New Data Renews Concerns Over 'Achievement Gap' in Lower Merion Schools

When some acts of federal legislation carry names like the obscure, "Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act" of 1998, the ironic, "Ethics in Government Act" of 1978, No Child Left Behind seems pretty straightforward.

Yet, when it comes to the Lower Merion School District, one class of students has consistently fallen behind – black, non-Hispanic children, according to standardized test data.

As a part of the No Child Left Behind Act's goal to have the nation's children at grade level in reading and math by 2014, Lower Merion students take the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) standardized test, which charts the district's progress annually. Districts try to statistically improve annually and make adequate yearly progress, or "AYP."

The Lower Merion school district has consistently made AYP in nearly all categories since the system was put in place in 2001-02, yet the scores of black, non-Hispanic students have consistently been significantly lower than the school averages. Closing the achievement gap is currently one of the school district's strategic plan goals for 2009-14, though early results are mixed.

The 2010 PSSA and AYP data recently released by the state shows two different stories. Students are tested in grades three through eight, and once again in grade 11. A summary of the results can be found below:

2010 PSSA Math Results

Race          Grade       % Adv. Proficient        % Proficient           % Below Proficient

White           3-5                      77.5                        17.7                             4.8
Black            3-5                      37.4                        40.4                           22.2
Hispanic      3-5                                   * Too Few to Be Reported *
Asian            3-5                      85.6                        11.0                             3.8                 

White           6-8                      79.8                        16.3                             4.0
Black            6-8                      38.1                        34.9                            27.0
Hispanic      6-8                                   * Too Few to Be Reported *
Asian            6-8                      90.5                        7.1                               2.4

White            11                        71.8                       18.7                              9.6
Black             11                        14.0                       20.0                            66.0
Hispanic       11                        46.2                      30.8                             23.1
Asian             11                        85.7                       11.4                              2.9

2010 PSSA Reading Results

Race          Grade       % Adv. Proficient        % Proficient           % Below Proficient

White           3-5                      61.8                        30.6                             7.6
Black            3-5                       32.7                       32.7                            34.6
Hispanic      3-5                                   * Too Few to Be Reported *
Asian            3-5                      69.5                        25.4                             5.0

White           6-8                       74.9                        19.5                             5.3
Black            6-8                       40.9                       37.9                            21.2
Hispanic      6-8                                   * Too Few to Be Reported *
Asian            6-8                        77.8                       20.6                            7.0

White            11                        73.0                       21.8                              5.2
Black             11                        21.6                        37.3                            41.2
Hispanic       11                        69.2                       15.4                             15.4
Asian             11                        65.7                       34.3                                0

The 2010 data is consistent with past years. Since the 2006-07 school year, the last year data is broken down by race, black non-Hispanic students have scored a minimum of 21 percentage points lower than the school district as a whole in both reading and math.

The achievement gap, while never small, has closed somewhat in recent years, if the PSSA tests tell the whole story. Five years ago, the gap between black students and the school average for percentage of students scoring proficient or above was 35 percentage points in math and 28 points in reading. In 2010, those numbers are 25 points in math and 21 in reading.

That said, the gap remains significant, and at the initial presentation of AYP test results troubled some members of the Lower Merion school board at their Monday, Sept. 13 meeting.

School Board Reactions

Steve Barbato, Lower Merion Director of Curriculum Services, presented information regarding the testing data, as well as a variety of district programs at the board meeting.

The good news was that the district made AYP in all categories. But, when data showing the high school results was displayed, showing a red line across the black non-Hispanic population, board member Melissa Gilbert said, "This slide is obviously more troubling than the previous two (grade ranges)."

Barbato answered board member questions about the disparity. "I think it's important to realize this is just one assessment tool. That's it," he said. "It's important to look at every child, not just the results of one test."

The high school scores are based off of only the 11th grade students who take the test. In Lower Merion, the number of black, non-Hispanic 11th grade students who took the test comes out to 50 in math and 51 in reading, a small sample size from which to draw conclusions.

"The test is really just an 11th grade snapshot, not a year to year measure," said Lower Merion School District Superintendent Chris McGinley. "There is evidence of progress, but we need to make sure we're telling the whole story of grades eight, nine and 10 before you get to grade 11. A number of changes have been positive, but we haven't seen a significant change in those 11th grade numbers."

Controversy

The persistent achievement gap between black and white students in the district is just one of a number of factors that have caused mistrust between the black community and the heads of the school district, according to James Herbert, spokesman for the nine African-American students who filed a lawsuit against the school district in Doe vs. LMSD for forced redistricting with race as a factor.

A federal judge ruled in June that the school district did not break any laws in their redistricting plan, a decision that the plaintiffs are appealing. The court did find that race "was a motivating factor" in the redistricting decisions, which balanced the minority populations at both Lower Merion High School and Harriton High School, according to reports in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

"The bottom line, in my opinion, is that this is a multi-faceted problem," Herbert said. "There are many things, historically, that the school district has not gotten right. I think there are positive signs that people are trying to make a difference, but there is a lot of skepticism and mistrust in the community."

Attempts to Close the Gap

The Lower Merion School District currently is working toward six goals as a part of their strategic plan for 2009-2014. The district wants to make improvements in curriculum, student achievement, meeting the holistic needs of students, communications, facilities and closing the achievement gap.

To make improvements in those areas, the district tests and implements a variety of new programs each year to improve educational instruction throughout the district. In 2009-2010, the district implemented a "math labs" program for the first time, requiring students who are struggling in math to attend lab workshops for remedial help.

While PSSA scores among minorities and the district as a whole were at their highest levels last year, McGinley acknowledged that the overall levels still had lots of room for improvement.

"Last year was the first year for full implementation of the math lab, McGinley said. "I wish we could say that as a result test scores went up (to higher levels), it was really just the first year." McGinley said the district has made a number of curriculum changes for the math labs in hopes of improving their effectiveness.

Support System

Gary Plummer, a math teacher at Harriton High School, spoke to the school board on the summer math program offered in the district and was asked about his opinion of the AYP scores.

"This is really a fantastic district in terms of support," Plummer said, citing the level of interaction with students and tracking efforts to make sure students are learning. "I tell my students you have several thousand dollars worth of scholarship sitting for you in the school's support system. The only person you have to blame if you don't take advantage of it is yourself."

Dietra Spence, Special Assistant to the Superintendent, spoke to the district about the newly implement "Bridge" program designed to help eighth graders transition into high school, which Spence said could be used to help close the achievement gap.

"There is a lot of research that says that students who have success in high school have a successful transition into ninth grade," Spence said. "Our goals were to help students with academic and organization skills, expose them to people, info and high school related experiences, enhance self esteem and to meet teachers, counselors and other students."

Tracking Success

Another important piece to student education in Lower Merion, according to McGinley, is the school district's continual tracking of students achievement throughout their career.

"That is the focus we have now. At the high schools they have gone through and analyzed what skills the kids are lacking," McGinley said. "Analysis is what we do. We want to know what kids have learned and what kids haven't learned, specifically developing skills that kids need to develop along the way."

While AYP tests are charting progress toward the challenging goal of having all school districts score at 100 percent proficient or above, Barbato told the school board Lower Merion is taking the task seriously.

"Our goal is 100 percent," Barbato said, while admitting that a more lenient goal would be more easily achievable. "The benchmark has been set there, and we're going to do everything we can to get there."

The success of the district's efforts toward that end will determine if no child is left behind.