Bridging the gap in academic achievement

Part two of a three-part series.

The Valley Stream Central High School District’s latest state report card for the 2009-10 school year showed that test scores and graduation rates among various racial groups in grades 9-12 were clustered and close together, district officials say. The numbers seem to support their findings.

On the secondary level, student progress was measured on the English language arts and math state assessments, and graduation rates. The data was broken down by four main racial groups – black, Hispanic or Latino, Asian or Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander and white.

Grade 9-12 test scores by racial group

The 203 black students counted in the 2006 cohort, meaning those who first entered ninth-grade during the 2006-07 school year, earned a performance index of 197 on the ELA, according to the New York state 2009-10 report card. The cohort also includes those ungraded students with disabilities who reached their 17th birthday in 2006-07 school year, and who were enrolled on Oct. 7, 2009, and did not transfer to a diploma granting program.

The performance index is a value from 0 to 200 indicating how a particular group performed on a required state test. It is determined by a particular mathematical formula after categorizing student assessment scores into levels 1-4, of which 3 and 4 are considered passing on the state assessment. Statewide, the average performance index for making adequate yearly progress on a state test was 169 for black students that year.

In 2009-10, Hispanic students earned a 193, while Asian and white students got a 198 and 199 performance index, respectively. The average performance index for proficiency was 169 for Hispanic students, 167 for Asian students and 170 for white students.

In math, Hispanic students had a performance index of 194, followed by Asian students with 197. Black students earned a 198 index, while white students led the pack with 199. The average index for proficiency was around 164 for all four racial groups.

Looking back at the district’s state report card for 2006-07, black students earned a performance index of 190 on the ELA. Hispanic students got 188, followed by 194 for Asian students and 198 for white students. In math, Asian and white students got a 198 performance index, and Hispanic students got a 194. Black students earned a 193.

Graduation rates getting closer

The 2009-10 state report card shows that 94 percent of black students earned a local or regents diploma by Aug. 31, 2009. That same year, 93 percent of Hispanic students graduated, and both white and Asian students had a 95 percent graduation rate.

The district’s rates were above that of the state, where overall only 80 percent of students met the minimal requirements to earn a diploma that year. The Board of Regents had set a goal that 95 percent of students in each public school and school district graduate within five years after entering ninth-grade.

The Valley Stream Central High School District met that goal, with 96 percent of seniors graduating. That group includes students who first entered ninth-grade anywhere in the 2005-06 school year, and all ungraded students with disabilities who reached their 17th birthday in the 2005-06 school year.

The graduation rate among black students was 90 percent for the class of 2002, according to the 2001-02 report card. That counted the number of students who entered ninth grade in 1998 and earned a local diploma or Regents diplomas in four years. The graduation rates at that time for other groups was 93 percent of Hispanic students, 92 percent of Asian students and 95 percent of white students.

In 2005, 87 percent of black and Hispanic students were graduating, according to the state report card for the 2005-06 school year. The percentage of Asian and white students hovered at 95 percent for those who earned a diploma by Aug. 31, 2005. “It was not a large gap, but it was there,” said Superintendent Dr. Bill Heidenreich, adding that since 2005 there has been about an eight point hike in the black and Hispanic students’ graduation rates. “Now, there is a lot of progress with the black and Hispanic students where they are graduating at respective rates.”

There is now really no gap, Heidenreich said, as the rates are more clustered and within a point or two, he added.

Valley Stream school officials say they would love to see the graduation rates of all students at 100 percent, but are happy for the progress that has been made. “It’s something to be proud of in Valley Stream because everything we read shows we are bucking the trend,” Heidenreich said.

Next week: Administrators help close the gap between various racial groups at each of the four district schools.