Don’t believe downbeat talk about scores
You read it in the Salisbury Post last Tuesday. Rowan County Commissioners proposed backing off from their 1998 promise to fund the public schools at the state average for three years. They suggested the school system might need more time to bring test scores up to the state average, as they had pledged to do if commissioners came up with the cash.
Before you jump to the conclusion that Rowan-Salisbury lags way behind the rest of the state, take a look at the chart to the right. The local schools have nothing to be ashamed of,especially when you consider that for years the county funded them far below the state average.
So far, we’ve only seen test scores from one year of the three-year period covered by the 1998 agreement, 2000. But if you compare that year to the three previous ones, as the schools’ testing expert Colby Cochran did for this chart, you see that Rowan-Salisbury has made steady progress since 1997 on three of the five measures.
At the same time, county funding for the schools was climbing fast. During the past three budget years, it went from $16.8 million to $25.5 million, a 51.5 percent increase.
With the entire state pressuring teachers and students to boost achievement, the state average is a moving target —both in per-pupil spending and student test scores. But Rowan has hung in there.
- Reading and math, grades 3-8:Rowan is inching forward and appears about to close the gap between itself and the state. Reading tutors have made a big difference.
- Writing, grades 4, 7 and 10: Rowan has improved, but other systems are improving faster. The school board wants to focus on this area next year with two new positions:writing experts to advise middle school and high school teachers.
- High school core courses:Give the teens you know a pat on the back. As a group, they surpassed the state average in 2000 and are still striving.
- Computer proficiency:This is a puzzle. Test scores aren’t even in for 2000 yet, but Rowan appeared to be on a downward trend in the late ’90s.
- Scholastic Aptitude Test (scores for the top 40 percent):These are prone to wide variation, depending on the class in question. But Rowan did well in 2000, just 5 points behind the state average for top students.
So we’ve seen forward momentum in the schools, and everyone hopes that will continue with the latest batch of testing. Scores should be available late in the summer.
Teachers and students will keep pushing hard next year, regardless of the amount of money the county allocates. Their reputations and futures depend on it. But will they have the staff and tools they need to hit new levels?
The answer lies in three areas:local funding, even-more-troubled state funding, and the school board’s ability to revisit the budget and cut judiciously.
The commissioners might drop the top 10 and bottom 10 counties from future calculations of average in per-pupil spending. But those systems still figure into the state average on achievement. And Rowan-Salisbury graduates will still compete with students from top systems when it comes to college admissions and jobs.
The county has fallen on hard times, like many governments and businesses. That’s unfortunate. Schools may have to scale back as a result. But before Rowan takes that step, everyone needs to understand exactly where the schools are on the road to improvement — and that’s not as far behind the state as some might lead you to believe.
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Elizabeth G. Cook is editor of the Salisbury Post. Contact her at 704-797-4244 or
editor@salisburypost.com .
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