5th Grade Science Test Scores: Charter vs. Non-Charter Schools
In the last two pages, we looked at how the top 10 schools compare to the bottom 10 schools in the district, now let’s look at all of the elementary schools in Collier County School District. The graphs below display all elementary schools; red symbols are the District's charter schools (from left to right, Mason Classical Academy, Gulf Coast Academy Charter, and Immokalee Community School).
The downward sloping line in the graph below shows that schools with a higher percentage of students participating in the free/reduced lunch program tended to score lower on the science test. Schools that sit above the line are performing better than schools with a similar percentage of English Learners (for example, Sea Gate). Schools below the line are performing less well than other schools with a similar percentage of English Learners. Of course, income isn't the only factor that affects test performance, and there are good explanations for why some schools sit below the line. Let's look at one example.
Charter schools are performing about as well as non-charter schools on the 5th grade science FCAT 2.0.
What can we learn from all these graphs and numbers?
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Two possible factors limit 5th grade science test performance in Collier County: students' language and income level. Some students are learning English while they learn Science, or they have other challenges that interfere with their ability to learn.
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Many other factors influence student performance on tests, including how much science a student learned before 5th grade, whether a student has exceptional needs (click here to read more about Exceptional Students Education), teacher experience, and more.
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Charter schools are performing as well as, or in the case of the newest charter school slightly less well than, other schools with similar student characteristics. Mason Classical Academy's performance needs to be compared with other schools similar in make-up in order for the comparison to be fair. We will be watching its performance with interest as it grows more diverse and faces more of the challenges other schools face.
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There is little the school district can do to raise the socioeconomic status of families in the community, but it can provide more support for English-language-learning students, and supplemental programs for lower-income children, with help from the community, until more funds become available.
MCA
Sea Gate
Many Collier County students must master English as they are learning all of the other information students in their grade are striving to learn. Public school ELL programs support English Language Learners (click here to learn more).
In Collier County School District elementary schools, the percentage of children participating in free/reduced lunch program ranges from 1% at Mason Classical Academy to 54% at Pinecrest.
Because MCA has no transportation, it has the lowest percentage of low-income students and English Language Learners in the district. In a year or two, as its student body diversifies, and has more special needs, this red dot will move closer to the black line. If MCA performs better than other CCPS schools, the red dot will rise well above the highest points on the regression line.
The red dot on the far left of the graph to the right represents Mason Classical Academy (MCA), the district’s newest elementary school. MCA was founded by the two newest school board members, Kelly Lichter and Erika Donalds. MCA’s 5th graders performed well on science tests this year, 8th in the district, and above than the district and state averages. Why does MCA sit farther from the regression line?
Take-home messages
Children learn better when they are well fed...
Sometimes participation in the free/reduced lunch program is described as a measure of poverty. Actually, the federal government's poverty threshold for a family of 4 is $24,250, as defined by the Census Bureau. The cut-off for the Free and Reduced Lunch Program for a family of 4 is $44,863. Students in this program may be poor, or their family's income might be well above the threshold.
In Collier County School District elementary schools, the percentage of children participating in free/reduced lunch program ranges from 14 at Mason Classical Academy to 100% at Pinecrest and Eden Park.
Click the lunch tray to read an excellent school food blog.