Learning

Good teachers and schools can’t always be measured by statistics. Nevertheless, numbers are important. They can tell us when to worry and when to take pride in our accomplishments. The chart below offers some insights into how well the Rapid City Area Schools are doing.

Does Money Make a Difference?

Students in “Distinguished Schools” in Rapid City tend to come from higher income families and, as a whole, do better on the Dakota STEP test than the population of students in schools with high rates of poverty. Federal law under No Child Left Behind gives these “Title I Schools” with high rates of poverty extra money to hire additional teachers and aides to focus on literacy and math.

The good news in the test scores is evident below. Between 2003 and 2008, all eight of these schools increased the number of students who scored “Proficient” by significant percentages. All of them did so by reducing the percentage of students scoring “Basic” or “Below Basic.” The data suggests that districtwide efforts to help students who have traditionally struggled with reading and math are working and working well at the elementary level. And at the Title I schools, where family poverty makes learning harder, the increases from basic to proficient and proficient to advanced are truly remarkable.

There is a disturbing trend in the data, however. At the Distinguished schools a significant portion of the increase in “Proficient” came from losing students from the “Advanced” category. In other words, our current strategies and staffing at these schools are tending to push all students into the middle rather than raise student achievement across the board.