what is familiar. Even if a rational person can look @ what the addict is clinging to and say, WTF?, it still makes sense to the addict to cling to their destructive behavior. And, of course, while that self destructive behavior is the major problem, it does have a horrible effect on those around them.

    Now, I am not calling anyone here an addict. I am using a metaphor that most everyone can understand and relate to. It is not a perfect metaphor. Because the deniers are really not suffering, they are part of the educational industry. They have jobs, careers, pensions, etc. The real victims are the kids. And let’s be honest, public education works just fine in toney suburbs, upscale towns, etc. It is the poor white, Latino and black kids who are the victims.

  3. Karen S.,

    I’m sorry that it’s taken me so long to respond to your questions about tenure. I was in and out a lot yesterday and missed some of the comments on this thread.

    Regarding tenure: I think it’s a double-edged sword. It helps to protect some teachers who should be gone from the profession—but it also protects good teachers who are outspoken…who may be whistle-blowers…who may support the wrong political candidates. In my state, new teachers are on probation for their first three years. During that time, administrators have plenty of time to evaluate their capabilities and effectiveness as classroom practitioners. If they appear incompetent or less than effective, they are let go—or should be. Once a teacher receives tenure, a school system is supposed to have just cause for firing them. I think tenure has its good points. Dedicated teachers shouldn’t be fired because they have reached the top of the salary scale and are more expensive than new teachers. They shouldn’t be fired for arbitrary reasons. They shouldn’t be fired because the principal doesn’t like them. That said, incompetent/lazy teachers or teachers who have committed crimes shouldn’t be protected. We had one middle school teacher who had sexually abused some female students. Once one of the victims spoke out, he was fired. Our teachers’ association did not come to his defense.

    I’m not an advocate of merit pay. It has a negative effect on collegiality in the teaching ranks. I don’t think teachers in TPS or charter schools should be evaluated by their students’ test scores. There were some of us teachers at my school who were willing to take more than our share of students with behavioral issues and learning difficulties every year. Would we be as willing to do that if we knew we might not get merit raises because our classes didn’t score as high on average as the classes that had fewer students with learning and behavioral issues? I doubt it.

  4. Prof Turley: Unless I have gone astray, Table 11 shows the $27, 263 as per student revenue. It does show total spending at $18,667, which is still ranked as top spending. Can you help us understand?

  5. Karen

    What is clear is that AEI and Cato fabricated the $30K figure. DC spends almost $19K per student and it spends the greatest amount in the country and is getting terrible results.

    But Cato and AEI lied and Prof Turley was not careful in his post. That’s clear. Please don’t imply that I am incorrect. I did the work. NEA did the work. The damn census bureau report that Turley links to in his post did the work. Politifact did the work. Wapo did the work. They ALL say DC spends almost $19K per student – the highest in the country.

    What is the problem?

    And I suggest that my disdain for conservative media is fully supported by this thread. AEI and Cato are WRONG. Deliberately wrong. I am a long way from being as smart as some on this blog. But those guys, AEI and Cato, are so tied up in their ideology that I’m pretty comfortable in calling them out.

    I’m going to have to think some about mespo’s advice on sources. As I understand him, the source is unimportant- the text is all that matters. Well sometimes. But I don’t think he would have been well served by what Cato did in their ‘report’ with the DC figures. And I still don’t understand why Prof. Turley used the Cato figure. $30K is a provocative figure. That’s why Cato did it. Why did Turley use it? He embedded a damn link that from the Census Bureau that said the figure was $18.6.

    BTW. You are incorrect when saying that I will only read liberal articles. I will read Wapo Journalism. Their op-ed is atrocious. Jennifer Rubin- ugh. But turn about is fair play. I will never link to Kos or opinion from MSNBC. I beg for reliable, non-partisan sources. I respect your right to expect the same from me.

    There is no contest between NEA and Cato – AEI and Kaiser Foundation.

  8. Feynman and Elaine:

    When I read an article, I research the facts for myself. I cannot imagine simply refusing to read someone’s opinion because the author belonged to a different political party.

    Confining oneself to media strictly authored by Liberals will not give you a broad world view or the most varied information. You will only hear one note. It does not lend itself to having a full grasp of the issues.

  11. Annie:

    I hope they keep improving. Because their current proficiency levels are intolerable. I hope they keep doing anything and everything in their power to address this. I keep mentioning the Harlmen Children’s Zone because they’ve had such success getting kids to graduate and head off to college, all set against a pretty grim economic backdrop. DC (and other districts) should visit programs that work and extrapolate what can help in their own situation.

  12. Feynman:

    “This is how it is: I get criticized when I use HuffPo as a source of information…but Karen doesn’t.”

    This is a paradox. You object when I use a conservative article. And now you object when I use a Liberal one. Shall I assume that you just don’t want any contrary information? Because I don’t want to waste my time answering your questions if you won’t read the answer.

    1. Karen – what you haven’t realized yet is that he/she would object to being hung with a fresh rope.

  13. Looks like despite the low proficiency scores, the DC schools are doing several things right. It will be interesting to see if the scores rise over the coming years.

  14. I am still unsure as to the state of tenure in DC schools. There are numerous articles about how Rhee “got rid of tenure” as part of her reforms. But when I go to the actual District website, there are blurbs about tenured teachers getting awards. I’m just going to have to call the district Monday, because now it’s bothering me.

    I hope they got rid of tenure.

  15. Interesting. This is the compensation and bonus schedule for teachers in the DC District. You get paid the most if you are a high performing teacher in one of the 40 lowest performing schools with the highest free lunch rate. They are trying to attract the best teachers to the lowest performing and poorest areas. It’s one of the innovations they are trying. I love innovation in education.

    http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/Files/downloads/In-the-Classroom/IMPACT%20Guidebooks/IMPACTplus%20For%20Teachers.pdf

  16. Sorry, Dredd. You’ve mentioned several times that you had a PhD, so I took you seriously. You can’t tell tone in a post. 🙂

  19. Elaine

    Thanks for the very informative links. and the exchange between you and mespo. I learned stuff. That’s always great.

  20. But both Cato and Huffpo (and every other news source reporting) linked to the US Census Bureau report which contained expenditures by the schools. Instead of taking issue with Huffpo or Cato, I would investigate the source and see if you have a problem with the methodology.

    What is clear, however, is that DC is no slacker in student spending.

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