20 May 2010
Brill-ing Down: Adding to Steve Brill’s NYT Magazine Report
UPDATE: Thanks to Aaron Pallas for pointing out an error. The enrollment for Harlem Success Academy in 2008-2009 was 398 students. The enrollment was 276 students in 2007-2008.
Steve Brill’s latest article chronicling the politics of the Race to the Top competition is already making waves. One contentious aspect of the piece is Brill’s comparison of two schools that share the same building: Harlem Success Academy and P.S. 149. We thought it would be helpful to augment Brill’s commentary with additional data. The first table has 2008-2009 demographic data, and the next two have 2008-2009 3rd grade state test scores. (Harlem Success only had this one testable grade.) Information was culled from NY State Accountability Report Cards as well as special education invoices provided to the UFT by the New York State Education Department.
According to this data, Harlem Success Academy does appear to serve less needy students, both in terms of economic status, limited English proficiency, and special education needs. On the other hand, Harlem Success dramatically outperforms P.S. 149 on 3rd grade test results.
DEMOGRAPHIC DATA:
3rd GRADE TEST DATA: ALL STUDENTS
3rd GRADE TEST DATA: SUBGROUPS*
*There were not enough Limited English Proficient students tested in 3rd grade at P.S. 149 to report a score. There were no Limited English Proficient students tested in 3rd grade at Harlem Success.
Another feature to consider is the Parent Education Level. Here in California, the PEL is included in the state demographic information.
“1″ represents “Not a high school graduate”
“2” represents “High school graduate”
“3” represents “Some college”
“4” represents “College graduate”
“5″ represents “Graduate school”
Oakland’s KIPP school has a much higher PEL than the nearby public schools, and I believe it is contributing to its higher scores.
In the 2008-09 school year, the PEL at the Oakland KIPP school was 3.18. In comparison, the PEL’s for the two middle schools in the same neighborhood (Cole and West Oakland Middle) were 2.00 and 2.21. The years previous to this reveal the same trend. The KIPP school has one of the highest PELs in Oakland.
I’ve compared middle school PELs (charter vs TPS), and the overall difference isn’t quite as big, but it’s definitely there. To me this is proof of self-selection, even though charter proponents often deny that such a thing exists.
Have you looked into this in NYC?